Our life after living on a boat.

We started blogging in earnest when we decided to sell our houses and move onto a boat. We had many wonderful adventures aboard our Nordhavn 46 named Salish Aire . Seven years have passed and we have sold Salish Aire, purchased a house near the southern tip of the Salish Sea and often travel around North America towing Salish Airstream. It seems a good time to start a new blog about our further adventures but leave our boating blog intact for those who want to refer to our adventures on the boat. (http://salishaire.blogspot.com)

Monday, September 25, 2023

Chapter 8 – Trent Severn Canal and Home to Lacey

 


In case you missed the last chapter here is a summary:  We have wanted to take a boat ride in the historic canals of the Eastern USA and Canada.  One of the reasons for buying a 25 foot micro trawler after selling Salish Aire (our previous Nordhavn 46 – see salishaire.blogspot.com for a full history) was that we could trailer it to where the canals are and it fits them.  We decided that with our grandson’s upcoming high school graduation in Ontario Canada that the timing was right so with Hyacinth the boat on her trailer (which was switched out in Ontario after several issues with the brakes) we headed from our home near Olympia Washington to the canals of Ontario Canada.

When we finished our return trip back on the Rideau Canal described in the last chapter we moved back to where we had initially launched the boat at Trent Port Marina and then started up the Trent-Severn Waterway.  Rather than spend much time in this chapter covering canal travel we will focus on the high points of that journey. 

The first thing we noticed on the Trent-Severn is that it is not the same as the Rideau.  The Rideau has a historic national park feel about it whereas, even though the Trent-Severn is also part of a historical park it hasn’t had the same effort put into maintaining the historic feel.  Examples: Even though MOST of the lock gates in the Trent-Severn are still hand operated, most of the valves have been switched to hydraulic (as have a few of the gates), in the Rideau efforts have been taken to match the original materials and workmanship much more than in the Trent-Severn, and the Rideau always had low docks for small boats to tie to whereas it was much more hit and miss in the Trent-Severn.  That said, once we changed our perspective we found that the Trent-Severn had many, many things to make it fun and attractive as well.

While most (all?) Trent-Severn lock valves have been converted
to electric/hydraulic operation, many gates are still opened by people power

Lock walls along the Trent-Severn were functional but 
not as small boat user friendly as the Rideau in our view

While both canals were designed to basically flood the low spots between the existing numerous lakes of the region, the Trent-Severn seems to have really expanded on the concept as the natural lakes were already in place and digging in the granite bedrock was almost beyond the tools and methods of the day.

Rice Lake was very shallow - even staying in the "main channel" 
we often only had 2 feet below our keel (and plant growth to the surface
requiring the we stop and reverse the propeller frequently to clear the weeds). 

The Trent River has enough flow that even with the locks
operating there is still water for power production 

A dug section of the canal

The Trent-Severn connects the north-eastern corner of Lake Ontario with Georgian Bay on Lake Huron.  In doing so it goes from one geographic region to another.  If one looks at the photos of the southern sections of the canal where it was cut through the local bedrock you will see layer upon layer of sandstone but once you cross a magical line the terrane becomes classic “Canadian Shield” where the shield icefields of the last ice age scraped off any loose soils and left hard granite exposed.  What was exceptional to our eyes was that the granite was pink in color.  So once you cross the line the canal traverses lakes with thousands of granite islets  that make for a spectacular scenery. This bedrock is so hard that the canal engineers finally decided to put a very short lock at the summit of the system rather than try to cut through the rock and connect the two central lakes.

Rocks of the southern section of the canal


Pink granite of the shield zone of the canal





The other difference in the canals was that the Trent-Severn was an industrial canal when it was created and much of the old industry is still visible along the shores.  Along with the industry is the Canadian elites version of “cottages”.  I put this in quotation marks because when I hear the word cottage I think of something small and minimalist.  The owners of lake cottages on the other hand tend to be of the bigger is better mindset.  The cottages (AKA: summer homes) are found not only on the shores of the lakes and canals but on any islet that will support a foundation (what is done for water, sewage, etc we never did find out).  We did pass an Anglican Church that was on an islet and could only be approached by boat when it held services during the summer “cottage season” (which hadn’t gotten into full swing yet while we were there).

"Cottage" on an islet

"Cottage" along the canal

Anglican church on an islet (yes, it takes a boat to get to church services)

We also were taken aback by the size of the locks.  Along the Rideau Canal the locks were kept to small lifts as the technology hadn’t fully matured yet but on the Trent-Severn the locks were BIG.  The tallest standard lock was in Healey Falls where two traditional locks had been replaced by one newer concrete walled lock with the goal of reducing traffic stops on the towns streets while boats transited the older flight.  There are two lift-locks on the Trent-Severn system of which we rode in the larger one in Petersborough.  The Petersborough lift-lock takes boats up 65 ft in one swoop.  In order to do this the boats enter one of a pair of “bathtubs” and then the tubs switch places with the upper tub’s weight (plus 1 extra foot of water) pushing water out of the massive hydraulic cylinder under it and into an equal cylinder under the lower tub and so lifting it (using only gravity) up into the upper position along with any passengers that are aboard for the ride. We were alerted that if we politely asked the lock master for a tour he was always eager to show off his very special lock.  In our case he had Clarice operate the lock under his careful eye while a tour boat was lowered from the upper canal to the lower canal (the good news is she didn’t drop them!) The other unusual lock on the system is a marine railroad where the boats are lifted in a sling across the highway to the next section of the canal – a standard lock was considered but the railroad/sling system keeps an unwanted fish from crossing into the section of canals and lakes which was beyond the limit of our travels.


The Healey Falls lock was HUGE!

Entering the Petersborough Lift-Lock from the upper canal.



Entering the Petersborough Lift-Lock from the lower canal
(you can see the lifting hydraulic cylinder under the left tub in the up position).

One of our early surprises on the Trent-Severn was when we got caught in “boat jail” as was a daily experience. (Since the canal opens and closes daily on a schedule, if you arrive at a lock after closing then you can only wait for it to re-open in the morning). As we were early in the boating season the canal hours were still pretty short each day so I decided it would do me some good to get a bit of exercise on my bicycle.  Off I went to the next lock upstream where there was reported to be an ice-cream stand.  On approaching the lock I saw a boat that was the same make and model (and color) as the last 25 ft boat we owned before moving onto Salish Aire.  I decided to go have a look and as I got closer I noticed the radar mounting on the front of the Rosborough and my eyes got very large.  I had built that one-of-a-kind radar mount myself!!  I went and looked closer at the boat (no one was on board) and confirmed that I was sure it had been our boat.  I walked across the lock gate and got the all-important ice-cream cone and sat on a bench to enjoy it.  In the meantime the owners of the Rosborough returned.  I think they were pretty surprised to see someone saying “hey, that used to be my boat” in Ontario since they were from British Columbia.  The woman asked what name was on the boat when we had it and when I said Sea Meadow her eyes got pretty big too as she told me I was right, it had been our boat!  We talked about the boat for a bit and I learned that they had brought it from BC to take on the canals just as we had brought Hyacinth across.  Talk about a small world!

We used to own this very boat (when it was named "Sea Meadow")!!!

About that time I posted this on Facebook:

So after about 1 1/2 months living in our 25' boat both on the trailer and on the water what has and hasn't worked:

Composting head (toilet) - (no smell) with very few pump-outs available on the canal systems this has been a real winner. Every few days we carry the bottle of urine to a public toilet and pour it in. We've only emptied the solids once and that was because we were at a place where we could.

Cheap (not inexpensive) windshield wiper motors (one stripped a gear in very short order)

25 gallon supply of fresh water - this was enough but we had to carry water in containers whenever we had access to potable water as most locks have untested wells and there were few hose bibs at the tie-up sites

freezer / refrigeration - we have a Vitrifrigo electric ice chest in the aft cabin that we keep at 7 degrees F for frozen food and to make ice for the daily use Yeti ice chest. Problem was that air circulates poorly inside the freezer so we found a small fan run from a USB charger on the ice chest to put inside of it

navigation system - we have 2 (long story but 1 would suffice) and were glad we had current chart software as with all of the side channels and islands it would be easy to stray from the course (which apparently is not uncommon) radar was not needed but depth sounder was critical. (Note: very very few boats and none of the locks are equipped with VHF)

Wallas heater stove - works well and with the control by the head of my bed I can turn it on before I get up so the cabin is cozy. We also carry a propane mini grill and Coleman stove with refillable green cylinders (highly recommended - becoming more available at sport stores and on Amazon)

Power supply (electric)- the boat's native alternator is not really up to the task so it will be replaced with a fancy 3 stage alternator / regulator when we get home. Some locks have power for a reasonable added fee on the lock wall. Our smallish solar panel did help.

Seasonal lock permit and tie-up wall permit (2 permits) - the tie-up permit paid for itself very quickly and most of the lock docks and walls are in national park settings. All have clean restrooms (keys or codes are provided for after-hours use) and a few have showers. All have garbage and recycling. (We found marinas in general to be much more expensive than we are used to with most charging CA$ 2.50/ft).

Oversized round fenders for locks (and gloves as many have slimy walls)

Fold-a-Bote dingy - we've only used it a couple of times but it worked well when we needed it as we anchored out travelling between Trent and Rideau canals

6 knot boat - much of the canals are limited to 10 km/hr which is about 6 knots and we used very very little fuel with a Yanmar 3GM30 diesel engine (we previously travelled 15000 nautical miles in our Nordhavn at 7 knots so we know you can get there at this speed)

fuel availability - very few boats on the canals are running on diesel so gas is easy to find but diesel requires a bit of planning ahead

autopilot - while very valuable in more open waters back home we didn't use it that much here except in lakes

Ham radio - provided a fun outlet for Norman in the evenings but only when the ionosphere was cooperative - no VHF/UHF used even between Clarice and Norman as we always had cell phone coverage

Internet - we use our phones as a hotspot (we have a North and Central America unlimited plan from AT&T) we frequently only had 1-2 bars of LTE (but always good voice coverage)

Truck and Trailer - Our F150 with a 3 liter diesel tows the boat like a charm (and we've always found boats (at least monohulls) don't sway much if at all without a fancy hitch). The trailer we came east with failed and has been traded out - hopefully our replacement trailer will be a winner.

Overall experience - crossing the upper states of the USA using the boat as a camper (depending a lot on HarvestHost.com and BoondockersWelcome.com), and both the Rideau and Trent-Severn Canals (the two canals have very different "feels" to them) has been a wonderful outing. (We are hoping to go back west on Canada hwy 1 if the smoke forecasts don't scare us off).

 

We actually went further on the Trent-Severn than we planned as we were getting serious “lockitis” (caused by many many starts – tieups – lifts (or lowers) – unties and restarts and repeat) and ready to get back to see our daughter’s family but people let us know the beauty of the canal really was north of the dividing line where the granite islets were a feast for the eyes and they were right.  So we continued on to Bobcaygeon lock where we made a U-turn and headed back south putting Hyacinth back on her new trailer in Trenton just in time to get stuck traversing rush-hour gridlock in Toronto on our way back to the southeastern corner of Lake Ontario where our daughter lives.

Back at Erin’s house we finished making the “new” trailer safe enough to feel comfortable that it could safely be pulled over many mountain passes on our way back to the west coast.

The replacement trailer served us very well westbound 
(and continues to serve us well).

Zebra muscles lined the lock walls especially on the Trent-Severn
so we went to great lengths to clean our bilges after we got the boat back
on the trailer (to get rid of any larvae) but in any case the boat was inspected every
time we crossed a provincial border which got to be tiring! 

As soon as our grandson Carter went through his graduation ceremony we headed west along the Trans-Canada Highway (which is really a collection of different highways that provide a unified route across southern Canada.

Gamer/father Paul figures he got some serious positive
"life points" getting the oldest child through high school graduation.
Erin's family has hundreds of complicated board games they play as a family

Henri, Norman, Clarice, Valerie

One of our bucket list places to take Hyacinth in the future is Georgian Bay.  Early in our westbound trip we were able to get a look at the archipelago and decided to keep the guide book handy for the future. Then it was on to the plains of Canada where crops were growing which made for lovely scenery.  Finally we took time to revisit Banff National Park where most of our memories go back to our honeymoon there 46 years ago.  The weather crossing the nation was really favorable and so the return trip was a great finale with one frustrating hiccup.

Pebble Beach on Lake Superior

Canola in bloom on the Canadian prairie 
Lake Louis Banff National Park

Banff National Park

Banff National Park

Requisite Bear photo Banff National Park 

Banff National Park

Banff National Park

Icefield Banff National Park (we had to walk a LOT further
to get to the ice face than we did 47 years ago)

We were at Lake Louis 47 years ago for our Honeymoon

Lake Louis National Park

Campground Banff National Park

On reaching the USA border in British Columbia we knew we needed to get some kind of paperwork so we could re-register the new trailer in our names in Washington (after buying it in Ontario we registered it in our daughter’s name for convenience).   We knew very well that not only was the trailer made in the USA but that we had upgraded it to a higher standard when we switch the heavier tires and fancier brakes off our old trailer BUT we missed ONE very LITTLE detail.  The trailer had apparently not ever been labelled for sale in the USA (even though it had a label from a US trailer merchant) but was labelled as meeting Canadian DOT standards (which just happen to be the same as US standards!!)  Non-the-less the American Customs folks would not let the trailer enter the USA (we could have floated the boat in legally!) and there suggestion was that we contact a commercial broker (this was on a Saturday).  A few phone calls later and we realized that we could be out a lot of time and money going the broker route so we found a storage lot with space and left the trailer with Hyacinth aboard in Canada while we headed the final 150 miles home.  The outcome was that on Monday the trailer manufacturer had us email them photos (which we had taken before leaving the trailer in the storage yard) of the identification stickers on the trailer and our proof of ownership and within a couple of hours they had the proper USA DOT sticker in overnight mail to us.  So 2 days later we went back north and retrieved the trailer and after waiting about an hour in customs we got our needed paperwork and were able to re-register the trailer in Washington.

Back in Lacey the first order of business was to finish arrangements for my mother’s memorial service.  She had died about a week before we had planned to go on the trip to Ontario and we joined with the rest of the family in electing to allow some time between the challenges and frustrations of caring for her in her last year, months, weeks, and days of life and remembering her life in the memorial.  I am now convinced this was a good choice and the service went well, was meaningful, and well attended.  The good news for Clarice and I personally was that we could move on from being the primary medical, and financial decision makers as well as the closest to her location wise for emotional support.  This had proven to take a huge amount of our time and physical as well as emotional energy and while we were saddened to see my mother (whom I never questioned for a minute loved me unconditionally) pass on we were relieved of the pressure her care had put us under.

Erin and our granddaughter Valerie had planned to come out to Washington so that they could attend the memorial as Erin was very close to her grandmother.  The timing also worked out so that she could attend a national meeting of scrap bookers with her friends while we cared for Valerie.  To top it off we were jumped at the chance to care for our other granddaughter Hyacinth for a long weekend while her parents were off at their LARP (Live Action Role Play) games.  We had expected to stay at home as I had promised Hyacinth’s older brother Etienne that I would help repair his car but the repairs took only a day of the planned four days I had laid out. This meant that we could take both granddaughters on a boat trip for the first time.  Our yacht club had planned an outing to Seattle and they reported that there was room at the dock so we quickly loaded the boat and headed north (launching in Tacoma to save some water miles).  We had a great time introducing the girls to boating, meeting new people in our yacht club, watching the Seattle Torchlight Parade, and visiting Blake Island State Park (where Clarice had to dive in to cut a dock line out of our prop – oops).

Clarice and granddaughters on the boat

Clarice trying to get Hyacinth (the granddaughter) 
to sleep on Hyacinth (the boat)

We also finally had time to take a boat trip through the San Juan Islands and on up into the Gulf Islands of British Columbia.  We made it as far north as Nanaimo where we spent three days with a very active Albin cruising club.  The club was a lot of fun but the “bad” news is Clarice got a lot of ideas for changes she wants make to our boat!  While we were there I continued my new hobby of broadcasting on ham radio for POTA (Parks on the Air) where hobbyist try to get at least 10 contacts while calling out from a park at which time they have “activated” the park.  During our stay in a cove on Wallace Island Provincial Park I was able to activate the park successfully for the first time ever (and make a lot of other hams happy when they not only got to check off a new park on their list but also talk to their first “maritime mobile” operator (broadcasting from a boat)).

At anchor Wallace Island Provincial Park
Jarvis in his "den" under our bed for his final boat trip

When we bought the house it had a very large deck of which one-half had been added on by someone with poor building skills and probably the same folks had covered the original section.  Our hot tub sits on the problematic section which was sinking more and more in the middle so we started our project of replacing that section.  The physically hardest part was removing several cubic yards of dirt that had been left in place when the deck was added (they had just raised that section about 6 inches to accommodate the higher ground).  When we completed that section we were very happy with the result both in the strength of the underpinnings and the look of the new decking. Eventually the lack of symmetry won out and we took on finishing the project which involved adding beams and joists under the original section and then putting on matching decking material.  The big change was adding a cover that should hold up to any snow load (in Puget Sound or the Arctic!) and which is much better ventilated in the summer sun.  The only thing about it is that my design ended up much higher than I envisioned so it would go comfortably above the existing roofline.

Digging out the dirt from under the "problematic" section of the deck

The last section of the deck under construction

Deck is finished!

Another BIG accomplishment (for me) was in taking a day trip to Paradise on Mt. Rainier.  I’ve gone there many many times living most of my life near the base of the mountain.  What was different on this trip was it was my first attempt at hiking a significant distance uphill at a higher elevation since I my back surgery and I was started on routine medication for my asthma.  Clarice and I walked up to the point where the residual snow was too soft for safe travel without an ice axe and crampons and looked at each other and recognized that the snow had stopped us, not leg pain/weakness nor shortness of breath.  Since we have been planning for some time to head to Utah and to the Grand Canyon for a fall outing we felt we had demonstrated that we both were ready for the challenges.

About a year ago on a boating trip to the San Juan Islands


7000 ft level on Mt. Rainier and feeling good!!

Final Photo:

Helping Gma sift dirt from the deck project.


No comments:

Post a Comment