Trent Severn Waterway, day 2

I was up early and walked to a Tim Hortons for a couple donuts. When I got back to the dock the woman working in the Office was already there, and she let me use her PC again to make an update. I was done and underway by about 8:00AM

It was only about a mile to the next lock, so I was there in just a couple minutes. I tied up and walked around. Again, a neat and tidy lockstation, but all rather modern. When the keeper arrived I found this one had been overhauled last year with new hydraulic water flow valves.

Here is the down side of the lock as the water is being dumped from the lock. Lots of turbulance here! The lockkeeper did say he would be more gentle with the flow if there were boats tied up below.

This is the T handle to operate a lock gate. It drives a vertical shaft that opertes the pinion to move the rack on the gate arm.

This swing bridge at Healey Falls was the access road into a power dam, so it usually stays open unless there is maintenance work at the plant. Note they are pushing it open with a pickup truck. They said they ruined one truck doing it last year, and were starting on a new truck. They cant seem to get the bridge fixed so it will swing properly.

Lock 16 and 17 is a pair 'in flight' The total lift is 54 feet.

You really start to feel small when you are down in the bottom of a 54 foot lift. The boat LIVING LARGE was with me through these locks.

I've noticed quite a few seaplanes through here. Must be nice to park your plane in your back yard, on the river.

The docks along these rivers are usually simple affairs, often made of just 2x4 stock, maybe 4x4 posts. Winter ice does major damage, and I saw lots of damaged docks. I also saw a lot of clever ideas for keeping the dock out of the ice- I liked this one best. They had a good concrete block anchor. and the aluminum dock structure pivoted up on it like a drawbridge. It loked like a simple trailer winch to crank it up.
Another clever one had two large wheels, maybe 4 feet in diameter on the outboard end. It just rolled down the beach until the dock was level.

Its about 40 miles after the Lock 18, Hastings, to Lock 19, Scotts Mills. About half of it is winding river, part is lake, including about 9 miles across Rice lake. I managed to get the autopilot pretty well tuned on that passage, and used the chartplotter 'Goto' function to find the center mark. Everything is working well.
I arrived at Scotts Mills a bit tired and looking forward to a quiet evening. But there were 2 party boats loading passengers, and musicians, for a 2 hour ride on the Ontonabee River.

Just as I tied up there was a flury of excitement as this fisherman caught a huge carp. The way he was struggling to carry it it must have weighed 40 pounds.

The party boats returned at 9:00 PM and one unloaded and everyone left quickly. The other is apparently a graduation party and the die-hard party fans are still at it at 11:00PM. This is the worst overnight location yet- a very commercial area, noting interesting to walk to, the party boats, and a noisy bridge just ahead.

On well, I'm only 1 mile from the famous Peterborough lift lock that is the major reason I wanted to take this canal. Tomorrow should be an interesting day.

Continued... Back to the Trip Log

	It was only about a mile to the next lock, so I was there in just a couple minutes. I tied up and walked around. Again, a neat and tidy lockstation, but all rather modern. When the keeper arrived I found this one had been overhauled last year with new hydraulic water flow valves.
	Here is the down side of the lock as the water is being dumped from the lock. Lots of turbulance here! The lockkeeper did say he would be more gentle with the flow if there were boats tied up below.
	This is the T handle to operate a lock gate. It drives a vertical shaft that opertes the pinion to move the rack on the gate arm.
	This swing bridge at Healey Falls was the access road into a power dam, so it usually stays open unless there is maintenance work at the plant. Note they are pushing it open with a pickup truck. They said they ruined one truck doing it last year, and were starting on a new truck. They cant seem to get the bridge fixed so it will swing properly.
	Lock 16 and 17 is a pair 'in flight' The total lift is 54 feet.
	You really start to feel small when you are down in the bottom of a 54 foot lift. The boat LIVING LARGE was with me through these locks.
	I've noticed quite a few seaplanes through here. Must be nice to park your plane in your back yard, on the river.
	The docks along these rivers are usually simple affairs, often made of just 2x4 stock, maybe 4x4 posts. Winter ice does major damage, and I saw lots of damaged docks. I also saw a lot of clever ideas for keeping the dock out of the ice- I liked this one best. They had a good concrete block anchor. and the aluminum dock structure pivoted up on it like a drawbridge. It loked like a simple trailer winch to crank it up. Another clever one had two large wheels, maybe 4 feet in diameter on the outboard end. It just rolled down the beach until the dock was level.
	Its about 40 miles after the Lock 18, Hastings, to Lock 19, Scotts Mills. About half of it is winding river, part is lake, including about 9 miles across Rice lake. I managed to get the autopilot pretty well tuned on that passage, and used the chartplotter 'Goto' function to find the center mark. Everything is working well. I arrived at Scotts Mills a bit tired and looking forward to a quiet evening. But there were 2 party boats loading passengers, and musicians, for a 2 hour ride on the Ontonabee River.
	Just as I tied up there was a flury of excitement as this fisherman caught a huge carp. The way he was struggling to carry it it must have weighed 40 pounds.