Utica, Sylvan Beach and Ess Kay Yard Brewerton. Locks 18-22 ALL STOP! dlf

A lot has happened in the last week. We continue to enjoy the canal and the beautiful scenery as we head west. Our cruising speed is about 8 mph, which is about 1200 rpm due to the bent prop. We considered running on one engine between locks but decided that the vibration wasn't bad enough to tear things up. From Little Falls we headed Utica and tied up on a nice wall at the Aqua Vino restaurant. The power post was a challenge because the 50 amp receptacle only had on leg that worked. We had to run a 50 amp and a 30 amp cable to hot up both sides of the system. We got there early because we only ran 20 miles from Little Falls. Shortly after we arrived, Cindy and Randy on "I Think I Can" tied up. We hooked up with them and went to the Saranac Brewing company for a tour and a few barley pops. The cool thing was the hostess at the restaurant insisted that we use her car, now how nice was that! The tour was great and the beers were better. Bets and I ate at Aqua Vino for dinner. A little too pricey and average food.
  In the morning we headed for Sylvan Beach at the entrance to Lake Oneida. The trip went well and we locked through the locks with I Think I Can. There was a lot of debris in the canal due to the high water and it required a closer eye on the water to ensure we didn't whack any thing. When we hit Sylvan Beach we thought there was a boat parade. It had started to rain and all the boats were coming off the lake at once and heading into port. There must have been 50+ boats pass in 30 minutes. Sylvan beach is a cool lake front town with lots of free wall space for tie up and a neat old 1950s vintage amusement part. The place is old, worn and in need of updates but there were kids everywhere enjoying the place.
  The next morning we headed out early across Lake Oneida alone and anxious to see what the prop and shafts looked like. The lake is 20 miles long and 5 miles wide. No big deal for the seasoned Chesapeake Bay cruising Fryedaze team. We arrived at Ess Kay Yard before noon and filled up with 220 gal of fuel. Cheapest fuel around at $2.89/gal. With in an hour they had us up in the lift slings and the bent prop was visible. Before they even pulled us Bets headed to Enterprise for a car. When she got back the props were off and  we took the props to a prop shop 75 miles away in Canandaigua NY.
  On  Monday when we got to Ess Kay we received a Canal system alert email that the canal would be closed to Oswego for a week due to high water and debris. We decided we would head for Pa the next day. The next morning we were ready to go and Bets said she heard the bilge pump run. That did not make sense, we were out of the water. I looked in the bilge and saw fuel on top of the little bit of water. After some quick inspections and absorbents to abate the flow to the bilge I discovered that the fuel was leaking out the top of the port tank. It was in the drops per minute range and manageable for a while so Bets and I vacuumed out the bilge and I got the yard to level the boat so the fuel would no longer come out the top of the tank. The boat had been set on the blocks with the bow up about 5". This put fuel in the back side of the top of the tank. I figure the holes had been there for years and were just never challenged. The trip home was delayed a day. We spent the rest of the day determining the extent of the rust on the top of the tank, then degeasing, wire brushing and acetone cleaning in preps for a temporary fix. The next morning we were up early and applied about 1/2 quart of Marine Tex epoxy to an 8"x12" area of the tank at the fill and vent ports. It went well but was very messy and most of it was done by feel because the area has little accessibility.
 I'm pretty sure the repair will last a long time, but a tank replacement is in our future. After gooping up the tank we headed for PA at 1045 and arrive at 1630. Nice ride home and it was great to see the look on Mom and Dads face when we walked in and surprised them.
  Despite the fun challenges, we are still having a blast. We will return to the boat Saturday and pray it doesn't rain and result in more delays. You can tell I (Dave) made this post. It lacks all the social interactions and the names of the great people we met. I will get Betsy back on duty for the next posts:-)

More guard gates. They are used for maintenance and to protect the canal from flooding. Not sure if OSHA approves the transit under a suspended load. They are lifted with cable and chains.

We saw a few of these

The wall at Aqua Vino in Utica. We made sure we pulled up past the outside tables. It would be weird sitting on the boat in the evening looking down on the folks as they ate.

This was a neat perspective as we entered this lock. The train bridge is LOW and had a train on it passing slowly. The east side lock doors are open awaiting our arrival.

Saranac brew tour

We met Randy and Cindy in Chesapeake City Md when we anchored over night going up the C&D canal. We each got two tickets for beers after the tour. The bartenders ignored you when you tried to give them the tickets. The tour and ticket were $5 a person. Its a good thing we don't live in Utica!

Sylvan Beach boats coming off Lake Oneida

We saw three dredges on our way to Sylvan Beach. Check out the tiny canal system boat next to the dredge.

The rear doors on this lock leak pretty badly. You can see the size of the waterfall they create compared to I Think I Can.

Part of the old canal system. We have seen a few of these three point cranes along the way. They are generally back in the weeds decaying away. Thats a lock in front of it.

Up she goes.

And the answer is!!  Just a bent prop, big sigh of relief. The one shinny blade tip was bent like that with on whack and the engines at idle.

She is always making my job easy in the locks. With the head sets on she tells me what to do, were to go, how to get there, how fast to move, when to stop, when to go.....................WAIT A MINUTE, she does that all the time even when we are not on the boat:-)

Our new view, half way in the Ess Kay work shed.

 You can see the boat tilting toward the port side in this picture. You cant see the fact that the bow is up higher than the stern. If they would have brought us in level we would never have discovered the leak on the top of the tank. It didn't take much since we just filled up the tanks.

This is the top of the port fuel tank. The holes look pretty big in this picture but are not. The camera was 3-4" away from them. The vent pipe is 1/2". The rusted area is about 8"x12" with nice clean painted tank around it. You can only get eyeballs on one of those holes with your eyes due to the location. I stuck the camera in there and shot a bunch of angles and determined the xtent of damage. We have Tommy B shipping us our boro-scope inspection camera so we can check the other tank and do a good look around. If this would have been anything but the top of the tank I think it would have been game over for a while.