To Lachine Canal, Montreal: 8 ft air draft

St-A-DB Lock to Lachine Canal entrance is complex, and today, very rough with 35 MPH gusts that were mostly from behind but wet when they weren't. The entrance is even more complex and not on the chart...go VERY VERY SLOW IDLE until you figure out what you are seeing: ZERO docks where dozens are charted, weird 270 degree uncharted turns with local aids like 6 inch red floating balls strung together with lines blocking your intended path. We presume it must have been one hell of a winter storm to take out all that. There appears to be an alternate canal to the north of the correct one, but there is an uncharted road bridge over the east end with five foot or so air clearance. Just before entering Lock 5 (from the west) The attendant will measure your air draft with a pole. Unfortunately, the very nice solid stone visitor center and museum had to closed due to floor structural issues. All five locks have floating platforms with cleats that slide up and down on rails. Just hand your lines to the attendant and they’ll cleat them off. Your fenders need to be touching the water to be effective.

Atwater Market is a must stop just before Lock 3 with an un-attended platform. Overnighting is permitted with permission with no utilities; Lock 1 is by far the longest. We stayed again at the very nice Montreal Yacht Club right in Old Montreal in a protected basin. You can spend several days at least exploring Montreal. Day 1 we wern’t affected by smoke from the Ontario wildfires.Read more