The Mighty Blue Heron - Travels on the Erie Canal

randyp · Post by **randyp** » Mon Jul 28, 2008 3:16 pm

Well, gang,

After 2 years of planning and a lot of budgeting we pulled out boat out of its home land-locked lake and put in on the Erie Canal near Schenectady, NY on June 23. Traveled as far west at Pittsford, NY and then back and down the Cayuga-Seneca Canal to Seneca Falls. Met a lot of people doing the great circle route in a lot bigger boats and met a lot of Trojan owners along the way. One marina (Pirate's Cove in Clay, NY) had about 10 of them, ours being the smallest at 26ft, along with a couple of 32s, a "cherry" 30 and a many 36s. We put 496 miles under the keel with 56 locks in all. Came back Jul 20 and would do it again in a heartbeat. Found best gas price in Sylvan Beach ($4.34) and cruised at avg 6 mph with consumption at 3 gph. This 31 year old boat did us proud, with only one replacment - a faulty ignition switch - holding us up a couple of days. For you big time cruisers our trip may seem like no big deal, but for us lakers it was an epic adventure. I have a renewed confidence in my F26, having taking it through a major squall. Great time, great boat!

Stripermann2 · Post by **Stripermann2** » Mon Jul 28, 2008 4:55 pm

Randy, congrats on your trip! Lot of miles you did and she never let you down, albeit a simple one...got to love 'em Trojans.

Would love to take time off like that and just cruise! If you have any pictures from your trip, post them. It'd be nice to take a little vacation in my head!

Don Lumber · Post by **Don Lumber** » Mon Jul 28, 2008 5:26 pm

Awww, I'm jealous. I just moved my boat about 30 miles down the coast of Lake Michigan which is the farthest I've been at one time. 500 miles would be an awesome adventure!

Grats!

rossjo · Post by **rossjo** » Tue Jul 29, 2008 12:08 am

The Erie Canal is a great trip - a lot different than the ICW. Love to get up there and do it some day! Post some pix of your boat going through the locks!

Just opened an office in Vancouver ... looking forward to some Northwest boating, fishing (and snow skiing)!

rick1954 · Post by **rick1954** » Tue Jul 29, 2008 11:36 am

Randyp, Sorry I missed you if you were in the Waterford area. Would of loved for you to see my 26fter.she is the sister to yours. Sounds like you had a wonderful trip, Good Show.

randyp · Post by **randyp** » Tue Jul 29, 2008 1:55 pm

I'll be happy to send some pics, but forgot how to post them on this site! I have them in Shutterfly and can email them to you. Send me your email address if you want to see a few and I'll zap them over!

Thanks

Stripermann2 · Post by **Stripermann2** » Tue Jul 29, 2008 4:45 pm

Here ya go if anyone wants to view Randy's pics. Just hit View pictures.

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welc ... WzJu2asX2Q

randyp · Post by **randyp** » Wed Jul 30, 2008 11:08 am

Thanks Stiperman! Didn't know it was that easy.

Stripermann2 · Post by **Stripermann2** » Wed Jul 30, 2008 11:29 am

I wasn't easy. I slaved, slaved and slaved to get that link going...whew!

AuxiliaryComms · Post by **AuxiliaryComms** » Wed Jul 30, 2008 11:51 am

All that way and only 26 photos? Your're as bad as I am!

Looks like it was a really pleasant and interesting trip.

Stripermann2 · Post by **Stripermann2** » Wed Jul 30, 2008 12:14 pm

Ha!!!
The "other" photos are probably not fit to print!

David Kane · Post by **David Kane** » Wed Jul 30, 2008 12:37 pm

Cool pics of the trip of the Blue Heron!!! Thanks, Stripermann2, for getting the link!

randyp · Post by **randyp** » Wed Jul 30, 2008 1:28 pm

Not sure if I told you this, but I blew out the boat levellers on our trip across Lake Oneida. They were leaking around the pistons anyway so it was bound to happen. They were original to the boat, installed May 1977. I still have the company brochure in my file. Anyhoooo.....I figured that the company was out of business, but checked on Google. Guess what? Yup, same company, same product. I contacted their tech rep and got a seal kit to fix them. Have to wait until we pull the boat at the end of the season, but it's nice to know that in this day of mergers, cheap Chinese junk, etc., there are still US companies making good products and standiing by them!

Oh, and you're right, the other pictures are either more locks or a lot of shots of our kids and their kids along the way!

prowlersfish · Post by **prowlersfish** » Wed Jul 30, 2008 10:28 pm

Looks like a great trip !!

Trojan Boat Forum

The Mighty Blue Heron - Travels on the Erie Canal

The Mighty Blue Heron - Travels on the Erie Canal

Great Trip