Da’ing in NY, nearly a trailer wheel disaster

[tribologist]

Out doing some recon boating for when DA is coming. Trailered up to Ilion, NY last night. Nearly did not happen. Blew a bearing on trailer about 1mi from my house. Outer cone was gone. Had to turn around ang go home on three wheels. Had a spare at home and a SKF speedi sleeve. Pulled all the other hubs and they looked great. I repacked and checked them two years ago but i only installed speedi sleeves on two hubs. From now im changing seals and repacking every fall and all shafts are getting speedi sleeves.

Just made it to Utica lock 20. “Big Level” next

[tribologist]

Bring big fenders!

[DesertAlbin736]

I'm sorry that happened to you, but fortunate you were close to home. Going home on three wheels, that is half the total trailer weight on one tire, is why I always go with Load Range E tires. So "DA'ing" is now a verb? I'm humbled! It's why long distance trailering requires being religious about hub & tire maintenance, Zen or otherwise. Reminds me, I didn't overhaul our hubs last year before our trip to Blaine, WA, so before we do another trip need to service the hubs & replace at least two tires. We have disc brakes but with drums it's a good idea to install a flush kit if you don't have one already, especially dealing with salt water. Yes those Erie Canal lock walls can be nasty. Not like the masonry walls on the Rideau. So when you come to the Cayuga-Seneca-Erie junction by the Montezuma Nation Wildlife Refuge that's where we started on the Erie Canal westbound. Next stop after that is Lyons, where you can dock & walk up the hill to the firehouse & use their restrooms & showers inside the fire station. It's free but donations are accepted. The day we were there it was cold & rainy all that day and the next so we stayed tied up an extra night & walked into town & took in a movie, "Tommorow Land" with George Clooney as I recall.

Drum brake flush kit:

https://www.jamestowndistributors.com/u ... docId=1062

Lyons fire station at the top of the hill, free showers & rest rooms.

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From there we only went as far as Fairport before turning around & heading back to Seneca Lake to haul out because we had plans to go on to Rhode Island & New London & were locked in on a schedule.

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This stop below at Newark had about the best facilities including washers & dryers for doing laundry. The murals on the walls are really cool. This picture was on the way back but we turned around facing west so we could plug in shore power. It shows our fender arrangements, two "basketball" fenders plus a fenderboard between inner & outer fenders. You can plug in to shore power here but you'll need a power cord long enough to reach across the dock.

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So anyway, we didn't make it this year due to COVID. In fact except for a short car trip to SW Colorado we've stayed home all summer & haven't touched the boat. Way too hot here to mess with. The more I think about it the more I'm inclined to make next year a fall trip when the leaves start turning color in Ontario. Since all the NY canals close in mid October I'm thinking of altering the original loop plan & skipping Erie & Champlain Canals altogether & not launching at Brewerton on Oneida Lake, which you'll be passing through soon.

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Instead break it up into three segments, starting with Clayton, NY on the St. Lawrence River as a launch point for an abbreviated Rideau Canal loop, thus:

Phase1.jpg

Then upon return to Clayton haul out & trailer over to Plattsburgh for a week or so on Lake Champlain.

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After a bit on Lake Champlain haul out again for Phase 3, trailering down to Annapolis & cruise on Chesapeake Bay while the weather is still nice before returning home.

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[DesertAlbin736]

By the way, the Canal Corp has been doing a lot of work this summer. I'm on their email list for Notices to Mariners & getting updates nearly every day. It's worthwhile to sign up. I've been deleting the emails as they come in because obviously I'm not out there but interesting to read.

This is a good site to bookmark

http://www.canals.ny.gov/

[hetek]

In my profession we "DA" the signal path. Technically, it means to install a distribution amplifier.

It has been a verb for me since 1997. Lately when I hear the term I keep thinking of a pocket trawler boater from Arizona. How did that happen?!

[Nancy]

DA, what time of year are you thinking of heading to Lake Champlain? October? There are fewer and fewer boats on the lake as October progresses. Most are hauled for the winter by 10/15. The weather starts getting quite cold and the days are short. IMO really not the best time to count on good cruising weather.

[DesertAlbin736]

Nancy that's a good question. This time of the year in September of 2017 we were visiting sunsetrider in Gananoque, ON on the St Lawrence (traveling with our RV trailer). I noted then that it was still pretty warm & trees were still leafed out in green with just a faint hint of color starting. There must be a sweet spot where colors are filling in along the Rideau Canal but before it gets too cold? Latter half of September? If we just stayed on the Rideau up & back between Kingston & Ottowa we could do that in two weeks and get over to Plattsburgh the first week in October for just a few days on the lake. I used to live near Saratoga Springs before moving west so I know what fall can be like. Then head south to the Chesapeake for latter half of October. We cruised Chesapeake once before in July & the heat & thunderstorms were miserable. Would much like to try it during fall. It's easier to warm the boat in cool weather than cool it in hot muggy weather.

[Nancy]

You might decide to play it by ear once you get back to Kingston. If the forecast is good, head to Lake Champlain. If not, go south.

The route you've mapped from Clayton to Plattsburgh is a beautiful, but difficult and long drive. Easier driving across Route 37 or 11.

[tribologist]

Sorry for the delayed updates. I had problems uploading pictures since many were ”live view” and tvus to big. We had a somewhat windy trip along the 10 mile straight “big level” section from Rome,NY to Sylvan beach. We arrived the night before a Trump flotilla so it was packed with boats getting ready for the rally. Two Boaters for Biden were there to. Everything was nice and calm. We got a spot at the free wall just at the mouth of the river but it is well protected with breakers

[tribologist]

Left Sylvan at 6:30 at sunrise for a nice trip across the lake.

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As we got to Brewertown the flotilla was is full swing including the Italian delegation.
Made it easy to go westbound since all the flotilla guys were heading east.

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After that we had a nice trip down to Oswego. Went by the canal company and lifted the hat for all the great canal workers!

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We stayed at the Oswego marina. Very nice town. almost like a college town feel to it. The marina was full of Salmon fishing boats. Oswego seem to be a real king salmon hotspot!

[tribologist]

You might decide to play it by ear once you get back to Kingston. If the forecast is good, head to Lake Champlain. If not, go south.

The route you've mapped from Clayton to Plattsburgh is a beautiful, but difficult and long drive. Easier driving across Route 37 or 11.

Lol! Like last year when we took Driftless across Hudson on Bear mountain.. sightseeing is better in the boat than with boat in tow.

I think its hard to combine leaf peeping with a triangle loop. The peak colors if pretty short and timing varies. We were choosing between going Whitehall and north up to Burlington, VT vis Chipman point or Oswego this time but decided to go up to Lake Champlain later. Possibly do lake George in leaf season also.

[tribologist]

Pretty bad when a PhD in bearing lubrication fail bearings...,
Re flush kit. There is a hole in the drums that allows for flushing from the tire side and that works quite good. What i have been thinking of getting is a garden sprayer so i can spray in some anti corrosion spray like Cortec 337

Im going to overhaul the hubs and brake next week and also paint them to make the easier to clean.

[DesertAlbin736]

Great pics & good info, they're so encouraging. Hope we can do SOMETHING next year. No comment on those flotillas, except a bit of schadenfreud re what happened on Lake Travis in Texas. Will just be glad next year will be a non-political year and praying COVID will finally be behind us by then. Plans are always subject to revision this far out & we could decide in the end to do the full Triangle loop earlier in the season after all. It's just that we'd rather not exchange hot & dry desert for hot & muggy. We're so sick of heat this year. Here we are a week into September and the thermometer on my back patio is reading 108 at noon local time. The thing with fall is that out here while we have mild winters we don't get the kind of fall colors like back east. The northern AZ high country forests are mostly evergreen & the only fall colors we get are with scattered stands of Aspens.

[DesertAlbin736]

On brakes, any thoughts of converting to discs? We've had good luck with Kodiaks & it's a relatively easy conversion.

[tribologist]

Oh yes, a thought. Then i priced it up and stopped there. I get a bowthruster for what 4 new brakes and a new disc ready hitch cost