Congrats to DesertAlbin736 and the La Dolce Vita on your BoatUS Mag article!

[NickScheuer]

Feb/Mar 2020 Issue, pp 22 & 24:

It seems we several similarities in our backgrounds leading to our Albin 25's.

[motthediesel]

I just saw that -- cool!

[hetek]

Same here. Nice write-up on my hero, DA!

Matter of fact, my 16 year old daughter is now trying to get me to try almond milk. I told her of DA's story about not needing refrigeration until opened. Now I can show her the Boat US article!

Still don't know if I'm going to like it but if it's good enough for DA, then I'll give it a try.

[Nancy]

I was just working through the latest issue at lunchtime, saw the article, and said, "Hey, I know that guy!" Came here to post and found this thread.

(Apparently lots of us read BoatUS magazine on Sunday. )

Great article, Steve, and now you are truly a celebrity!

[hetek]

Hey DA -

This afternoon during our weekly Sunday lunch, I told my mom and dad (84 and 87 yrs, respectively) about your story in the magazine and your cruising food choices. My mom goes into the kitchen and comes out with another suggestion for your discerning palate.

This:

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Get it? Hahahaha! My mom's a real comedian!

[DesertAlbin736]

Thanks! We were out & about this afternoon (not boating) & hadn't picked up our Saturday mail yet, then saw this thread, came home & found the magazine in our mailbox. I'd about given up seeing it get published as it was supposed to come out in the previous issue. My wife Helen hates that picture of her. She's much better looking in real life, as at left in this photo taken at the BC Albineer rendezvous in Ladysmith last year.

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She's always self conscious about her hair (the curls are natural, not a perm or set) & I'm in the doghouse for not getting her approval for the one they put in the magazine. I like this one of her at the helm. Lucky is the man whose mate is a trouper that will gladly spend 6 weeks aboard a small boat with no shower or refrigeration, loves to drive it, helps with launching, and camps in it on the road for days and thousands of miles at a time.

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I credit the photo the magazine used of our boat underway to our dear friend Charles Harris, who snapped it (both in color & in black & white) in 2016 on our way up Jervis & Princess Louisa inlets to Chatterbox falls. Charles at right, his wife Sally center, and Helen at left. No dinghy hanging off the stern in magazine picture since this was after the infamous lost dinghy incident off Nelson Island & before purchasing our current Gig Harbor Nisqually.

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This is the un-cropped color version of that photo

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They went with us, trailering their O'Day 25 "Panacea" up from Flagstaff, AZ, this shot in front of Chatterbox Falls.

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One minor correction, we've since decided rather than launching at Tonawanda for the loop cruise we'll put in at the west end of Oneida Lake instead. As for the almond milk we use it mostly on Cheerios for breakfast, not as a regular beverage. The unsweetened variety is pretty much tasteless, the sweetened vanilla flavor is better.

I like that font on the biscotti sign, but since I carved our name board freehand using a router I went with a simpler font.

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Hopefully this will spark more interest in Albins. It's all for the cause!

[NickScheuer]

Haven't heard of the "mini-loop". Would you outline the waterways and the corners? We have friends embarking on the standard Loop later in 2020.

[nebulatech]

Congrats DA!

I'm afraid I let my BoatUS subscription lax after I sold my last boat. I couldn't find a link online to it. If anyone has a link, I'd appreciate it, otherwise, I'll have to wait until it makes the archives.

[nebulatech]

Congrats DA!

I'm afraid I let my BoatUS subscription lax after I sold my last boat. I couldn't find a link online to it. If anyone has a link, I'd appreciate it, otherwise, I'll have to wait until it makes the archives.

[DesertAlbin736]

Haven't heard of the "mini-loop". Would you outline the waterways and the corners? We have friends embarking on the standard Loop later in 2020.

"Mini Loops" are smaller separate segments of the "Great Loop". If you have or can get a copy of the June-July 2019 issue of the BoatUS magazine what they're talking about is on pages 70 & 71. What we're talking about more specifically is the "Triangle Loop", one of four outlined in the article. The other three are the "Carolina Loop", the "Florida Loop", and the "Down East Loop".

Here's what we're proposing

triangleloopmap.jpg

Here's the one shown in the magazine:

triangleloopmap2.jpg

We're just skipping the part that runs the length of the St. Lawrence from Kingston to Montreal & instead just going up the Rideau to Ottowa and back down the Ottowa River to Montreal.

The "Down East Loop" would be similar but much more ambitious and a bridge too far for us & more suited to a bigger boat that could handle the rougher water in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and down the Canadian & Maine Atlantic coast. For that radar would be a necessity more than a luxury in negotiating the often fog bound coast of Maine.

downeastloop.jpg

Just the 126 mile Rideau Canal segment would be a good bareboat charter cruise with Le Boat, which BoatUS members could get a small discount on that.

This new February/March issue of the magazine won't be posted on line for a while and even then the full digital copy is only available to members with BoatUS accounts. I think you may be able to purchase, or even just look at the current hard copy magazine on the shelf at a West Marine store.

One thing that could end up being a fly in the ointment is that the NY State Canal Corporation is in the middle of a total reconstruction of Lock 7 of the Oswego canal, the last lock before it connects with Lake Ontario at Oswego, NY. Until that's finished & open for the season we won't be able to get to Lake Ontario from Oneida Lake, so any delays in finishing that project will delay us or force us to change plans. Hopefully by the time we arrive, and we could push our schedule back into mid July or later, it'll be opened.

According to the couple in the magazine that did the Triangle Loop in a Ranger 25 tug it took them 28 days, "including a side trip to the Thousand Islands". They said they used 142 gallons of fuel costing $393. That's $2.76 per gallon, which sounds unrealistically cheap. Their other big expense was $659 for "dockage", which I assume would include fees charged for canal passage. If we're talking 700 miles, as mentioned in the magazine article about our plans, at 5 knots burning 0.4 GPH we can do that on 56 gallons. Add to that our road trip expenses for nearly 4,900 miles round trip at 10 to 12 MPG for truck fuel alone it won't be a cheap vacation, but no more than one would spend on a one week bare boat charter or cruise ship cruise anywhere else.

Roughly scaling off the map, from Brewerton on the west end of Oneida Lake to Oswego NY is about 35 miles, Oswego to Kingston is about +/- 65 miles, from Kingston to Ottowa on the Rideau is 126 miles, from Ottawa to Montreal is around 100, Montreal to Sorel is about 45 to 50 miles, Sorel, Quebec to Waterford NY is roughly 250 miles, and Waterford to Brewerton on the west end of Oneida Lake is about 155 miles. That makes total distance closer to 780 miles and 62 gallons of fuel. At average of 25 miles per day that's a solid month plus what ever extra days are spent touring sights along the way or weather delays.

[NickScheuer]

Thanks for the outline, DesertAlbin736. We've done the Champlain Canal in our Albin, but had to quit our plan to proceed west on the Erie Canal when our transmission broke down at Albany. Years earlier when we had a 21' Dovekie a group of them led by the builder, Peter Duff, did the Rideau Canal, however, we were not able to accompany them. I understand it is outstanding. We have done the Trent-Severne on which the variety of lock types is an adventure in themselves.

[DesertAlbin736]

Nick,

Any advice, pictures, stories, perspectives on weather, navigation, do's and don'ts, adventures, tips, etc etc would be appreciated. Here or by PM if you prefer. You're welcome to try again, meet up along any portion short or long. Two Albin 25's going through a lock at the same time, now that would be something. One other matter of concern is if serious flooding along the Rideau and in Ottowa were to occur as it has in the recent past. I think we're pretty good on handling locks since our bit on the Erie canal back in 2015.

[DCatSea]

Very nice article; great to see Albins highlighted in BoatUS mag.

[motthediesel]

Regarding lock 7 on the Oswego canal, you might want to read this:

https://www.nny360.com/news/reconstruct ... 5cd22.html

That's from 2018, but as far as I know, they still expect to have the job done in time for the opening of the 2020 season. If anything, the very mild winter we've been experiencing should be helping them along. The only fly in the ointment could be Lake Ontario water levels. The Lake (and St. Lawrence River) levels continue to be at near record heights. That is true for the Ottawa River as well, as you mentioned.

As a fall-back plan, you might want to launch on Eastern Lake Ontario, or up on the St Lawrence, that would put the decent of the Oswego Canal near the end of your loop, rather than the beginning.

If you should want to launch in the Alexandria Bay area, we've got plenty of space to park your truck and trailer

Tom

[DesertAlbin736]

Tom,

Yes, I've seen that page about Lock 7. I've signed up for 'notice to mariners' email notifications from the NY canal system to keep up to date on progress. Here's YouTube on the Lock 7 reconstruction project,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYLOfRFQoh0


I've also seen some of the YouTube videos like this one of flooding in Ottawa last April. So we'll see.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8Ea_iZeZmc

As a fall-back plan, you might want to launch on Eastern Lake Ontario, or up on the St Lawrence, that would put the descent of the Oswego Canal near the end of your loop, rather than the beginning.

Certainly a possibility and will consider if necessary. We've been considering a clockwise course mainly to try to be going downstream as much as possible, especially on the St. Lawrence although southbound on the Richelieu is upstream. Launching from Alexanadria Bay could be a very viable choice if Oswego lock 7 opens late. If it didn't open at all we could dock in a marina on Oneida Lake on the way back, rent a car & come get our truck & trailer & drive it down to Brewerton to haul out. Adverse currents going upstream are always a concern with us being a slow 6 knot boat. As with any cruise, plans are always subject to change depending on weather and conditions and things like these. Hopefully all will be OK by the late June/July/August time frame and even going into September if necessary.