Lock 11, Amsterdam

Nights and days continue to be pleasant. Upper 50’s at night, and mid 80’s and sunny during the days. Very light breeze. Left the wall at lock 7 around 9am. We are noticing the fall color change more so now. Returning west we are getting some different views than we had going east. Saw a little more of the Knolls Atomic Power laboratory and the General Electric Research and Development Laboratory. The bluff that GE is on also provides some interesting Geology layers. Between the two laboratories, ducks had set up a colony at water’s edge. As we approached the Schenectady Yacht Club, we pulled into a small channel that lead to old lock 21. The yacht club is part of the old Erie Canal, and we learned while talking to some locals that we actually cruised in on the only navigable remains of the old Erie Canal. Enlarged Erie Canal lock 21 was constructed in 1841, and was used until 1961. Lock 21 is still in use today as the travel lift for the yacht club. Old lock 22 is also behind the yacht club, but is filled in so all that remains is some stone that you might not even notice as you walk over it to the yacht clubhouse.
We also got a closer look at the Rexford Aqueduct Ruins that I mentioned earlier on our way east. In fact, I took C-Traveler under one of the aqueducts on the south side.
We stopped at the Scotia Landing, some slips behind the Isle of the Cayugas. Was hoping to find some carbureator cleaner to try solving my kicker issue. No luck, but we did find ice cream at a Stewarts shop, lol. Actually, they did have some starter fluid. I tried cleaning out the kicker’s carb with that, and seemed to have the kicker working before we left that dock. However, it was back to the issue of just running in the mid rpm range, and stalling out at idle or WOT. So we locked through all the locks today just using the main outboard to approach and position with Rosanne grabbing the lock ladders. Holding on the ladder, actually works better than grabbing the lock lines, and it’s secure to the wall, whereas the lines are tied off at the top of the lock, and depending on how high the top of the lock is, it’s somewhat tricky to keep the boat against the wall unless you hold the lines from the opposite side of the boat. When the locks have the cables, those are much better than the lines as well, as they are attached at both the top and bottom of the lock, and you can wrap your boat’s dock lines around those, or just hold on to them, and keep your boat against the wall.
After Scotia, we just enjoyed the scenery as we made good time through locks 8-11. The walls on lock 11 are pretty rough. Think of potholes in the walls. After locking up at 11, we docked on the west wall for the evening. We are in Amsterdam, where the VW Bug on the smokestack is. This is its story. It’s a classic Volkswagen Beetle perched on top of a smoke stack as a roadside attraction and advertisement for Dudka’s Garage. The Beetle was placed on the former Bowler Brewery smokestack in 1980 by Dudka’s, and the car’s lettering advertising the garage is still visible on the stack. (I’m not sure about that visibility anymore, as I didn’t see it…) In June of 1980, Gary Dudka hired a crane to lift the Beetle onto the smokestack. In the early days, wiring powered the Beetle and its headlights were illuminated at night.
The brewery building and Dudka’s garage, today, are both in pretty bad disrepair.
I did get some carb cleaner earlier this evening, but still no resolve with the kicker. I ordered a new carb and fuel pump and will work on it when we get back home… We have a train track very nearby, and while the trains were coming by very often and blowing their horns, it’s fairly quiet now (10:30pm), so hopefully they don’t start back up too early in the morning. I believe we are just a mile from an Amtrack station.もっと詳しく