Update 7/25/07- The Big Chute

Peterborough lift lock

Hello to all,

Narrow Trent Canal following a catamaran

Scene along the Trent Severn- notice space
between markers and shore

We completed the Trent Severn Waterway on Saturday. It was a great trip. The last section was just beautiful with rivers lakes and sometimes very narrow channels running between granite shores covered with pines and many camps. If this sounds familiar it was similar to Penobscot Bay without the tide and with fresh water that you could actually swim in.

After Orillia, we stopped at Lock 43 - Swift Falls. This was a beautiful spot with a significant drop in elevation- 47 feet. There is no public access and the lock staff comes to work by boat.

The Big Chute - a waterless connection between Lakes Ontario and Huron

The next day we went to Lock 44- the big chute. This is not a lock at all but is actually a railroad car which lifts your boat out of the water and transports it over land about 200 yards down to the next section of the waterway. We tied up to the dock there and then, because the weather threatened, decided to stay for the night. The next day was very windy so we stayed one more day, observing how the wind and current affected the loading of the boats and doing some needed cleaning.

The next day (Saturday) we awoke to find the blue line (where boats waiting to go through tie up) already full of large boats so we got into line as soon as the first boat moved. The trip on the rail car was somewhat thrilling but uneventful and the remaining trip to the last lock ws through some of the prettiest areas we had yet been through. However, when we got to the last lock it was backed up horribly and we had to wait over 3 hours to get through it. We spen that night anchored at Beausoliel Island (another of the Canadian Parks) with 60 or 70 other boats.

Time Out entering the Big Chute

Mascot and Sun Cat in the Big Chute

On Sunday, our next door neighbor, Dan Tipton and Merideth's cousin Lois delivered donuts from Tim Horton's to our boat and we enjoyed a cup of coffee with them before heading into Penatang Harbor where we have been for the last few days attending the AGLCA Rendevous with about 60 other boats which are doing the loop at this time.

Tomorrow is a day for provisioning and on Friday we start a trip through the 30,000 islands of Georgian Bay on a Flotilla of approximately 25 boats.

Still having a great time!

Steve and Jean

Update 7/17/07 - On the Trent Severn

Hello to all.

We are presently in Orillia, Ontario at approximately mile 199 on the Trent Severn Waterway. Its been a varied trip up the waterway with lots to see and some very narrow and shallow spots. In the process, at Balsam Lake, we reached the highest point (above Sea level) anywhere in the world that a boat can travel under its own power.

After my last update, the next stop was Cambellford. There we visited the Chocolate Factory and the Military Museum. The Military Museum is a private collection of airplanes, vehicles and equipment of all kinds from WWI though the 1970’s. In addition, in the body shop across the way they manufacture cars to order. These cars have modern running gear but classic bodies such as 1957 Chevrolets. The bodies are copies custom built out of fiberglass. Very interesting!

From there, we stopped at Lock 17-Healy Falls which is peaceful and remote. We walked over to see the falls and enjoyed a quiet evening there. After that it was Hastings for the weekend. Hastings is a nice small town where the lock is located right in the middle of town. We enjoyed the farmer’s market and the Legion Yard sale and walked around quite a bit. Jean leaned about Poutine – a local dish consisting of French Fries, cheese and gravy and we had a nice fish and chips dinner with Ron and Angela from Jolly Tolly.

Sure hope they open they bridge!

Our Anniversary - Hastings Ontario

After 3 nights in Hastings we went to Lock 19 which is near Peterborough. We walked into town to find the Chamber of Commerce and Boaters World and to see the marina since we were staying at the lock. The next morning we went to the Peterborough lift lock where our youngest son Bill joined us. After a tour of the visitors center we went up the lock and proceeded on, finally stopping a lock 26 (Lakefield) for the night.

The pans of the Peterborough Lift Lock

The Peterborough lift lock is the highest hydraulic lift lock in the world. You drive your boat into a pan about 6 feet deep and large enough to accommodate approximately 6 boats like Sun Cat. A similar pan is 65 feet above and next to you for the boats going down. Each pan sits on a large column that essentially is a hydraulic cylinder like we steer the boat with. When the boats are loaded, the gates are closed and an extra foot of water let into the top pan. This makes the top pan 130 tons heavier than the bottom pan and a valve between the two columns is opened and the top pan comes down and pushes the bottom one up. Simple but still amazing!

After the lift lock we traveled through 5 conventional locks in the next 7 miles before stopping at lock 26 for the night. Bill got a quick but intense lesson in locking that day!

The next stop was the village of Buckhorn. Buckhorn is small and we walked around a bit. We did find the bakery and got to try some (more) local bread. After that it was on to Bobcaygeon, which was very busy. We walked around quite a bit, found the bakery again and also toured the museum which was primarily about the town’s start as a lumbering center.

Bill & Jean in Buckhorn

After that it was on to Fenlon Falls which is a very active tourist town with a pretty waterfall. We stayed at the top of the lock next to a very pretty park but right near the center of everything.

Docked in Fenlon Falls

The next day was probably the hardest we had. We went through our last “up” lock at Rosedale and went out into Balsam Lake which is 840 feet above sea level. Then we went into the Trent Canal. This was a real nail biter. It was so narrow we could not have turned the boat around if we wanted to and there were few places wide enough to pass another boat. The sides were rock lined and the whole canal was only 6 feet or so deep. We then started down beginning with the Kirkfield Hydraulic lift lock which is the second highest lift lock in the world. However for us it was a down so we drove into a pan which was over 50 feet above the canal below. That was followed by two lakes both of which had only narrow shallow channels with lots of weed. The second (Canal Lake)had so much weed we had to stop several times to reverse the props to clear off the weeds. We then went through a series of down locks, stopping at lock 39 for the night. Lock 39 is a quiet park setting with nothing but farms around it although we did get some train noise.

Sun Cat at Lock 39

After that it was 3 more locks and then across Lake Sincoe, arriving at Orilla on Sunday afternoon. That evening we attended at “pot luck” with other loopers including Sea Knight, Irish Eyes, Sue Sea Q, Restless Spirit and Sequel. We also took Bill out to dinner to celebrate his birthday. The next day we rented a car and drove him back to Peterborough to get his car for him to start his drive home. It was nice to get in a visit with him and he was a big help going through the locks.

Today we are going to get the bikes out and play tourist. We're continuing to have a great time in Canada and are looking forward to the AGLCA Rendezvous coming up.


Steve and Jean

M/V Sun Cat

Update 7/3/07 End of the Erie, Oswego, Thousand Islands and start of the Trent Severn

Hello to All,

We stayed at Sylvan Beach one night after sending Steve on his way home. Sylvan Beach is a resort town complete with an amusement park and it was an interesting day walking around watching the tourists and the local boaters. By Sunday night, however, all was quiet!

We had planned to stay a second night there but the weather was favorable for crossing Lake Oneida so we took advantage and went over to Brewerton on the other side of the lake, stopping at the town docks. In front of us was a railroad bridge and it was fun watching the local kids jumping off into the water. Ginger and Laura on Stargazer were taking their pictures in action and giving them to the kids! We also walked around a bit. Not a lot to see there and most of the stores were over 5 miles away.

The next day we traveled a whole mile to the other side of the railway bridge, stopping at Ess Kay marina as the weather was threatening and I wanted to be near a source of parts. I spent part of the day disassembling the hydraulic steering cylinder to replace all of the seals. That part of the project went well, however it took several days to bleed all of the air out of the system. Another maintenance lesson! That afternoon, we borrowed the courtesy car and did some shopping and then the rains came!

The next day, as 4 more Loopers arrived, we left and finished our trip on the Erie Canal and turned north on the Oswego Canal, stopping for the night in Phoenix (NY not Arizona). Phoenix turned out to be a great stop. The town docks are in the middle of a nice parka and the town is good walking . We found a farm stand and got some more strawberries. It seems like we’ve been having fresh strawberries all year. That evening, Phoenix had its classic car drive in. People bring their classic cars into town, the local restaurants serve food & drink outside and they have music as well. We saw some really neat cars there.

From there we went to Oswego. Our original plan was to cross Lake Ontario on Friday (based on a favorable weather forecast). However, by Thursday evening it was clear that Friday and Saturday would both be bad and Sunday was sounding questionable. SO we shopped, visited with other loopers and played tourist as well as doing some cleaning and other light maintenance on the boat. Thursday night is the Farmer’s Market in Oswego but it’s not like any other farmer’s market we’ve been to. They block off a major downtown street and the city provides a stage with a live band. In addition there are food vendors as well as the normal farm stands plus a bakery and most importantly a winery. We also toured the Maritime Museum and Fort Ontario and walked around quite a bit. On Friday night there was a group dinner with some of the other loopers present and on Sunday night Ron and Angela on Jolly Tolly hosted a happy hour for the loopers. Jean and I also celebrated our 40th anniversary on Sunday. In all it was a good stay.

On Monday, we crossed Lake Ontario accompanied by Jolly Tolly... The seas started out flat but built to a little over a foot by the time we cleared the first islands (about 30 miles) and found some lee. We landed in Prinyer Cove near Picton, Ontario which is located in Prince Edward County which is really an island but is not to be confused with Prince Edward Island which is off of Nova Scotia. In any event, we stopped at our friends Ed Close and Deb Arnold’s house which had a dock right on the cove. From there, we called into customs and were cleared into Canada. That night, Ed hosted Jean and I and Ron and Angela for a nice dinner of “Cowboy Steaks” which are products of Prince Edward County.

On Tuesday, we borrowed a car from Ed and took a tour of the county. The county includes part of the Ontario “Taste Trail’ which leads one to various businesses that produce foods. Our tour wound up including a cheese factory as well as several wineries, a yacht club, resort and several parks.

The next day we left for Kingston where we stayed at the Confederation Basin Marina. We had several nice walks around the town and did some errands but unfortunately the Great Lakes Maritime Museum was closed. That evening there was music in the park next to the marina and we were treated to an air show by the Royal Canadian Air Force.

The next day, we made a short trip into the Thousand Island Park where we spent two nights at Beaurivage Island. We walked around the island several times and generally relaxed. The area reminded us a lot of cruising in Maine except that the water was fresh and there was no tide.

On Saturday we returned to Ed & Deb’s. On Sunday, we attended a Canada Day party at the local marina put on by the GHOST organization. (GHOST is either Geriatric Holy Order of Sailing Troubadours or Geriatric Horny Order of Sailing Troubadours) depending on who you talk to. In any event it was a good time with Ed and Deb and several of their friends.

On Monday, we left Prinyer Cove and headed for Trenton which is the start of the
Trent- Severn Waterway which will eventually take us to Lake Huron. We anchored that night in Sandy Cove, a popular anchorage about 10 miles from Trenton. Incredibly, it was the first time we had anchored since Sandy Hook.

From there, we got off early (for us) about 7:30 and headed for Trenton and started up the waterway, stopping at lock 10 for the night. Almost all of the locks have parks near them with “moorings” along the lock walls that one can spend the night at. Lock 10 was out in the country and very peaceful and quiet which we needed after all of those locks. We are now over 200 feet above Lake Ontario and still going up.

Start of the Trent-Severn Waterway

Typical lock - note lock tenders opening gates manually

A navigation mark

Healey Falls Lock

As you can see, we are staying very active and continuing to really enjoy this cruise. Happy Fourth of July and best wishes for an enjoyable summer to all.

Steve & Jean

Sun Cat/ Trader Update 6/17/07 on the Erie Canal

Hi All,The last week and a half have just flown! We are presently in Sylvan Beach, NY which is on the eastern shore of Lake Onieda, north and a bit east of Syracuse. This is mile 128 of the Erie canal.We left Kingston after my lat update and spent a night in New Baltimore. We stayed there primarily to see the "historic district" which sounded good in the guides but turned out to be 5 houses! From there, we passed through our first large lock at Troy and went to Waterford where we spent 3 pleasant days.

Waterford Visitors Center -the start of the Erie Canal

 There is a lot to see and do there and it was a good place to reprovision. The highlight of our stay there was a visit with Greg and Bill Gardiner and Bill's wife Kathy. Greg and Bill lived across the street from us when we lived in Gloversville, Ny in the mid 1950's and we had not seen each other in 40 years. Last Sunday, Bill and Kathy and their daughter Bailey traveled with us up the Waterford locks ( all 5 of them) which raised us about 170 feet above the Hudson River. Bailey is now a qualified power boat driver.

The Falls of the Mohawk in Waterford

We stayed Sunday night at lock 8 and then proceeded on to Canajaharie where we spent 2 nights. Lock 8 is largely out in the country with some train and road noise but a nice stop. At Canajaharie we hiked almost 2 miles up to Canajaharie Gorge which was very pretty and would be spectacular with more water running. I remember visiting there as a kid. I couldn't help but think how much my brother, the train enthusiast, would like it there as a train ran on the opposite side of the canal every 15 to 20 minutes.

The dock at Canajaharie

The next night we stayed at lock 16 which was another pretty stop along the canal. We rode our bikes along the canal bike path back to St Johnsville where we toured the local museum which is in the library and bought some local bread and cheese at the store. After that we went to Herkimer which was another free dock but much too close to the NY Thuway to be called pleasant.

Our guide explains food prep and storage at Herkimer home

The next stop was Ilion which is a pretty village with a nice municipal marina. There we toured the Remington Arms factory and were joined by son Stepehn who also was able to tour the factory. That afternoon, we took Steve's car back to Little Falls where we toured the home of General Nicholas Herkimer. It was a very informative tour of how the most prosperous colonists lived in Revolutionary times and the house was wonderful to see. General Herkimer is famous for commanding the colonial troops at the battle of Oriskinay which stopped the British advance down the Mohawk in much the same manner as the victory at Saratoga stopped the British advance down the Hudson which would have divided New England from the rest of the colonies.

Our limo ride

The next day we took Steve's car to Sylvan Beach topre-position it for us to drop him off here today. Where it was Jean's Birthday (a special landmark) we took a limosine back to Ilion for the fun of it. It was kind of cool to have the limo pull up in both marinas and Jean and Steve got a kick out of it as did some looper friends of ours. Last night we spent at lock 21. Skipper Bob's cruising guide describes it as very quiet and it lived up to that and then some. The grounds were beautiful and there was no highway or train noise. This morning we traveled the remaining 6 miles to Sylvan beach and said good by to Steve.The last few weeks the scenery has been outstanding - a reminder of how beautiful and varied upstate New York is.


We hope everyone's summer is going well. We're having a wonderful time here in New York State.

More pictures from the Erie:

Junction of canals in Waterford

Approaching Lock 3

A flood control gate

Typical lock and dam

Sun Cat above Lock 11 for evening

Jean and Steve at Herkimer Memorial

Scene on the Mohawk

SUn Cat/Trader Update 6/5/07 - New Jersey and the Hudson

Hello to all,

Time slips by here between updates faster than I can keep up with it. We had two very nice days running up the Jersey shore. It was easy navigation- New Jersey to port- and fairly calm seas. we anchored for a night in the basin to starboard just after entering the river at Atlantic City and then proceeded up the coast to Sandy Hook the next day, anchoring in Horseshoe Cove.

Last Dance anchored at Atlantic Highlands

Going into the basin at Atlantic City was interesting to say the least. It was a warm sunny memorial day and we had to pass through an unmarked channel less than a boat length from dozens of boats beached out to our starboard. We never saw less than 10 ft of water however.

After Horseshoe Cove we traveled a whole 2 miles to Atlantic Highlands where we anchored behind the breakwater, went ashore and toured the town. Its a good stop with most of the stores a cruiser needs handy to the waterfront. We enjoyed a nice evening with fellow loopers George and Beth on "Last Dance".

The harbor at Atlantic Highlands

The next day we left the boat anchored at Atlantic Highlands and took the "Seastreak" ferry to Manhatten where we got on another ferry to the Statute of Liberty and Ellis Island. Ellis island was great. My grandfather passed through there in 1893 and we were able to look up his ship's manifest and obtain a picture of the ship he was on. The Museum and movie were very interesting as well. Jean and I marveled at our timing as well as we were the last people on the ferry at Atlantic Highlands, among the last 10 to go to Liberty Island, walked around there, immediately got back on the Ferry and got to Ellis island and then only waited about 4-5 minutes to go back to Manhatten where we did a bit of shopping.

Ellis Island

Inside Ellis Island

The Werra - my Grandfather came over on this

The next day (Friday) we went to Tarrytown where we had dinner with our friends from Maine, Claire an Dennis Collins and on Saturday were joined by our Niece, Heather Purdy. We played tourist that day, visiting Kykuit, the Rockefeller family estate. It was another very worthwhile tour.

The Mansion

Some of the gardens

After a stop at Marlboro, we've spent the last two days here at Kingston, playing tourist and shopping. We're on the city docks (its interesting putting a 41 foot boat into a 20 foot slip). The Hudson river museum and a Trolley museum are nearby and the city bus will take one all over town. We had a nice visit last night with Ron and Jean on Dubhe III, and Doug and Kathie on Winnie W. Both of these boats are also doing the loop. Tonight we had dinner with two more loopers, Larry and Lola on Lola Marie and David and Marla on Adesso.


The Hudson is absolutely gorgeous once one gets above the George Washington Bridge. The Palisades are followed by the mountains which reminded me of Somes Sound on Mt Desert Island (Maine). We passed Bear Mountain and Storm King mountain as well as the military acadamy at West Point. If one is a train buff, the railroads run on both sides-passengers on the east bank and frieght on the west bank- and the trains run frequently.Tomorrow we continue our journey upriver to a yet to be chosen destination.

In my last update I mistakenly announced our new blog as suncattrader@blogspot.com. That isn't quite right. The blog can be accessed at suncattrader.blogspot.com and I want to thank Ed and Tina for strightening me out on this.
Continuing to have a great time!

Steve and Jean
Aboard Symbol 41 Trawler Sun Cat
Pictures from the Hudson:

Empire state building and Chelsea Piers

Passing under the George Washington Bridge

The Palisades

On the Hudson

West Point

City Docks in Kingston

Entrance to Kingston