NJ trip to Erie Canal- 1,000 Islands 2010

D

dford

New Member
Apr 18, 2007
8
Lavallette, Nj
Boat Info
340 Sundancer, 2005
Engines
370 Mercruiser 8.1's
My wife and I are planning a 2010 summer trip in our 2005 340 Sundancer from Brick, NJ through the Erie Canal. We are planning about 10 days and looking for other boaters interested in taking the same trip along with us in their boats. We are open to dates. Also, if anyone has made this trip, your advice is appreciated!

Don Ford

D 3 of Us
 
Hi Don,
It will be a great trip. We brought our boat from The Housitonic in CT to Buffalo NY last May and it was great. I also have spent alot of time in the 1000 Islands, beautiful area.
If you don't mind me saying though, 10 days sounds kind of aggressive, unless you're talking one way.
I'll say that when we went from CT to Buffalo, we moved at a liesurly pace, after all we were on vacation. It went like this:
Stratford CT to Liberty landing, spent 2 days in NY city
NY to Kingston, Kingston to Waterford, Waterford to Canajoharie, Canajoharie to Marcy, Marcy to 3 Rivers, and onward.
3 Rivers is where you would head north up the oswego to Lake ontario. We ran the boat 6 to 9 hours a day on these legs except the first day to NY City. Take out the time in NY City and that's 6 days just getting to 3 Rivers. If you hustle, you may get to Alex Bay in 5 or 6 days but you would have to turn right around and go back. That's alot of running, and alot of gas $ to see the sights from the helm seat. There are so many things to see and take tours of along the way.
Just my 2 cents, but I would try for more time if possible.
Whatever you decide, I would be more than happy to share with you the places we stayed and items worth knowing. (like some of the fuel stops listed in the canal cruising guides are no longer in business). A special thanks goes out to those wonderful locals we met in Canojoharie who put 2-5 gallon cans of gas in our boat as a little insurance that we made it to St. Johnville Marina the next morning. :huh: Hey, who knew?
PM if you would like to chat more.
Take care
 
We may be interesterd... We are in Shelter cove... When are you planning to go??? We will be going to AC on the weekend of the of 4th off July with Ron and the Gang... August is good for us...
 
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my3sons...real nice detailed post. That is the kind of info this site is "famous" for. We need more of these types of positive answers instead of "sniping". Thanks...Ric
 
If and when you guys come up my way. Give me a shout i'm on the Sylvan Beach side of Oneida Lake NY :smt038. I'll take you guys out to dinner and show you the town. :smt001
 
And, once you make your way across lake Ontario and arrive on the St. Lawrence River/thousand island region, you may just decide to park the boat and never return! It has happened more than once as the river is wide (as the song goes) and there is so much to see and beauty abounds! We are in Clayton, NY at the French Bay Marina along with a few others (PA, delaware, south carolina to name a couple) who came and stayed! Don't worry, we'll give ya a ride in our car when your ready to go home! :)
 
I saw the beautiful pics posted this past summer, and would like to add to the site content with pics this coming summer... One trip that was a blast was last year's AC. It's guys like Frank C, Ron DDS, and Alex F that make this site both fun and informative. We had about 22 CSR boats at last year's AC trip... I anticipate that we will surpass that amouint in 2010. Just waitin for our fearless leader to start the countdown clock and give us something to dream about during the cold boatless winter...
 
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I'm not familiar with the leg from Oswego to the 1000 islands, but I've done the Hudson and canals 8 times in the last 4 years and it's a great ride. It's filled with adventure, variety, history, and magnificent scenery. As you do your planing I'll be happy to share my suggestions; but for now here is some info to start with.

Hudson River: It's about 130 miles from Lady Liberty to the Troy lock and Waterford. I average about 18 mph with wake zones and conditions. Watch out for debris in New York harbor and the Hudson around Manhattan. If possible I'd avoid rush hours and the ferry traffic and chop. The 15 mile stretch between Peekskill and Newburg is magnificent; slow down, watch for debris, and enjoy the scenery.

Canals: It's 180 miles from Troy (Waterford) to Oswego; with locks etc I average about 7 MPH. I'm always surprised at how remote it seems. The Erie Canal starts with the Mohawk River from Waterford to Little Falls and is beautiful. It's actually a mountain pass. The speed limit is 35 mph, but with docks and conditions you'll be up and down. Little Falls to Lake Oneida is almost all dug canal with a 10 mph speed limit and the lock masters will keep you honest. (The lock masters are friendly and helpful. They call ahead to the next lock when you leave and generally the next lock is opening for as you arrive.) Lake Oneida from Sylvan Beach to Brewerton is a nice 20 mile run and a chance to exercise the engines; but it can get choppy with a strong east or west wind. The Oneida River from Brewerton to Three Rivers (10 mi) is lined with docks so it's slow going. The Oswego Canal from Three Rivers to Oswego (25 mi) is mostly in the Oswego River and again seems isolated and a pretty trip.

Enjoy your planning, it's all part of the fun of a voyage. You might want to check out http://www.nyscanals.gov/index.html for more info and their guide is very helpful.
 
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I too agree 10 days will not be enough!! We hauled to waterford and took 5 days to lake ontario.. a great trip, than down the Hudson back to Cape Cod..We hope to do it again!!
 
Last summer, we (3 boats) left Rockport, Ontario in The Thousand Islands for our annual two week boating vacation. We boated across the St. Lawrence River to Boldt Castle on Hart Island where we checked into the USA and then on to Alexandria Bay to fuel up. Then it was off to Sackett's Harbour where we stayed over night.

The next morning, we leisurely cruised west to Oswego. We got through the first lock at the bottom of the Oswego Canal, then tied up for the night. The next morning, we pressed on to Baldwinsville where we tied up on the wall over night. The next morning, we got through the rest of the Oswego Canal System and hung a right at Three Rivers where we headed west to Cayuga Lake. We stayed 2 days at Castelli's Marina. (great people there) The next day, we moved to Hibiscus Marina nearby, stayed over night and then moved on down the lake for a few winery tours. We then cruised to Ithaca at the southern end of the lake where we stayed for two more days. We then retraced our steps back to Oswego with a number of familiar stops along the way. We were stuck in Oswego for three days because the 8' swells on Lake Ontario were causing too much excitement for boaters and commercial charter fishermen alike.

We were slipped beside Alan Jackson's yacht "Neon Rainbow" where it was undergoing a completed engine rebuild by the folks from CATERPILLER. We golfed, shopped and even went out to the Oswego Speedway one evening to help break the monotony.

Once the seas subsided, we cruised east to Clayton, NY where we got off the boat for the afternoon and played tourist. (We had planned to cross the lake from Oswego to Kingston, Ontario, but we just could not trust the weather for that leg of the trip.) We checked out the Antique boat museum in Clayton where Alan Jackson was the guest of honour at an event there only a few days earlier before he smoked one of his 800 HP engines on the Oswego Canal system. We then headed back across the St. Lawrence river at Alexandria Bay to our home port of Rockport, Ontario.

SUMMARY:

This trip consumed a full two weeks. Although cruising new waters was interesting and enjoyable, our overall impression of all of the small towns along the way was extremely disappointing to say the least. The lackluster effort put forth by these small towns to attract tourism and to make things interesting for tourists such as us boaters was blamed by the locals on the downturn in the economy. As a result of this boredom, we will never make that trips again. After logging several hours of windshield time at the helm in the blistering hot sun on the canal systems, we were majorly disappointed with the lack of activities that awaited us at each stop.

On the positive side, the weather was great & stores to replenish groceries, beer and ice were nearby. The local restaurants were also close by and offered up great meals at reasonable prices. Overnight fees to tie up on the canal walls ranged from $00.00 to dirt cheap. Fuel & pump out facilities were always readily available. Dockage at the marinas were also more than reasonable.

We are already planing our 2 week summer boating vacation for 2010 and I am sure that this trip will receive a lot of attention when we will meet several of our boating buddies at the Toronto Boat show this January.

Later, Ken
 
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