Up the river

[Don]

After Fathers Day this summer i'll be cruising from L.I. up the Hudson River,thru the Erie canal to Buffalo.Then I'll take the Welland Canal to Lake ONTARIO easterly to the Oswego Canal. Then easterly thru p/o the Erie canal, to the Hudson River & back to home. Anyone have any suggestions about travelling thru the Welland Canal,the Erie CANAL,or Lake Ontario. I figure the trip may take about 3 weeks to a month.

[lpbp]

Don I can help you with the Welland canal part and parts of L E . I did do the Hudson R and Erie Canal many years ago . But that was on a Tug and barge and we went through Oswego because of our height . And also we where full size for the Erie canal . We had 10 feet to spare in lenght and 2 ft in width and 8 inchs in height . 22 round trips from Toronto to Yonkers NY. I have not done the 3 Rivers to Buffalo section As for the Welland canal ,ask away . Just went through last night , and my 3rd time this week . I live in Long Point Bay on L Erie ,right across from Erie PA. If you want you can send me a private message or e mail or post here .
I am leaving for Maryland tomorrow to finely close the deal on a Albin 28 . A quick drive dwn and back Hopefully gone by noon and back late Wed.
I think you should re think the last leg of your trip and look at going dwn the St Lawrence to Montreal and then head south through the Riclaleau and dwn to L Champlain to the Hudson . Now that is making the loop and not back tracking through the Erie canal . Or evan just do ing the Thousand Islands and American Narrows of the St Lawrence near Alexander Bay and then back through Oswego . If this is a one time thing you might as well see some of our 2 countrys classic boating areas .
All the best LPBP

[powerboater56]

I did the Erie Canal and Hudson River the opposite direction last summer, bringing my boat back from Lake St. Clair in Michigan to Rhode Island. It was a wonderful cruise! My wife Linda and I took about 3 weeks to do it.

Plan your days on the Erie Canal fairly carefully. Some of the towns have pretty primitive facilities, and some of the popular stops like Fairport fill up their docks early in the day. But we found the Erie Canal to be surprisingly little-traveled -- we cruised for hours without passing another boat much of the time. If you need shore power -- we have an electric stove and at times like to run the A/C -- make sure the place you are thinking about stopping has shore power outlets. Some do, some do not. The Erie is really lovely -- overgrown in places, dotted with everything from mansions to abandoned bungalows, scenery changing from hills to flat farmlands and back again. The Canal sometimes goes in rivers or through lakes like Oneida lake, but most often you will be in a man-made canal. Some of the villages are charming and upbeat like Fairport, sometimes they are struggling like Amsterdam (which does have a lovely riverside park/restaurant). Almost all places are friendly and very happy to see you.

The locks are not overly difficult -- the toughest locks are near the start of the Erie in a big staircase of about seven locks -- but they can get tiresome after a while. Be sure to have rubber gloves -- the ropes you hang onto are a bit slimy -- and lots of fenders. Buffalo is a great stop -- try to get a slip in the marina right on the edge of Lake Erie. Great views, a couple of restaurants on site. We liked Sylvan Beach at the edge of Oneida Lake also. Fairport is terrific, Ilion is a great place to stop, Medina is nice.

The Hudson River is a fabulous place to cruise. The scenery is awesome, the towns along the river are great. We loved Troy -- stayed at the town docks and ate at a terrific restaurant a block or so away. I highly recommend a stop in Kingston -- it is a charming village with lovely old houses, lots of good restaurants and a marine museum. Havestraw has a large, nice marina with a good waterfront restaurant and a decent ship's store.

You can see comments I made about places we stopped on the Active Captain web site. It is a very good resource to find out about towns and marine facilities.

You should enjoy the cruise very much. My wife and I are discussing a cruise next summer that would take us halfway down the Erie to the Oswego Canal, Lake Ontario to the Thousand Islands and St. Lawrence Seaway, then south into Lake Champlain and back to the Hudson River and home. I hope we can do it.

[tomcat]

Sounds like a real nice trip. We traveled from Greenwich to Beacon/Newburgh in 10 hours. The next day was 5 hours to Catskill Marina, a nice calm quiet marina. Third day was 5 hours to Waterford, the Gateway to the Erie/Champlain canals. This is a definite stop over. You can dock here for 48 hours with power, water, showers, restrooms,WiFi, for zero dollars. And a nice little town to visit. Each additional day after the 48 hours is $10.00, flat rate. There are several towns/cities like this on the canals.Unfortunately, I'm not real familiar with the ones on the Erie Canal as we have our boat on the Champlain Canal.
If you should decide to take the Champlain Canal north to Lake Champlain and cruise the Lake and maybe head into Canada from there, let me know and I can help you out with different places to stay.
Have fun and be safe!!

Tom

[Chuck Waygood]

8 years ago now my wife and I cruised Lake Ontario, up the St Lawrence as far as Quebec City, a wonderful place and a great marina convenient to the old town, and then back the St Lawrence a bit to the Richelieu River, Richelieu Canal and into Lake Champlain - a beautiful way to get back to the Hudson River. I strongly advocate that route rather than back-tracking on the Erie. 17 feet height is the limit at the last lock into the Hudson, but we were 17'3" and clearewd OK with the help of the lockmaster. I agree that the people along the way are great and glad to see you. Have a super cruise.

[tomcat]

Don,
Chucks idea sounds like a real good alternative....if time permits.Lake Champlain has Burlington right on the water, a real neat, clean little city. Church Street, just a few blocks up from the waterfront is a must do. Beautiful waterfront. Burton Island State park (accessible only by boat)is also a nice stop over. Along with countless cove's and inlets to drop the hook.
John's comments about Kingston and Troy are absolutely correct. We would leave the Troy area and head south to Kingston's RoundOut Creek for an overnight. We would dock at the town docks, but they do have a few marinas on the creek to stay at.
What ever you decide, it'll be a great time!

[tomcat]

Sooooo, where did you end up going?????