Day 16: The last day

We woke up at 6:30 and had the boat at the fuel dock when they opened at 7. We did not have much of an idea how long it would take us to get home but guessed it would be 6 or 7hrs.

Belle woke up just as I had filled the tank and was not quite out of bed before we were ready to leave so once again the poor kid got shafted and would have to wait until we got home before she could get off the boat. I should add that the time keeper (my wife) would not allow us to look for a breakfast as we had to hurry up and get home… So I had what I hoped would be the last pop tart I would see for a very long time and we were off.

We lucked out with another nice day and some nice breezes and were once again motor sailing our way back home. Once we got to the mouth of the Detroit River it got pretty shallow and I’m pretty sure we were kicking up mud as we went. Unless you are in the big channel it is really shallow around there, luckily the lake is unusually high this year or we probably would have been calling sea tow several times prior to getting to the marina. At long last we had finally made it home. When I pulled into the marina it seamed much smaller then it looked from land. We saw our slip and attempted docking. Well apparently I turned a bit late and missed our slip. I was pretty impressed that I was able to do some maneuvering and got the boat turned around but as soon as I did the wind came by and blew us right into the dock beside us. Luckily both boats were out for the day as we were now sideways filing up both of their slips! Fortunately our new neighbors came over to help with a bit of coaching on the helm controls and then helped us walk the boat into the slip. Crisis averted. We got the boat tied up, bumpers out, stepped off the boat and our ride was there to take us home where Max was quickly dropped off and the grandparents ran away quickly for vacation!

We had spent the last 18 days living aboard our new to us Allmand 31ft sail boat. We completed a trip that was over 1000 miles going across the New York Harbor, up the Hudson River, across the Erie Canal, did our first overnight sail (38hrs on Lake Erie without stopping) and made it home to Detroit. We were first time boaters, with very little actual boating experience prior, traveling on a 30 year old boat that we had purchased on a snowy day in NJ nothing other then a surveyors report to go by, all while traveling with a 4yr old. Our friends, family, and co-workers thought we were crazy to even try such an adventure as new boaters but it turned out to be a great experience for the 3 of us and we are now looking forward to when Max gets a little older and we can start taking some trips as a family. The dream of taking a year off of work to spend it sailing up to Maine and then over to the Caribbean does not seem that far off any more!

Things that were great to have on the tip: A hand held radio, seems on most sail boats the radio is down in the living area which is hard to get to and probably even worse when someone is trying to hail you on the radio. I purchased a floating ICOM that worked great and rarely needed charging. Binoculars: Having owned a photography studio all our equipment had been Nikon and I knew the value of paying for good glass. The waterproof Nikon binoculars we bought worked great and actually made it easier to see in the dark then just my eyes alone. A nice chart plotter: We bought a Garmin 540s the day before the trip (I was going to try it without GPS going on charts alone but West Marine had a sale and my wife seemed to think it was not a bad idea to have one). The plotter was very easy to use and was great for all except the last couple days on the canal where the markers become unmarked and it did not even show that we were in water. It turned out to be great for trying to navigate at night, around Put-in-Bay (again at night), the Hudson River, and the Detroit area. A toaster oven (only worked when we had shore power): But worked out well for making pizza, toast, cookies, and other hot foods as our stove on board the boat is not currently in working order. Finally the Leapster & portable DVD player were great for keeping my daughter entertained as playing I Spy & all the other car games we played with our parents as kids on car tips does get old after a number of continues days ..

The only thing I wish we had on the trip was some way to have 110 power while underway. We had brought a little inverter with us but it was not much good other then to charge the DVD player, ipod or laptop while underway and with that the alternator was not really strong enough to recharge the house battery in any kind of reasonable amount of time after charging two devices. For our next trip we will have the propane stove fixed (it appears to be a smashed copper line not letting the gas though at the moment) and we are planning to buy one of the quiet Honda generators to take with us to top off batteries and provide limited power when anchored out.

Day 14 & 15: Lake Erie

It was official we had finished the Erie Canal and we had survived the Hudson River with no real issues. We had looked at the map and hoped to spend the next night in Erie Pennsylvania. While Amy and Belle took showers that morning I decided to have my first look at the chart and finally realized just how big Lake Erie is. We were now on what seemed like a hopeless time table and were starting to wonder what we were going to do as it was Friday and I was not sure we would make it back home by Sunday. Grandma had been watching our 1yr old (Max) while we were on this adventure and had planned to leave for vacation Saturday. We were already late getting back and needed to be at work on Monday. At this point we considered trying to get to Cleveland the second day and leaving the boat there to rent a car to go home until we could get another free weekend to bring the boat the rest of the way home.

Well it turns out we were all exhausted and ended up sleeping in, unfortunately we got out of the marina a bit later then we wanted to at about 9:30am and set out on the lake. It turned out to be a great day after the fog cleared from the storm the previous night. We decided to put the sails up and actually try doing some sailing, it was great! We quickly realized that it would be pretty late by the time we made Erie PA so we decided that we had been pretty luckily so far with the boat and we would try sailing though the night to see how much closer we could get to Detroit. We spent the rest of the day motor sailing though the middle of Lake Erie. At this point I should mention that we did not think to bring passports and were a bit afraid of going into Canadian waters without them so we were taking a slightly longer way across the lake to avoid any issues.

We decided to take shifts at the wheel, Amy put Belle to bed around 8 and soon after went to sleep in the cockpit with me with the agreement I would wake her up when I was ready. Sailing at night was one of the best experiences I have ever had; we had a completely clear night and great weather. Being able to look up and see all the stars reminded me of some of the time I had spent up in Maine as we never see that many stars living in the city. We had a fair breeze most the night and it helped us make an extra knot or two over the night. At about 3:30 I woke Amy up and took her place in the sleeping bag.

The next day we past Cleveland (we were maybe 10-15 miles out) and we decided to just keep going as it appeared our luck with the weather was going to hold out. The downside is that we had now been motoring for the last 30hrs and while I thought we might be able to make it to Detroit without stopping for fuel, I knew we would be coming in on fumes and did not want to risk it so we decided to target put-in-bay. We arrived in put-in-bay at about 12:30 on a Saturday night, I really had no idea what the lay out was or where to go so we went to the only dock that our charts listed as having fuel and it happened to be right in the hot spot with all the bars. Needless to say when we finally got off the boat after 38hrs of motor sailing Lake Erie our sea legs blended right in with the drunks wobbling about and we had no problems finding an open pizza place.

We both took turns wondering around a bit as Belle was still asleep on the boat. We noticed that they had a festival planed for kids the next day and it appeared they had another great play ground. Once again Belle was going to get shafted because of our time schedule but I figured if she woke up early enough I would take her over to play for a while and maybe we could get a hot breakfast as I was really getting tired of peanut butter and pop tarts.

Day 13: Raising the mast

We all slept in and by the time we finally got Belle dressed and ready the crane operator was there and ready to get our mast up, so Amy & Belle left for some much anticipated Mickey D’s (They also had a play land which was nice for Belle after being cooped up on the boat for the last few days in a row).

If you have been reading this you know by now that this is our first boat and we are completely new to sailing. With that said I went about putting the mast up. I had planned to rewire the mast, put a new radio antenna on it, and replace a few lights prior to putting it up but I did not realize how difficult it was going to be to work on the mast while it was on the boat so none of this got done. If I had planned a bit better I would have called ahead and had Wardell’s order the parts I wanted and been ready… Oh well, they did offer light bulbs but when I looked at mine the bulbs appeared to be undamaged so I assume I simply have some wiring issues, more stuff for the fix it list. I decided to go ahead and put the mast back up without doing any of the above mentioned work. Our survey indicated that we needed to rebuild our mast step in the next few years and our local yard has a crane so I’ll take that opportunity to replace the lights, wind indicator, and antenna next year.

When I had called the day before I had stressed that we were not very experienced with out boat and would need some help with the mast & rigging the fellow on the phone told us no problem they get folks like us all the time.. We would be well taken care of. Well they really did not know or care to know much about sail boats so once he lifted the mast up I was on my own. I went about the task of figuring out where all the rigging went, put up the sails, and tried to guess how tight to make the stays. Overall Wardell’s was a pretty hand’s off operation. After about 4hrs of messing around I managed to get the boat back together pretty well and felt fairly confident about my work.

It was now a little past lunch time Amy and Belle had visited both museums (they really liked the carousal museum and said the staff was very friendly & knowledgeable) and were now hungry. I met them in town; we got some lunch and ice cream once again then headed back to the boat. Amy took a look at my work and seemed pretty happy with everything but the lazy jacks that I somehow had managed to twist up a bit but that was easily fixed. We made a few attempts at trying to find a good location to put the supports that had been built to hold the mast somewhere on the boat but decided in the end that they would just be in the way and if we ran into any bad weather would probably be more of a liability then an asset later on so we left them at Wardell’s where I’m sure he will be happy to sell them to the next guy that comes though looking for supports.

We decided that even though it was supposed to rain soon it was time to head out. We really did not want to spend another night at Wardell’s and wanted to stay somewhere that we could get right out to Lake Erie the next day. We traveled up the river & though the next few locks & various swing bridges then found a nice marina to tie up to that night. This was the first time I had attempted to pull into an actual boat slip rather then a wall and we were a bit nervous. It did not help that the finger piers were about 3-4 feet higher then the deck of our boat. Needless to say I botched it and did not give the boat enough power to get into the slip and with the rain and height of the doc Amy had a few problems getting the bow line tied up and we ended up sideways in the slip (luckily no one else was near us and we were in the last slip next to the wall). Fortunately the owner of the boat on the other side of us heard our struggling and came out in the rain to help. He turned out to be a really friendly fellow that was very into racing. I wish it would not have been raining as I’m sure he would have loved to have taken us out and provided a few sailing lessons while answering with some of my rigging questions.

We had hoped to get another hot meal but decided to skip trekking anywhere in the rain and settled for some Romen noodles on the boat that night.

Day 12: We made it out of the Erie Canal!

We went though a number of lift bridges today, it amazes me that these are cost effective to build and staff? Seems all the bridge operators run at least two and sometimes three bridges. We were pretty lucky as there were not many boats out and did not have to worry about timing these bridges when the operator was at the far bridge. We finally went though our last set of locks on the canal today. They were a set of double locks where one opens right into another, it was neat. We entered these locks with a tourist boat. Apparently the previous lock had radioed ahead and they had held them in the lock until we arrived. Needless to say there were 10-15 folks that video taped us coming in and going up in the lock. Luckily we managed these both pretty well and hopefully won’t be seeing ourselves on Americas Funniest Home Videos any time soon. I wish we would have had time to stop that the museum at the last set of locks to learn more about the history of the canal but once again the time keeper kept pushing us on.

We called Wardell’s ahead of time and planed to spend the night there and put the mast up in the morning. We got in around 6 and were really ready for some food and a walk on land. We found a few nearby restraints and a Dairy Queen, both were welcomed by everyone on board. Belle & I had really been craving some ice cream!

Wardell’s was not the best place to spend the night as they are right on the river and immediately after the last bridge you go under before one can put the mast back up so you hear both bridge and boat traffic all night. They did not have shower facilities, the light was out in the only bathroom & the only power they offered was a 110 extension cord but it was better then nothing and we plugged our battery charger and several other devices in to charge up while we were there. Next time I would look to spend the night at the city dock/wall or possibly another marina with a stepping facilities.

Day 11: The last night on the canal

We got a bit of a late start today as we decided to take advantage of the free pump out facilities in Holly. This was my first time doing it myself but we did not run into any issues. It’s amazing how stinky that thing gets. For some reason our tank does not empty all the way so I tried filling it and emptying it several times, this & cleaning the bilge has really seemed to help a lot with the smell on-board.

Today we passed by a number of nice little towns along the way. Most look fairly depressed but do seem to have a town restraint, bar, and a few junk shops (my enduring term for antique or collectible stores). Our last few locks tonight we amazing, the sun was just right for the perfect evening light, a number of the flowering trees had dropped their peddles and it truly felt like we were in a Japanese style painting. I attempted to get some pictures but have not looked at the camera yet. For now like rest of the pictures I will upload a bad cell phone picture that will not do the scene justice at all. We ended the day tied up to a lock wall; looks like it will be a short day tomorrow?

Day 10: Lift bridge day

We got a late start out of Fairport today, leaving around noon due to some bilge issues the day before. I really can’t wait to get home and replace both pumps with a system I understand rather then putting band aids on top of the band aids to try and keep our current solutions working. We went by several towns that offered free pump outs, power and water today and decided to spend the night in the town of Holly. Unfortunately we only got 8 hours in today and the time keeper (Amy) aboard was not very happy about that but when you leave at 12:30 it was the best we could do. Holly offered a free tie up, shower, power, and pump out. We took advantage of all of them! They had a very nice park by the tie up wall but Belle had slept in that morning so we decided not to wake her though I’m sure she would have loved some time to run around and play.

Today was our second experience with lift bridges; we ran into one in Fairport but went though about 8 of them today. Most these bridges are about 3-5 feet off the water and everyone other then a kayaker has to call ahead to get them to open for them. Most the bridge masters run two bridges so they will typically ask how far you’re going then drive to the next one to let you though. Some are as close together as 100ft it seemed. They are cute but seem like an expensive way make/maintain a bridge.

We are hoping to make it to Tonawonda tomorrow where we can have our Mast put back up transforming ourselves back into a real sailboat, then head out into Lake Erie the next day. I am getting tired of the canals and would like a chance to put the sails up! I am guessing it should only be a 8-9hr day depending on bridges and the last few locks?

Day 9: Fairport

We had been on the canal for 8hrs and decided it was time to stop for fuel & a shower. So far it had been a long trip with little or no sight seeing and I was ready to get off the boat so after much pleading Belle & I convinced Amy we needed a short day so we pulled in early (4pm) to Fairport for the night. Note: Fairport does not sell gas you need to stop at the marina about a mile prior to getting to Fairport. We were all in need of a shower and this was a very nice town to stay at. Once we got in and tied up it started to rain, about this time Amy noticed that the bilge was filling up. Of course neither of our bilge pumps were working at this point so we had to figure out where the water was coming from and how to get it out of the boat. After searching for any water shut off we could find and closing all the sea cocks we felt comfortable little if any additional water was coming in. We later found out that the hot water hose had popped off & it was the water pump sending all our fresh water to the bilge. With the immediate issue solved we headed in to look for a bilge pump & a shower. Unfortunately none of the local shops carried marine parts, Amy was hungry so we headed out for some Mexican food. Dinner was good & I had never seen Mexican food presented as if one would expect in a high end restraint, the meal was expensive but cured my craving for Mexican. On the way back to the boat Amy stopped by the auto shop and asked if they had a loaner car we could rent unfortunately they didn’t but one of the mechanics was nice enough to loan us his car for the night. Amy headed to Wal-Mart to get supplies and to find something that might get the water out of our boat while Belle and I headed to the laundry. Amy found a little hand held electric pump and the next day we found batteries for it and pumped 8-10 gal of water out of the bilge. After playing with the water a bit more we determined that the water was coming from the hot water tank & the other source was from the drain in the ice box going to the bilge. After washing out the bilge a bit we decided to head over to the ice cream shop for a treat and then head out for the day.

Up until now we had spent a lot of time in the wetlands area of the canal and we were now starting to see civilization. It was nice to be reminded of life outside the boat again.

Day 8: Still on the canal

I just noticed that we apparently never finished updating this log. I am attaching our logs for rest of the trip & maybe summer today.


We are all starting to get restless aboard the boat, we only have a babysitter until Friday for our youngest Max (1yr old) that we left at home and we have been pulling some very long days with very few breaks along the way. I think all of us could really use a day off. Unfortunately that will not come until we get to Buffalo when we have the mast put up. We are hoping to get one more long day in today and then a much shorter day on Wed