Lock 7

Set our alarms to get up a little earlier this morning, and attended Mass at St. Mary’s of Assumption Catholic Church, just a few blocks away. Before leaving the boat we said our goodbyes to Bill, Tom and Joyce. After Mass, back at the Welcome Center , we checked out the small farmer’s market and Rosanne bought a few vegetables. Bill on Mystery Girl and Tom and Joyce on C-Otter departed to go up the Hudson River into Lake Champlain. Leaving the Welcome Center dock, I put C-Traveler’s bow in the Hudson River, then turned around to enter lock E2. The lock’s filling water is a bit more turbulent than when they drain the water to lower the lock, but the water is mostly pushing the boats against the wall, so as long as you are secured with lines, it’s not a problem. My kicker has been running a little rough the last couple of days, and finally quit after the first two locks today. I suspect a carburetor problem, as it will run in neutral, or in gear, in the mid RPM range, but dies at idle or WOT. So I’m using the main engine now coming into the locks, requiring Rosanne to grab the lock lines when I get the boat in position. Then I go back and relieve her. I’ll see if I can find some carb cleaner spray tomorrow at one of the towns along our way, and see if that helps solve the problem. I did change out the kicker’s inline fuel filter today, but no help. I’ll likely rebuild the carb when I get home. (Not an unusual item that needs to be done on occasion.) We did have to wait at one of the Waterford locks for an opposite direction sailboat to be locked down. Other than that, lockage up was uneventful and went fairly quickly. We thought we might have a short wait at guard gate 2 for it to be raised, but the gate tender raised it as we were approaching. I stopped at the wall on the other side to tinker with the kicker, and to eat lunch. We met a couple on a catamaran sailboat that had been there when we came past yesterday. (You can see it on the outside of guard gate 2.) Two of the locks had one gate that would not open, restricting vessels to a 20’ beam. Unfortunately that catamaran’s beam was 23.5’. They’ve been waiting since Wednesday and hope the Canal Authority gets the gates fixed soon. Sure glad we’re in a trailerable boat! We locked up at lock 7, and then came around the backside of its western approach wall to tie up for the night. As the afternoon pressed on, 5 or 6 guys showed up with what I thought was a prayer carpet. Later on, they set up a bong. I haven’t quite figured out what religion that is but they’d partake in the bong, and also kneel and pray. At least that’s what it looked like from about a boat’s length away. Not real clear in the photos that I took from some distance away or from the boat’s cabin. No bother to us, so we left them to their activity.Read more