The Cruising Adventures of Wild Blue and crew...

We got the trailer brackets welded yesterday. Our new friend, Bill the welder, was appalled at those brackets... he said, "The trailer manufacturer should have a safety recall on those. That's not enough steel to hold that kind of weight." He may be right, but I think the crappy road on I-86 didn't help matters. He welded in some extra metal... "It may not be pretty, but it should hold up better," Bill said.

Here's where it broke...

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Those of you who have a King trailer for your 25 may want to look at those brackets... definitely a weak link. Bill the welder in action...

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Bill is a retired guy who welds and works on lawn mowers to suppliment his Social Security. He worked on the trailer for nearly an hour and charged me only $25. Quite a bargain. He said he was glad to help... and I believe he genuinely was. He works out of his shop in the back of his garage... wasn't easy getting the trailer backed into his narrow driveway, then pushed by hand onto the grass...

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We had lunch in Seneca Falls and checked out the locks there...

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We are enjoying the local area, and decided to spend another night. Izzy is getting more brave moving around on the boat. This morning, we gave her some extra leash; she made her way out the center window...

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Out on the raised portion of the bow, she got the "oh-oh face" when the boat rocked a bit...

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After watching the birds and some encouragement from us, she got more comfortable up there...

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While certainly not fearless, this little girl is doing great with all the new things she's been exposed to.

This afternoon (just before sundowners), Joan said, "We have no power at the outlets." Not a good situation. I checked it out and determined the GFCI had crapped out. Fortunately, there is a Lowe's not far away and we still have access to our truck. Of course, about this time, Mother Nature decided we needed some rain... it rained the heaviest as I came and went from Lowe's. I swapped out the GFCI, dried off the power cord end, plugged back into the shore power... and it worked.

For now, the rain has quit, the sky is broken, with bits of blue showing here and there, and the water is like glass. Not a bad ending to the day.

Heading out in the morning.

Best wishes,
Jim B.
 
Jim, I just replaced a broken front bracket on my King Trailer. It broke in the same place. I ordered a new one thru EQ. I also have started replacing all the hardware with SS. Expensive, so just a few at a time.
My boat sits in a dry stack storage and the trailer gets very little use.

Fred
 
Hi Fred,

Well, two trailers does not make a trend... but, it is an area that I will be watching closely on the rest of the brackets. On our trailer, it was both forward outside brackets. One was broken completely off, the other was cracked over half way through. We use our trailer a LOT, and we go over it each time we rinse (and it always gets thoroughly rinsed after each saltwater dunking. Had both of those broken, it would have left only the narrow middle bunks keeping the front of the boat balanced... not a good situation.

The rest of you 25 owners with King trailers will want to check this out. Safety first.

Best wishes,
Jim
 
Free docks, including power and water... free is my favorite price. :wink:

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Going through the first lock today, we had to wait our turn. We pulled up to the blue line on the lock wall. We weren't the only ones at the blue line...

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I expected them to fly off as we got closer. Nope. Maybe waiting for food? Nope. Here's why...

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A bit of a high traffic area to hatch, if you ask me.

We didn't go far today by water. We explored locally on our bikes, finding a small farmers market. An interesting locally produced cheese and some fresh fruit came back to the boat with us. Provisioning is easy on this cruise.

Izzy got to go for a walk on the waterfront, and now she's down for a nap...

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Not a bad idea. :D

Best wishes,
Jim B.
 
Glad you are enjoying the hospitality of NY State and the town of Seneca Falls. You have a lot more to look forward to as you cruise these wonderful waters. When you get to Newark be sure to make a trip to the Newark Diner. It is really funky and the food is low cost. Say HI to John the owner for us. He will remember us as we always had a wheel chair with us on our visits. I know you will enjoy the free docks, showers, and laundromat at the Welcome Center. You cat seems to like the cruising life. Mr. Grey always liked to lay at the front window as an extra lookout.

He had two swims in the Erie Canal when he slipped off the gunnel. No worse for the wear, but it took two hours to dry his long hair. I think Izzy would dry a little sooner.

Fred, Pat, and Mr. Grey(the cat)
 
Hi Fred,

We are doing our best to keep Izzy out of the water... but, she is young and inquisitive. That's the reason we have a net onboard.

All the spots on the wall that have power were occupied last night. The trawler behind us has a young boy and a teenage girl in the family. Interestingly, a gathering of local teens occurred along the wall last night... congregated only around the boat with the teen girl. Go figure?

As predicted, a rainy start to the day today.

Best wishes,
Jim B.
 
We did a whole 38 miles on Thursday. :wink: Through three locks, out of the Cayuga/Seneca Canal and into the Erie Canal. Much of today's route was through unpopulated areas, occasional camps by the Seneca River, and then more and more homes as we approached Baldwinville. We decided to stop for the day at the wall west of the lock. The guidebook says there are tie offs, but no power. We were pleasantly surprised twice as we approached the wall... first, we saw another C-Dory on the wall... second, there were power connections (new since the book was printed). We tied off in a light sprinkle and got to meet Dave (Toyman) and Jan from Fan-C-Dory! Two C-Dory owners from Texas have to come to New York to meet in person. :wink: We were also introduced to Snack, their Yorkie... smaller than Izzy, and she loves attention. :dog

We spent much of the afternoon visiting, Dave and me on their boat, Joan and Jan on ours. We walked to a nearby restaurant for a nice meal and more good conversation. Dave and Jan have lived and traveled all around the world, and have some great stories. After supper, we came back to the boats and took chairs out onto the dock for sundowners. Izzy and Snack got to meet up close and personal - nose to nose. Sorry I left my camera in the boat, 'cuz it was pretty cute. Snack wanted to play, Izzy wasn't so sure.

A gentleman from the city came by and collected $5 for the power connection - seemed like a pretty good deal to me. He told us that there is a Jimmy Buffett tribute band playing at the park across the canal from us on Saturday. Decisions to make.

Back to the cruising... most parts of the canal have a 10 mph speed limit, occasionally there is a 30 mph limit in river sections where there are no docks or other boats... but there were plenty of docks, making for speed-up/slow down conditions regularly. And speaking of other boats: you could count all the boat traffic we saw today on one hand... if you had 6 fingers on that hand. 8) I was surprised at how little traffic we've encountered so far.

Some photos...

Leaving Seneca Falls, the church along the water...

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In the canal; the weather was gray, occasional rain; made for some pretty reflections...

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Locking through...

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Going down...

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There are many signs along the canal stating "No Wake"; some more forcefully than others. Quite a few of the "We're boaters, too - please, no wake". This one lets you know where the owner stands...

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Jan and Joan staying out of the rain in Wild Blue's cockpit...

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It's gray again this morning, but no rain, yet.

Best wishes,
Jim B.
 
Great pix Jim, looks like, despite some wet weather (wish we had some here....) you're having a great trip! Try to get some photos of Snack playing (or trying to play) with Izzy. Our silky terrier Andy trys to play with the cats but they just don't know what to make of it. Makes for some funny scenes!

Have a great day!

Charlie
 
toyman":1r7tokmh said:
Decisions, decisions - do we go West today, or do we stay for the Buffett buffet ?!?!?
Click to expand...

Hi Dave,

Joan voted for staying for the concert. So, the best I could do would be to bring it to a tie. :roll: Best to abstain. I'll walk down to your boat when the rain lets up.

Jim
 
We love your pictures and comments. Glad to hear that Baldwinsville now has power. Surely worth the $5.00. The concerts there are a big draw with lots of boats and people. If you stay to see it you will see a lot of action. If you are on the wall no problem. One year we anchored at the tip of the concert island and almost got a ticket for blocking the channel. Please continue your posts and pictures. We relive many fine times when we see and read.

Fred, Pat, and Mr. Grey(the cat)
 
Yep, you forced the decision, we're staying also. May have to get a bigger bilge pump though if it keeps raining like it has this P.M.. My F.I.Law the farmer used to say - "sure helps the sub-soil moisture" - but for some reason I don't feel that "sub-soil moisture" is important sitting on the Erie Canal.
 
Another day in B-Ville...

We walked over to the showers this morning. Unusual doesn't begin to describe the showers... you pay a quarter to get IN, but there's no charge for the use. However, the force and the droplets were something else... picture yourself riding a motorcycle naked in the rain... and driving 120 miles per hour! :shock: The water came out like NEEDLES! My skin was beet red when I got out. That's one way to keep the water usage down. :roll:

Joan said she thought we should put the camperback on because of the predicted rain. I went to work on that, and about 5 minutes later, the sky opened up and it poured... buckets... dogs and cats.

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In between the marauding thunderstorms, I went down the dock to visit with Dave and Jan. Then walked around to get a shot of the boats on the wall here...

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Joan and I decided to walk into town. During the walk, we went by a pizza place, offering (what else?) New York style pizza. We went in for a slice and a cannoli... just trying to fit in. :wink: Before we could get the pizza down, the sky turned BLACK. We took the cannoli to go and hauled butt back to the boat (about 6 or 7 blocks away). Almost made it before the sky opened up again.

All things considered, it was a good day to kick back. I took a short nap with the sound of the rain on the cabintop. When it let up again, I went down to see if Dave and Jan wanted to do supper out again.

Then, about 4:00 we saw a Ranger Tug come through the lock. When I mentioned it to Joan, she said, "Maybe it's Leonard and Doris?" (friends of ours from Port Isabel) I couldn't believe it - it WAS! They were looking for a space on the wall... nothing left with power. I called them on the radio and told them they could raft off to us. They decided to go for the last spot left at the very far end of the wall... one cleat and a fence post to tie off to. It was great to see our friends from home! Joan and I were invited aboard their Ranger, and minutes later it started pouring again. We visited for a while... until a bright light shined in the front window. It was Dave on their boat - time for supper! We made it a table for 6. Leonard and Doris told us about the fun they had with their boat in New York City. Looks like we have another destination.

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After supper, the 6 of us visited out on the dock. A kick-ass band at the park across the canal fired up... about the same time the mosquitoes moved in. Time to call it a night, or at least head for the boats. Fun day... more proof to not judge a day by the weather.

So, what are the odds that three boats from Texas would all wind up at the same small town on the Erie Canal at the same time? :D

Best wishes,
Jim B.
 
OK, nothing to do with cruising, but too darn cute to not pass on. Izzy and Snack had a play date today...

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Yeah, we all get along fine.

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Time to go watch the concert.

Best wishes,
Jim B.
 
Jim,
I need to respond to this post ( pictures ) :) You, Joan and Izzy need a Yorkee to round out your crew on Wild Blue. They are wonderful creatures. Sydney and I lost Harley at 4 years and 3.75 pounds. Yorkees are a joy. :roll:
Steve and Sydney
 
Hi Steve,

There is no doubt that Snack is one cute little critter... everyone that walks by her says something to that effect. Plus, she is lovey and not "yappy", like many small dogs. While we have no biases regarding furry family members (we've had several wonderful dogs over the years), I checked with Joan and Izzy... neither was interested in adding another family member. :wink:

Have you and Sydney been getting in some boating? She was sure a trooper on the 16; how does she like the 19?

Best wishes,
Jim
 
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