TC255 SLING POSITION POINTS

[gulfcoast john]

TC255 SLING POSITION POINTS

Hi Brats!

Our next Adventure will (hopefully) be trailering up to Quinte West, Ontario, to launch at the start of the Trent-Severn waterway to the end 250 miles later at Port Severn. Then into Georgian Bay and up to the Northern Small Boat Channel, across Lake Huron to Mackinac Island, and back down Lake Huron to Detroit and a Windsor, ON marina with an adequate ramp that’s close to a VIA Rail (Canada’s Amtrak) to get back to the rig at Quinte West, ON.

T-S Lock 45 is not a lock, but a marine railway where you float into a rail car with slings and travel over land and then over a road with typical RR gates and flashing signals, then down the other side to get dunked into the water again.

We need to ‘Have your sling positions marked so the staff can see them.’

I know some of you West Coast TC255 owners have had your boat sling launched at Anacortes and perhaps other places. This launch is much longer and more complicated but in essence I figure the sling strap points should be pretty similar. We’ll plan to have under 100 pounds of gas (not 900) but otherwise be in Heavy Cruise Mode at the usual 9,000 # plus or minus 50-100 #.

In our scouting trip in 2018, I spent an entire day watching the process and admiring the Swiss chairlift-like mechanical room (all computerized). The net result of our scouting trip was WE MUST DO THIS ON OUR OWN BOAT!

Any estimates or suggestions are appreciated!

John

[JamesTXSD]

Hi John,

The Big Chute Railway was our second favorite part of the Trent-Severn. What's first, you ask? Thanks for asking... that would be the Peterborough Lift Lock. We spent the night at the wall there, and the lift operator asked if I wanted to come into the control room to see how he ran it, as they have to do one cycle of it before they run any boats through there. When we were ready to take that lift lock, he asked if I had a camera, then took some photos of us with the boat in the lift lock. Yep, those Canadians are very nice.

Back to the Big Chute Railway: the people running that were doing the slings on the fly, and have the opportunity to adjust up or down on the front and rear of the boat to give it the best ride. It is an interesting bit of engineering. No doubt it might go faster if you have the sling positions marked, but they are good there.

In the Big Chute Railway...



And in the Peterborough Lift...



The Trent-Severn is a delight!

I enjoyed your Florida trip - thanks for sharing!

Jim