Utica and Frankfort

Off the dock and on our way at 8:30am is our routine. Rosanne got up early and rode her bike to 7am Mass at St. Peters Catholic Church there in Rome. I got up about the same time to find that our Webasto heater had shut down due to low voltage, so the cabin was only 59 degrees. It had only shut down an hour or so earlier. This is the same issue I had before changing to AGM batteries in May. Along with the Webasto, I have a Cpap (without the humidifier), a refrigerator and a freezer. I think the issue is when running the webasto, during the heat cycle start up and shut down, it has a glow plug that draws around 10 amps. If voltage drops to less than 11 vts, it will shut down and requires pulling the blade fuse with the rheostat still on, then turning it off to reset. I think as I run it all night, as it cycles, it is running the battery down. Both the refrigerator and freezer are the next high draw items, at 3 amps each. They also cycle on and off all night, so it’s not a constant drain. Most other folks I cruise with will run their heater for a bit before going to bed to warm the cabin, then shut if off until just before getting up when they turn it back on. I guess I will need to start doing that, when I have the freezer with us. It was a pleasant day today with temps in the mid 70’s. The canal was pretty narrow and straight today. Typically the canal is only maybe 100 feet wide. We did go through several areas today that are shoaling up, leaving only about 4 to 6 feet of water. We passed several dredging operations. We’re good with our shallow draft boats, only drawing barely 2 feet of water. But for the larger boats, particularly sailboats, that draw 4 to 6 feet, the shoaling is a real problem. We stopped for a couple hours at Utica to check out the historic train station. Its claim to fame are marble pillars, and that it’s over 100 years old. I wasn’t overly impressed but did enjoy seeing the trains up close. Definitely not the same security I was use to in my airline days. We just walked out of the station and next to the tracks. It was worth the bicycle ride though as we passed a creamery with some good ice cream on the way back. :-) Total distance riding our bicycles today was a little over 6 miles, so we’re good. Lol. We docked at the Utica Historic Marina dock. (Not sure why it’s historic…). It’s at the Portofino Restaurant. A few miles after leaving Utica, we locked down in Lock 19. A few more miles after the lock we arrived here at Frankfort Harbor Park. Rosanne and I got our bikes off the boat and rode around town. Found a geocache near the Veteran’s Memorial and walked through the Addolorata Prayer Garden. This harbor is just off the Canal, and has a pretty nice dock. One thing I’ve noticed on this half of the canal so far, is a lot of deadheads, some near the middle of the channel, requiring us to keep our eyes peeled more on the water in front of us.Read more