Today is a perfect blogging day. Yes, that means it is raining. After a near perfect day crossing Lake Ontario yesterday, today has started foggy and drippy with a forecast of clearing this afternoon. No problems, it just means I have a great opportunity to catch up on the blog.
Where do I start? I guess I’ll give the bad news first. Not really bad, just not what we hoped. Flooding is still a major issue in the St. Lawrence area. Kingston didn’t have a slip available for us because they cannot get all of their docks in the water. We have heard that marinas in Montreal are not open. We have confirmed that the Ottawa River between Ottawa and Montreal is closed due to high water. The water authorities are releasing as much water as they can down the St. Lawrence creating stronger than normal current heading toward the Atlantic. All of this tells us that now is NOT the time for us to head down the St. Lawrence to Quebec City as we had hoped. Marina shortages and high current don’t make for pleasant cruising.
So, Plan B is still being discussed. We are thinking about heading up the Rideau toward Ottawa and hoping that if we take our time (2 weeks or so) that by the time we get to Ottawa the Ottawa River will be open. If so, we can move on to Montreal if the marinas there are open. And then we can look at taking the St. Lawrence down to QC. We would have to reverse that route to get back to the 1000 Islands. All of this is contingent on water levels. In the meantime, we are at a favorite marina in Clayton and thinking of heading over to Gananoque in a day or two. We’ll tour Lisa around the 1000 Islands area as we gather information and make our decision.
For the good news, Subject to Change went in the water on Wednesday, May 29. We arrived to find her in great condition and awaiting new adventures. While Tim attended to recommissioning chores, Lisa and I headed out with a long list of provisions to buy. We never expected that finding proper Tonic Water for the captain would be so hard.
One of the un-niceties of boat ownership is dealing with “potty” issues. Lisa and I were happy to be off the boat when Tim found that the master head was not working. Our Vacu flush had no vacuum. Being the well prepared captain that he is, Tim had spare parts and he began the not so fun job of changing out the duckbills. For those of you unfamiliar with marine potties, the duckbills are very important potty parts. Everything that goes into the potty must go through a series of duckbills that help mush and mash the waste before it moves on through hoses to the holding tank. (Please skip down a couple of paragraphs if this discussion disgusts you.). It seems that our duckbills were crusted with Uralic crystals and were too stiff to shut properly. Thus the lack of a vacuum. Able Tim replaced the 4 duckbills and now we get a most satisfying “whooosh” when we flush.
Since I’m on the potty subject, I’ll tell you that he and I also replaced the potty holding take vent line. The vent line is a hose that goes out of the top of the holding tank to the outside via a vent fitting. When we bought the boat, our vent line had a charcoal filter installed to deodorize the air coming out of the holding tank. Talking to several DeFever owners at the rendezvous and doing some online reading of articles written by Peggy Hall, The Head Mistress, Tim decided to uninstall the filter. The idea is that the holding tank needs all the fresh air it can get and the filter reduces the air flow. Here’s a little biology: aerobic bacteria are the good guys. They break down waste without making a stinky smell. Anaerobic bacteria can also break down waste but they leave that very undesirable stench. We need to make the aerobic bacteria as happy as possible. That means feed it and give it lots of fresh air. To replace the vent line means removing a couple floor boards in the V Berth and my squeezing into the bilge. It’s a good thing we decided to do this. We found that the fitting coming out the top of the holding tank was almost completely clogged with, well you know. The vent line was also barely allowing for air to get into the tank. While I did yoga contortions in the bilge, Tim stretched and squirmed to get the hose off the vent fitting on the side of the boat. Tough job, but we’re both very happy to have it done.
The next day, Crew Lisa and I scrubbed the exterior of the boat while Tim finished up chores inside. With the boat now in tip top shape and a weather window opening up for a Lake crossing on Sunday we were ready to get the show on the road. We fueled up Friday morning at Winter Harbor, paid our bill, said our goodbyes, untied the lines and were off. 
In 2.4 miles, Lisa experienced her first locking and what a fine job she did. By the time we went through 8 locks ( Lock 23 on the Erie, then 7 locks on the Oswego) she was a pro. In fact she was complimented on her docking skills when she expertly lassoed a cleat as we came up to lock wall in Oswego. In keeping with our locking experiences last year, we again had a goodie bag ready for the lock masters. We left a brown paper sack with a treat bag of cookies and a bag of crackers in it as an appreciation gift.
We tied up on the wall between locks 7 and 8 in Oswego. This is a sweet spot. Lots of grass for Maggie to run and be crazy on, quiet, and easy walking into town for a brew and dinner. The crew from School’s Out, who were moored just ahead of us joined us for a walk into town and dinner. On the way we saw White Hawk, the 105′ wooden sailboat that we first saw while in Brewerton. What a beauty.
[easy-image-collage id=2017]We woke up Sunday to an overcast sky and moderate breezes. It was crossing day and we were ready. We followed School’s Out into our last lock and then we were out on the lake. Conditions were better than they looked while we were on the wall. Chilly, but otherwise perfect. And so here we are in Clayton trying to decide our next step. We just got a response to an email that I sent to Hull Marina in Ottawa. They say the river is now open, but there is still +11 feet of water and the marina is closed. Electrical boxes on the docks are still under water, but they hope to be open next weekend. Hmmmm. If we take our time…….. I’ll let you know what we decide in my next report.
[easy-image-collage id=2018] [easy-image-collage id=2024]Remember, if you want to get an email each time I blog, scroll to the bottom of this post, fill in your email address and click on the box. You should get an email each time I post.
Great pictures and description – glad y’all are on your way. Tom says, “Good memories (except for the ‘head’ part).”
I love your blog writing June and happy that Subject to Change came out of storage in good shape! So good to revisit you and Tim at the Rendezvous. We can appreciate the Vacuflush details. We’ve been there! We hope your travels become less challenging soon…
I’m very familiar with the holding tank fitting too! There’s an advantage/disadvantage with having small hands to getting the job (pun) done!
We saw that number on the gas pumps in Winter Harbor too…twice, and then some!