Month: June 2025

The time has finally come, today we will be traveling “TO” the famous Welland Canal (Part-1), and tomorrow we will be traveling “THRU” the Welland Canal (Part-2).

Today’s post will be about – how to prep for going thru the Canal & all the things you have to do and know for a successful trip thru the Canal.

The first thing you need to do is read & study – St Lawrence/Welland Things to Know

Here is an outline for the basic process

1. Sign up online to become a customer of the St Lawrence/ Welland System. Click Link

2. Pay the Pleasure Boat Welland Canal Fee Online= $200

3. Make your Reservation to transit the canal before 7am on day of transit. You can make your reservation months in advance if you are sure of your date (you can edit your date after the reservation). If you wait too close to your desired date, you could be “locked-out”. We made our reservation 2 days before our planned arrival, there is a calendar screen to pick available dates for Upbound & Downbound transit.

4. The transit direction thru the canal is titled – UPBOUND or DOWNBOUND. This was a bit confusing at first, because we thought that Lake Ontario to Lake Erie would be downbound. Not True – Upbound/Downbound refers to Up/Down in Elevation/WaterLevel, not location. Our Port Weller (Lake Ontario) to Port Colbourne (Lake Erie) transition is Going Up in elevation, thus we are UPBOUND. Pleasure Boat Upbound Passages are only allowed thru the canal on ; Mon, Wed, Fridays. Downbound on Tu,Thu,Sat. I’m not sure about Sunday, it original looked like you could do an Upbound, but the calendar was not open for us.

5. On the day of transit (tomorrow/ Monday for the Mahi), we must Check-In at the Port Weller Pleasure Craft Small Boat Dock BEFORE 9am (between 7:00 & 8:30am). Check-in to the “Seaway Control Center” ; VHF= ch 14 or Phone= 289-690-43445.

6. The 1st Lock begins @ 9am and the canal system list the transit time thru the 7 Locks as a 12 hour process (ugh) !!!

7. Lights inside the Locks (3); Solid Red = do not pass the L/A sign (lock authorization). Flashing Red = continue, pass well be granted soon, & Green = Enter the Lock

8. Crew – A minimum of 3 people are required to transit the locks (captain, bow line, stern line). You must watch the line handler for signs on where to go in the Lock, your assigned position. The Lock Handler will use finger and arm signals to direct you where to go. There are 3 signals; Finger– go to wall pointed to by the Lock Handler. Shoulder Tap – go to boat pointed to and raft off of them. Shoulder Tap & Finger– go to a specific boat & in a speficic row & raft off of them.

9. Starboard or Port Tie – Locks #1 & #2 are Starboard Tie Locks. Locks #3-#7 are Port Tie Locks, Locks #8 is a Starboard Tie, if necessary ( usually #8 is a drive thru, it’s only a1 ft Lock).

10. Other Notes; Max Speed = 7mph (6kt), the entire canal is 27 miles long. The water level rise is (lift) = 326ft.

Welland Canal Trivia

1. The Canal is 27 miles long
2. Max vessel size = 740ft x 78ft
3. Max Draft = 26ft (humm)
4. 8 Locks, 7 + 1 potential drive thru
5. Each lift will be 43-49ft
6. Construction = 1824-1833
7. It is very close to Niagra Falls
8. Lake Erie is 326ft higher than Ontario
9. There is a 116ft bridge hight limit
10. It takes commercial ships 12 hours to transit the canal.

Surprizingly, only about 3,000 ships use the Welland Canal each year (8-10 per day) They carry around 40,000,000 tons of goods. The canal played a big role in the growth of Toronto. It allowed goods from Great Lakes cities like Cleveland, Detroit, Milwaukee, and Chicago to reach the port of Montreal or Quebec City. From there, goods could be shipped all over the world. The Welland Canal became more important than other canals in the area, like the Erie Canal, because it offered a shorter path to Lake Erie.

So this is what all of our Welland Canal research says, we’ll find out tomorrow what really happens 🙄. Stay tuned for our next post – Welland Canal Part -2 tomorrow night.

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After our 3 hour voyage today, we arrived at the St Catherine’s Marina at Port Heller (Lake Ontario). Unfortunately we had 2 issues; 1) The water level at St Catherine’s was very shallow, we were kicking up mud, so we decided to bail out. There was an anchorage very close by. You can see in the screen dump – the Mahi in the Red Arrow, the Welland Canal entrance along the LHS of the screen, and St Catharine’s Marina in the lower right.

The next order of business was to clear customs, by calling 1-800-CAN-PASS. But ops, it didn’t work. After a few head scratching moments, I figured out that I needed to call 1-888-CAN-PASS 😃. Then more fun. The phone reception was sketchy – I got 10 minutes into the call with customs agent #1 and the line went dead. I waited 15 minutes for a call-back, but alas there was no call-back. So I called back again to agent #2 and repeated the process of names, passport numbers, boat registration, etc. This time all was good.

To check into Canadian Customs you need to have ready; 1) Passport Numbers, 2) How Long you will be in Canada, 3) Your Purpose for visiting Canada, 4) Your Vessel Documentation Number, 5) Your Arrival Port, 6) Your departing Port, 6) Alcohol & Fire Arms declarations.

So it’s about 2pm on Sunday June 29th, all the prep work is done, it’s time to go swimming. Our little anchorage is quite nice & the Lake Ontario water is very pretty, but not as pretty as The Exuma Islands, two years ago with Jerry and Deena.

Here is some video of our anchorage.

Thanks all for today folks. Wish us “Luck” in the Welland Canal tomorrow. Our next post will be from Lake Erie, after we complete the WC.

Thanks for reading,

Mike, Deena, and Jerry

Yesterday’s blog is being re-posted, I forgot one of the big highlights of the day.

We were going to dinner at Murph’s in Rochester NY, and look what we saw.

We left Oswego New York today at about 7am. The wind/ waves were predicted to be high, but the wind was from the SE so we figured that we could ride the south shore.

The first hour of the ride was great, but as our direct, shortest distance route took us further away from shore (5-7 miles), the water started getting a bit uncomfortable.

So we made an abrupt change in course, heading closer to shore, and as expected – the waves calmed down to a very comfortable ride for the next 4 hours.

The heavy purple line was the original course, the light yellow & red lines were the revised course. The red arrow is the Mahi.

We traveled 60 miles, departing at 7am with a 1:45pm arrival.

We had the daily “safe arrival drinks”, checked in with the very friendly staff, and then took the pre-dinner naps.

Short rain burst at 5pm, only 20 minutes. Then it was time for exploring.

We had a nice Tiki Bar right next to our marina, and the marina gave us 2 free drink wooden coins, so we felt compelled to go see what we could get with our drink Wooden Coins.

The Tiki Bar was called “Schooners”. It was a pretty cool place with live music, a typical bar band.

Schooner’s was pretty cool, the music was good, but we had a greater purpose on our list.

Every time we dock in a new city, I try to find out what Restaurants, Bars, and Pubs are nearby. I stumbled on this one.

We had a fine dinner at Murph’s. The food was good, the service was great, and we got a free “Murph’s” glass.

Right next door to Murph’s, was a liquor store. I was gettin’ worried because I was down to the last bottle that Carrie had got for me back in St Johnsville.

The liquor store only had 2 bottles of Anejo Tequila, and I let the woman also looking for Anejo get the other brand. So I was stuck with this one. Sorry Frank, it is not up to our normal standards, but I was desperate.

So the night ended with sampling the Villa One Anejo Tequila, in the Murph’s glass.

It was indeed a good day.

Thanks for reading,

Mike, Deena, & Jerry

Hey Blog Followers,

Today was a great day & we are now finally done with the New York Canal System.

23 Locks on the Erie Canal & 7 Locks on the Oswego Canal.

We had a great ride today, but it was not without drama, luckily the Mahi was not involved.

Drama #1 – We were the 4th vessel into Lock #23, it was our first lock of the day. We were in the back of the lock on the starboard side. About 5 minutes into the water level drop, we heard & watched a woman from the boat in front of us on the port side of the lock, yelling – stop stop stop !

The woman had either attempted to temporarily cleat the lock drop line to her boat, or the lock line (that you usually hold with your hands) became entangled on the cleat. The water level was going down and the stern of the boat was being held up by the lock drop line. The boat started listing heavily as the water level went down. Several of us in the Lock were yelling to cut the line. It seemed like forever, but finally the husband arrived with a knife, cut the line, and the port side of the boat dropped heavily back down into the water with a heavy splash. The line was under so much tension that it sounded like a gunshot when he cut the line. Photo below is an old photo just to remind you what a drop line looks like, normally you just hold on to the drop line during the locking process. This was not the woman who had the issue today.

Many lessons here, but a couple to mention. 1) Don’t cleat the drop line, especially when the water level is going to drop, 2) If you do use the cleat for leverage to help hold the drop line, make sure that it is still slipping every few seconds, 3) always have a sharp knife at the ready and know where it is at for quick retrieval, 4) when you cut the line, make sure that everyone else is clear from the spring back from the line under tension.

Luckily nobody was hurt and the expensive Azimut boat seemed ok.

It was frankly amazing that the cleat did not rip out of the gunwale of the boat.

Drama #2 – We were in the 3rd Lock on the Oswego Canal. We were all secure, the boat behind us was secure, and our 3rd traveling partner for the day, a 40ft sailboat named Pursuit, was just entering the lock on the Starboard side. The sailboat had been in 2 locks with us previously, but this time his one & only engine apparently stalled as he was coming down from a higher engine speed to idle. The sailboat almost hit the Mahi, almost hit the exit door of the lock with his lowered mast, and did bang hard into the starboard side of the lock wall. Luckily nobody was hurt & the sailboat appeared ok.

Further down the road at Lock #5 on the Oswego Canal, we were treated to a very different bridge, immediately after the lock. I’m not sure what you call this type of cantilever drawbridge, is it still called a Bascule Bridge – IDK ?

After Lock #8 on the Oswego Canal, we entered the City of Oswego.

As luck would have it (not Jerry or Deena), shortly after we arrived at The Oswego Marina, the sailboat that lost power (Pursuit) joined us at Oswego Marina. They docked on the opposite side of the canal at the marina, because they are now also entering Lake Ontario, and it’s time for them to “raise the mast” on their sailboat.

I had never seen this process, so it was very interesting for me, maybe boring for you ?

It was a very long process taking about 2 hours. Oswego Marina has the device that sailors need to perform this task. It was a triangular structure with a cable/pully system – anybody know what is called (Brian Agar) ?

Here are several videos showing the process. There are five 45sec videos. I gave up video taping because the process took so long – silly blow-boaters, to much work 😃 😀 😄.

Ok, have you had enough sailboat mast video. See, I told you – buy a Power Boat, preferably with twin diesel engines for a whopping 2 miles per gallon.

That’s all from Oswego NY, off to Rochester NY tomorrow, about 60 miles. The waters are predicted to be “so-so” for wind/waves, but we wanna get to the Welland Canal for Monday’s Upstream transit (Upstream = Lake Ontario to Lake Erie).

I know it sounds backwards, but upstream means up in water level, not in North/ South terms.

There will be more to come on the Welland Canal, we’ll explain the entire process in a few days. Both, what they tell you to do (before) & and what actually happens to us (after). I’m very excited about this opportunity that Jerry & Deena have given me.

Adios from the Mahi Mahi,

Mike, Deena, Jerry.

You may remember the phrase “Trapped Like Rats” from our last post, when we were again held hostage by the Erie Canal Demons.

So we have an interesting story from Lock #20.

We became pretty good friends with lockmaster John, who takes his orders from bosses in the NY Canal System. John was actually the guy who texted me the photos of the tree falling on the house that killed the twins. He is a great guy.

Early morning reports for the potential opening of Locks #20/21/22 yesterday (Tue-24) were not very promising. Lock #22 still did not have power.

So due to the intense heat (95f & humid), no power at the lock wall & BOREDOM – we decided to go to the movie theatre, kill 3 hours of time, sit in air conditioning, and watch the new Mission Impossible Movie.

Prior to departing for the Theatre at 11:30am, I texted John and asked if he could text me, if there were any changes in status for the locks, John agreed.

So, we head off to the movie at 11:30am, the movie starts at 12:30pm, the movie ends at 3:15pm. At 3:30pm, 15 minutes after the movie ended, I receive a text from John advising that he now has the go-ahead to open lock #20 & that power had been restored to Lock #22 (what timing !!!).

We were back from the movie by 3:50, Engine’s warm by 4:05, shoving off the wall by 4:10pm, and in the Lock #20 by 4:30pm. The fastest departure that I have been a part of 😃.

We debated how far to travel after blast-off, wanting to get thru all 3 locks. But shortly after a couple of calculations, we realized that we could not make it to Lock #21 by the closing time of 6pm (remember trawler speed of 8mph, & 19 miles to Lock 22). But we wanted to get as far as we could go, and we did go 18 miles, all the way to #21, and tied up on yet another Lock wall for the night.

Today (Wed-25) we made it thru both locks #21 & #22, across Onieda Lake, and we are currently in Brewerton NY- one stop away from Lake Ontario 😃 😊 😀.

As the band “The Who” said in the movie Tommy ; I’M FREE – I’M FREE, and freedom tastes of reality !

Only 1 more Erie Canal Lock, and 8 Locks on the Oswego River, then we are done with locks – Oops, I forgot about that little one called the Welland Canal (8 locks).

Enough of the Locks. Today is 6 weeks to the day from our departure. As we stated in the last post, we have changed our plans from going into Canada on the Trent Severn Waterway, to coming back via Lake Erie. We are all bummed about not doing the Trent Severn & Georgian Bay, but that would have been another 2 weeks on an already well behind boat trip.

Here is a pictorial view of our trip, 6 weeks to the day. Note – this is just a Google maps recreation of our “approximate route” thru the eastern half of the United States. In spite of the issues with the throttle & the Erie Canal Locks – it has still been a heck of a trip.

As we mentioned in the last post, we will end with;
1) Lake Ontario to the Welland Canal
2) Welland Canal to Lake Erie
3) Lake Erie to the Detroit River
4) The Detroit River to Lake St Clair.

But let’s go back to Onieda Lake & the town of Brewerton NY.

Oneida Lake is the largest lake entirely within New York state, with a surface area of 79.8 square miles (ref – Lake St Clair is about 430 square miles). But since we were traveling from the far east end (Sylvan Beach) to the far west end (Brewerton), it sure seemed like a big lake. It was good to get that fresh water inland lake smell again.

Sylvan Beach was a cool little boat town right before we got onto Onieda Lake, but I didn’t snap any photos.

I did remember my photographic blogging duties when we got across Onieda into Brewerton, another cool little boating town. Photos below from the Onieda River coming into Brewerton.

That’s enough for tonight.

Tomorrow we’re off to Oswego NY (our entrance to Lake Ontario).

7:00am rise & 7:30am departure.

32 miles & 9 Locks – lock #23 on the Erie Canal & 8 Locks on the Oswego River.

Nitie Nite 😴

Mike, Deena, & Jerry

Have you ever watched the 3 Stooges and heard the phrase ” Trapped Like Rats”. Well that’s how we feel. Lock #20 is still not open, and we understand now that it is not open because Lock #22, about 20 miles away – has no power !

Saturday night during the big train storm, it appears that the area near Lock #22 had a major storm, with tornado like events, even a tree falling on a house killing two young children – OMG 😳. It kind of puts our small issue of not getting thru a lock into more perspective.

The lock #22 operator said that the lock did not have power, they were using a generator for the lock office but it wasn’t strong enough to open the lock. And that they were pulling Hugh Logs out of the canal and lock water.

We are stuck at Lock #20.

I spoke with the Lock #22 operator yesterday, he said that it looked like a war zone up there.

So as I write this post, it’s now Tuesday June 24th, and we are on our 3rd day of being Trapped at Lock #20.

So it’s a good day to just discuss random things.

Random Subject #1 = the NY Canal System Notice to Mariners – it has become apparent during our cruise of the Erie Canal, that the website I used to check every day is kind of useless, because it is not updated very frequently. Here is a view of the Lock Status Map from yesterday, while we we held captive and know that locks #16-22 are closed. The map shows all green/open. Even the worded update posts are a couple days behind the actual events. I checked again this morning and the map still shows all green (Locks open). The NYCS did add a worded update post yesterday saying that the locks 16-22 were closed, but did not update the map.

Random subject #2 = We were already running a little late. And now due to a 5 day delay initially with lock #16/17 (Marlboro Yacht Club), a 5 day delay with the Starboard Throttle (St Johnsville) & at least a 3 day delay with Lock #22 – we have made the decision to change our course back to Detroit.

Original Course- from Lake Ontaio = 1) Trent Severn Waterway, 2) Georgian Bay, 3) Drummond Island, 4) Lake Huron, 5) St Clair River, 6) Lake St Clair.

New Course- from Lake Ontario = 1) The Welland Canal, 2) Lake Erie, 3) Detroit River, 4) Lake St Clair.

This change in course will shave off 10-14 days and result in our arrival back in Lake St Clair, probably just after the 4th of July (est July 4th-8th) – if we get thru lock #22 tomorrow July 25th.

We’re bummed out about not going thru the Trent Severn, Peterborough Lift Lock, The Big Chute, & Georgian Bay. But Jerry & Deena do have some family events for mid July & I assume that Mrs Murphree would like her husband to get home too. Sounds like a nice trip for 2026 😃.

The good news is that The Welland Canal will be a new experience for me & Deena, Jerry did the Welland many years ago. I am excited about adding the famous Welland Canal, to my list of Boating Achievements in my life ✔️

Random Subject #3 = It has been so hot, and we are on a lock wall with no power. We have been using the generator sparingly only at night. And the lock wall is down in a valley with little airflow. So Deena & I took some chairs up to a park at the top of the lock that had a good breeze. While passing time reading books and playing on the internet, we noticed how loud the chirping from the birds was (LISTEN to the video).

Random Subject #4 = On a hot summer day, with no swimming pool available, it was time for The Nestea Plunge

The Erie Canal is really not that clean, so Deena recommended that I get hosed off before coming back on to The Mahi.

That’s all for now folks, thanks for reading, hopefully we’ll have a more exciting post for you next time.

Mike, Deena, & Jerry

Mahi Mahi

The plan for Sunday was an early 7am departure to cover 40 miles & 4 Locks (#19/20/21/22).

40 Miles = about 5 hrs at 8mph

4 Locks = 15-20 min/Lock = 1-1.5 hrs

Total = 6 to 6.5 hour travel day.

We woke at 6:30am to a pouring rain. It rained heavy all night. About 7am, the rain let up to a drissle – so off we went. Fire up the Engines, pull in the Power Cables, prep the lines for release While-on-the-Boat. Off we go !

Step 1 = Lock #19 Complete ✔️

In case you didn’t notice in the photo above, after the heavy rains last night the entire Erie Canal was full FULL OF DEBRIS, it was like a mine field of crap in the water !!!

There were several places that we had to go to idle speed, shift to neutral, and coast thru the debris, to prevent potential damage to the props.

So after making it thru Lock #19, and having the entire lock to ourselves, we thought that today was going to be a great day. If you get into the 1st lock of the day by yourself, you usually are alone in the rest of the locks for the day. Even the weather was starting to clear up.

When we arrived at Lock #20 and called the Lock operator for westbound passage, he gave us the BAD NEWS – ALL LOCKS BETWEEN 16-22 are now shut down due to the heavy rains last night.

I guess we were lucky to have even clicked off 16 miles & 1 lock due to our early start, before they shut everything down.

Now we will spend another night on another lock wall, but with no power. Gotta run the generator. We belive it will be only a 1-day delay, based on the feedback from the lock operator.

Here are the surroundings for tonight – it’s just us and a late wall arrival “Sweet Dreams”, with their smiley face bow. They are a nice ole couple who also made it thru Lock #19, after us but before they shut down the canal.

To kill all the free time we now had on our hands, we went for a walk around the lock & played the Mexican Train domino type game.

Here are some photos that we normally cannot not get because we are “IN” the Lock, not walking on top of it. Below is shown the gearing which opens/ closes the lock door & a photo of the lock operators station.

It was a highly competitive game of Mexican Train, I did win of course, but I have the advantage of drinking Tequila most days.

Our plan is to hopefully get thru Lake Onieda tomorrow (Mon) & hopefully make it to Lake Ontario on Tuesday.

Thanks for reading.

Mike, Deena, & Jerry

Mahi Mahi

Hello blog followers,

SUCCESS, the Mahi Mahi is back underway !!!

After waiting 2.5 days for the Slave Assembly Lock Out Valve, in spite of paying for Next Day Air, the part finally arrived at 5pm yesterday (Fri-20th).

Installation took about 30 minutes, bleeding took about 1 hour, and celebration with Tequila & Deena Burgers took about 2 hours.

Today we finally left St Johnsonville after 5 days & moved a short 20 miles to The Village of Ilion. We purposely selected a short mileage day for a couple reasons; 1) We were going thru the infamous Locks #16 & 17, and you can only go idle speed for 8 miles, between these 2 locks (due to the embankment repair a couple weeks ago).

Reason 2) The next Village of Ilion is supposed to be a small little town with lots to see in walking distance.

But first back to St Johnsonville. We cannot leave without thanking a couple special people. Harbormaster Frannie, who treated us like royalty, gave us 3 free days of dockage, and the first use of the newly repaired pump out machine ♥️.

Sorry, we never did get a photo of Frannie.

Second, was our on-call driver Carrie. She would drop what she was doing anytime we called, to transport us to: the hydraulics shop, the grocery store, & the ATM. She also made several pickups for us, even using her own money to advance pay for what we needed. She is one of the many special people we have met on this journey.

Ok, back to today’s Voyage. It seemed like a long 20 miles going thru only 3 locks. But like I said, there are still special “idle speed only” rules between #16 & 17.

We made our way to Lock 16. They had special arrival times – you could only pass thru westbound at 8am/10am/12pm/2pm/etc.

There was nothing special about lock #16, but I felt compelled to take a photo of one of the two locks that gave us so much anxiety a couple weeks ago, regarding – when would the lock open and allow us thru. Little did we know about the hydraulic throttle problem that would ultimately be our biggest issue.

The entrance gate to lock#16

After lock #16, when we finally reached the area of the embankment rupture, it was anticlimactic. There did not seem to be a very big repair area. The embankment looked solid, there was still a lot of trees & greenerie to absorb boat wakes. But the Erie Canal is parallel & very close to another small tributary of water. There was a section of road between the canal & the tributary that looked like it had been washed out.

The slow ride from #16 to #17 again felt like we were on the Amazon or Congo Rivers, nothing but water & greenerie.

During the long/slow ride, Deena told me that I should be wearing a hat while locking in the hot sun. I told her that the headset would not fit over my Tilley hat. So she offered me one of her hats, the ballcap from Belhaven. What do you think – should I wear it traditional front, or backwards like the sports athletes.

Ok, we finally made it to Lock #17.

Lock #17 is a little special, in that it is the highest lift/drop on the NY Canal System (40ft) & it has a guillotine gate vs a swing gate. Note for reference – there are other very high locks with swing gates. The Wilson Lock in Alabama with over a 100ft rise/drop (Ken/Carla- do you remember it, Dave Sylver, do you remember our ride thru the Wilson Lock). The 3 photos below are from the Erie Canal Lock #17.

For reference, here is a photo of the Wilson Lock in Florence Alabama – 100ft lift/drop. Look how small the 43ft Gettin’ Looped looked in this massive lock.

As we exited #17, we were treated to some rock climbers on Moss Island, also know as Pot-Hole Island (Ashley/Dave/Nellie – do you remember).

Finally after only 20 miles and only 3 locks, we arrived in The Village of Ilion after 4.5 hours of travel.

The “Village of Ilion Marina” looks a lot like our last marina at St. Johnsville. They are both really trailer parks, with a small marina attached, right on the Erie Canal. And we love them both vs the mega-marinas.

We did learn of a relatively significant distinction for the Village of Ilion. It was the original home to Remington firearms for over 200 years. Founded in 1816 by Eliphalet Remington as E. Remington and Sons in Ilion, New York, it was one of the oldest gun makers in the United States and claimed to be the oldest factory in the country that still made its original product. Remington relocated to LaGrange Georgia in 2024, to a much more “gun-friendly” state.

After a short cat nap, we headed into town for dinner at Sorrento’s Italian & some grocery items from Aldi. A short 3 minute walk from the marina. Here are a couple shots from Ilion.

Deena & I ended the night with a Milk Shake (Mikie) & a Malt (Deena). Captain Luck is watching his manly figure. This Burger/Hot Dog joint is right next to our boat. They make an excellent Shake, and check out these prices, I thought that I was back in the 1950’s.

Tomorrow (Sun-22), we will go thru our last 4 Erie Canal Locks (#19/20/21/22). Then it’s a short 55 miles and 8 locks on the Oswego Canal – to Lake Ontario !

Finally, I would like to end this post with some prayers & blessings for our dear friend and Detroit Power Squadron comrade- Joanie Stoll.

Joanie passed away back on May 3rd. Her family, and many of our Power Squadron friends attended her memorial on Saturday in Michigan.

RIP Joanie, she was a wonderful person, always smiling and always in a good mood. ❤️

This blog post is for all you – mechanically inclined, problem solver folks.

If this is not your bag, you may want to skip this post.

As I sit here and write this blog, I am feeling blessed. The Mahi crew has been thru a lot in the last 3 days, but we are at piece now. Jerry & Deena went for a 20 min walk, on a hot day, to a place without Beer, Wine, Alcohol – so I stayed back to watch the boat 😃.

I had left over Pizza, a Bag of Chips, and Tequila. Look at my dinner surroundings, it is so peaceful & beautiful !

So today, one more Tequila bottle bites the dust. I think the Lucks have been dipping into my reserves.😁

So back to our last 3 days, and our current situation.

Current situation = we have been disabled for 3 days, and are waiting on a “Hynautics Check Valve” from a place in North Carolina.

Here is our story from the last 3 days.

3 days ago (Mon 16th) – Jerry is entering a lock, he throttles up to get past the swirling current at the entrance to the lock, and when he tries to come back down to idle the starboard throttle lever will not come back down to idle. Jerry puts the starboard transmission into neutral and uses one engine and steering to get us to the lock wall.

We made it thru the lock and got safely tied up on a free overnight wall, just after the lock.

We spent the night on the lock wall and discovered that one of the nylon lines going to the throttle slave assembly had a small on hole in it leaking a lot of hydraulic fluid. The line had been rubbing on a nearby bolt head. The photo cannot show the pin hole.

Luckily we had enough slack in the line to cut off 1″ of line, past the pin hole, and attach a new fitting onto the line (YES – Jerry had the spare parts).

After reviewing some of Jerry’s paperwork and doing some googling, we figured out how to bleed the system.

It was a long labor intensive process to bleed the system (1-2 hours). But we got the system bled and headed out the next day. We made it 10 miles and thru 1 lock, and then a similar event happened again. This time there were No Leaks, and the throttle slave assembly was frozen up. The throttle would not move from its elevated 1200rpm position (idle is 700rpm). So again, Captain Luck had to come into the lock on 1 engine + steering. But this time the throttle slave cylinder was completely locked up, it would not move.

Now is a good time to describe the Mahi’s throttle system. It is called a Hynautics Throttle Control System. Here are the major components –

1. Resevoir , 2) Charging Block, 3) Lock Out Valve, 4) Throttle Slave Assembly

The Mahi’s throttle & transmission system is a mechanical/hydraulic system, with trade name Hynautics. It is a very old system. There are 2 Transmission levers & 2 Throttle levers. Basically, when you move one of the levers, like the Starboard Throttle, it sends hydraulic fluid down to a slave cylinder attached to the engine. The hydraulic slave cylinder then moves a rod on the engine to raise or lower the engine speed.

Here are the components of the system

1. The Resevoir – this holds all the fluid for both transmission & both throttle controls. It has a sight glass to let you know how much fluid & how much air pressure is in the system.

2) The Charging Block – this block distributes the fluid to the 2 Trans shift systems & 2 throttle systems. By great design – all 4 systems are separated hydraulically from each other. If one system fails, the others are not affected. There are 9 hydraulic lines going into/out of the charging block – 4 trans lines, 4 throttle lines, and 1 supply line from the fluid Resevoir. The line with my finger & the line directly across, are the 2 lines involved in our problem – the Starboard Throttle.

3) The Throttle Slave “Lock Out Valve” –

This is the part that Gary from Marine Systems Controls said has gone bad.

The primary function of the STV-10 is to prevent unwanted engine retardation caused by heavy-duty governor springs or vibrations. OK- I don’t really understand this either, it sounds like it is a buffer Bergen the engine and throttle control systems.

The STV-10 locks the throttle slave’s arm, allowing it to be moved only by the sender (the sender is the throttle). This means that the throttle position is held in place by the control lever at the helm and is not affected by forces like engine vibration or the opposing force of the governor springs. This valve/block helps to isolate the throttle slave assembly from external diesel engine forces, that could affect the throttle position. It helps maintain a more precise engine speed control.

This may be good when it works properly, but seems like a terrible design when it fails.

Here is what the Google search result says – ultimately, the most serious consequence of a locked STV-10 is a loss of precise control over the engine’s throttle, potentially affecting the vessel’s maneuverability and speed.

The 2 lines on the LHS are from the Charging Block & Helm, the 2 lines on the RHS go to the Throttle Slave Assembly.

4) The Throttle Slave Assembly – this unit does all the hard work. It receives hydraulic fluid from the helm throttle lever, thru the Charging Block, then thru the Lock Out Valve, and turns the hydraulic fluid movement into a mechanical force, moving a lever that is connected to the engine throttle. Note – the throttle lever is disconnected from the Slave Assembly in this photo.

Now that we have all the components, let’s discuss our last 3 days.

Mon – 16th = we found the Slave Assembly frozen up, it would not move until we removed all the air & hydraulic pressure. And then it took a lot of force to move the throttle lever & piston.

Tue- 16th = So we thought we had an issue with the Slave Assembly. We found a company in San Diego that would rebuild the Slave for $500, but their 2 techs were on vacation until Thursday.

We found a local hydraulic guy that tried to help. He replaced the piston O-Ring & and retaining nylon Rings for $50. I thought the rings seemed loose, and the hydraulic guy agreed. Could this lock up a throttle, IDK ?

We returned back to the boat, installed the Slave with new rings, and began bleeding the system. After 1 hour of bleeding, we gave up for the night. Reminder – the original system bleeding that worked for 10 miles, also took a long time before it worked correctly.

Wed- 18th = We again tried more bleeding, and as we got further into the process, one of the 2 bleed ports began to flow really slow – OMG, what did we do !

Here is a photo of 1 of the 2 bleed ports.

So now we’re thinking “what have we done”, we have created contamination and blocked a port or valve in the system. How are we gunna find the blockage, how are we gunna clean the system without compressed air, we’re gunna have to disassemble the entire system, clean it, and bleed all over again.

After 30 minutes of panic, we settled down and began to make MORE phone calls. One of the calls that Jerry made got us to a second guy that turned out to be our savior (well 3rd place to God & JC).

Gary Thornsburg, out of North Carolina – Marine Control Systems, was the guy we needed the last 2 days. He knew everything about our Hynautics Throttle Control System.

After describing our initial problem and current status of no flow from the one bleed port, Gary told us the following –

Issue #1 – The original problem of the stuck throttle was not the Slave Assembly, it was in the Lock Out Valve. Remember that it’s purpose is to hold the throttle in position to counteract engine governor spring & vibration forces. In this case it “Locked Out” the throttle from talking to the Slave Assembly. This “lock-up” continued until we released the air & hydraulic pressure.

Issue #2 – Our lack of flow during last bleeding bleeding process was due to coagulated fluid collecting at the resevoir filter, from using an incorrect antifreeze in place of the no longer available Hynautic fluid. The other throttles and trans shifters were working due to the 100 psi pressure in the system, but potentially could have been shortly behind the starboard throttle, due to the restricted flow. Here are some photos of the Resevoir Filter & the Resevoir Tank that holds all the fluid (ok Dave Sylver, you had hinted about this). There is also a photo of the recommended replacement fluid for the Hynautic system to prevent the coagulation.

Note – this coagulation takes months or years of time to occur.

So back to The Root Cause of the throttle not being allowed to return to idle. Gary is sure, that the root cause is a bad Throttle Slave ” Lock Out Valve”. We were planning to UPS him our valve to be rebuilt, but as luck would have it – Gary had “1 NEW Lock Out Valve” left. It was more expensive than a rebuild, but to save time we ordered the new valve (from Gary), we also ordered the correct fluid (from Napa), and both items will be here tomorrow.

Gary advised us that the other 3 systems ( 2 trans shifters & the port throttle, will not have to be bled, because the Charging Valve hydraulically separates the 4 circuits.

Keep your fingers crossed for us, we should get the part & correct fluid tomorrow.

We have been blessed every step of this journey, Gary was just the most recent and currently most important blessing to be sent to us.

Oh, BTW – we have had some really cool stuff going on at this very low-key small marina.

We had a woman on a Jet Ski – DOING AMERICA’S GREAT LOOP. I had heard about her in the AGLCA forum, and today got to meet her. Look at the 4 cans of Fuel & the Chart Plotter on her jet ski.

We also have a 125ft sailboat touring the eastern half of the USA participating in the Tall Ships shows, The Liberty Clipper.

Harbormaster Frannie had told us the Liberty Clipper was coming prior to her arrival. In fact we had to move the Mahi forward to make room before the sailboat arrived. When the ship arrived, I thought that there was NoWay that she was gunna fit in the available space. The Captain did an incredible job at docking this vessel between two 40ft boats.

With only 1 engine and no thrusters. It was a very impressive docking . Look at how the forward and aft spires hang over the boat behind The Clipper, and over our Mahi in front.

That’s all for now, thanks for reading, wish us “LUCK” fixing our throttle issue and gettin back underway soon.

Mike, Deena, and Jerry 👋

As we reported on the last post, the time has finally come to enter the Erie Canal.

Our infamous locks #16 & #17 finally opened up on Friday the 13th 😲.

Many Loopers at the Albany Yacht Club were planning on waiting until Monday, to hopefully let the rush/chaos of the initial boats, pass over the weekend.

The crew of the Mahi had other ideas. Saturday the 14th was gunna be a rainy/dreary day, all day. We knew that the poor weather would scare off many other boaters. But we still have fears that the locks 16 & 17 could again be shut down if the repaired embankment fails again with the ongoing rain.

So our plan is ; Saturday =Locks 1-7, Sunday=Locks 8-15, Monday=Locks 16/17/18.

Today, Saturday the 14, as predicted – the weather was salty & the boat traffic was indeed very low. We were the 2nd boat at Lock #1, and only had 5 other boats to travel with thru the first 7 Locks. It was a great plan to start the Locks today, and a great day.

The scenery on the Erie Canal was very cool, sometimes making you feel that you were thousands of miles away on the Amazon River.

Back to the Locks, here are some action shots. The first photo is in a short 8ft lift Lock (wood doors). Photos 2/3/4 are all in a 40ft lift Lock (steel doors).

In the following video, water is filling, coming up about 40ft

Since we are starting to go thru a lot of Locks now on the Erie Canal & Later on the Trent Severn Waterway – it seems like a good time to talk about Locks and what you have to do when traveling thru a Lock.

A waterway Lock is essentially transporting you between 2 bodies of water at different heights. As we mentioned in the last blog, Lake Erie is about 500 ft higher than the Hudson River. If there were no locks, the Erie Canal would be good for White Water Rafting.

There are about 4 different ways to tie up in a lock – 1) Drop Cables, 2) Poles , 3) Steel Cables, & 4) Floating Bollards. These 4 methods exclude some very special Locks called The Peterborough Lift-Lock & The Big Chute Railcar Lock both on the Trent Severn Waterway in Canada.

1. Drop Cables – they are just lines hanging from the top of the Lock with weights on the bottom. You simply use an extension pole to pull the drop lines towards the boat, then hold on as the water level goes up/down.

2) Drop Pipes/Poles – they are like they sound, just a pole recessed into the Lock wall. You pull up to the pole and wrap your docking line around the pole and hold on while the waters goes up/down, letting the dock line slide up the pole.

3) Steel Cables – they are similar to Drop Pipes, but are 1″ thick steel cables that go from the Top to Bottom of the lock. Just like the Pipes, you simply wrap your docking lines around the Cable and hold on, letting the dock line slide up the cable.

4) Floating Bollards – they are a big posts recessed into the lock wall that go up/down with the water level. You simply wrap your docking line around the bollard and hold on. The advantage to this Lock device is that the bollard will raise up with the water level, so you can actually clete the line during the ride.

The Peterborough Lift-Lock – It’s like 2 big trays of water on a teeter totter. To articulate the lock, they pump in 1 foot of extra water into the top tray & the valves in the lock lower the top tray and raise the bottom tray. Your boat is in the tray of water. In the photo below, we are driving the boat into the lower tray & you can see the piston of the top tray holding it at the higher water level. We will do this with the Mahi in a few weeks
Lift-Lock Video = https://youtu.be/CWLnukSTvRY

Finally , The Big Chute (the most exciting lock for me) – it is essentially a Railcar that picks your boat up on straps, and transports your boat from one body of water, ACROSS LAND ON A RAILCAR, to another body of water. It is an amazing Lock. We will also do this Lock in the Mahi in a couple weeks

Well, that is your lesson on Locks for today, hope you enjoyed it.

Mike, Deena, and Jerry

Thanks for reading our blog 👋

Thursday June 12th, we traveled 54 miles from the Hudson River Maritime Museum Marina to the Albany Yacht Club.

Unlike Marlboro, the Albany Yacht Club is a somewhat sleepy place, no big greetings from the Commodore here. But the harbormaster Ron was a great guy, and helped us get fueled & safely into our slip under somewhat high winds & no dock pilings between you and your neighbor boat.

The Yacht Club is very pretty, has a nice pool, and supposedly great stuffed pork chops this Friday night.

After getting settled in, doing some laundry, and cleaning up a bit – we strolled into town to a place called the Illusive Restaurant. It was not that illusion, because me & Jonell had been there in 2018. When we entered, we saw a guy at the bar from the Yacht Club named Dave. So we shinnied up to the bar and ate there. Dave was an awesome guy and bought the first round of drinks for us.

After dinner I had a special treat. I was able to hook up with my investment broker’s neighbor Steve Murdock & tour his beautiful 55ft Fleming. Kind of a strange story, but my broker Randy Eschels is following our trip. Randy’s next door neighbor in Bloomfield Hills Michigan is doing the Great Loop – his name is Steve Murdock. So a couple days ago Randy attempted to hook us up. As luck would have it, we both ended up at the Albany Yacht Club at the same time. To further amplify the coincidence, while getting to know Steve, I found out that Steve is also good friends with my Detroit Power Squadron pals – Vince & Delphine Cooley. Steve/Vince/Delphine are all members of the Great Lakes Yacht Club in St Clair Shores Michigan. Once again we find out that “IT’S A SMALL WORLD” in the boating community.

I spent about an hour on Steve’s beautiful 55ft Fleming Yacht – getting to know Steve, drinking Tequila, & touring the boat. The boat is beautiful, but the engine room is spectacular !!!

Ok , time for The Big News Update. We had heard rumors yesterday & confirmed this morning (Friday the 13th 😲), that the ERIE CANAL LOCKS #16 & #17 ARE NOW OPEN !!!

Fire up them motors, it’s time to roll on. We have a very aggressive schedule over the next few days, because they’re is always the ongoing risk that the locks could close again if the fixes to the embankment between Locks #16 & 17 leaks to much.

So our plan for the next 3 days is ; Sat = Locks #1-7 (7 Locks, 31 miles), Sun = Locks #8-15 (8 Locks, 50 miles), Mon = Locks #16/17/18 (3 Locks, 20 miles).

You may ask – why not just do a very long day and go from Lock #1 to Lock #17 ?

The answer is that going thru Locks & bridges that have to be raised, is a very time consuming process. Our 7-8 locks per day plan, will be full 8 hour days long. And you have to coordinate marina or anchorage stops along the way & the options are much less than on the Hudson River.

That’s all for now from Albany NY.

Oh, BTW – we did have the Stuffed Pork Chop at the Club tonight. It was very good. We were also treated to enjoy our dinner with our new Looper friends Ted/Beth from Wastin’ Away & Steve from the vessel Patriot.

Nitie Nite 😴

Mike, Deena, and Jerry