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Cruising the Great Lakes to Georgian Bay

Discussion in 'Marinas & Waypoints' started by nas130, Jun 4, 2007.

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  1. nas130

    nas130 Member

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    Hello Everyone,

    I am starting to plan a trip for my new boss. We will be departing from Ft. Lauderdale and cruising up to Georgian Bay, north of Lake Huron.

    The boat has a draft of 6 feet, an air draft of 18.5 feet and is 90 feet long. We will be traveling up the Hudson River, through the Erie and Oswego Canals, across Lake Ontario, into the Welland Canal, across Lake Erie, up the Detroit River, Lake St. Clair and River, up the Lake Huron and into Georgian Bay. En route we will be visiting: New York City, Toronto, and Long Point.

    I have gone as far north on the Hudson as Castleton on the Hudson (14 miles south of Troy).

    I have read the Great Lakes Waterway Guide and have a good feel for what is coming. Can you recommend any other cruising guides or other information sources?

    Where do you recommend we overnight on the Erie and Oswego Canals?

    Any advice on transiting the Welland Canal?

    Any recommended marinas, anchorages and places for fuel for my sized vessel along the way?

    Clearing customs issues?

    Any must see sights?

    I assume I am going to need magnesium sacrificial anodes for my engines, generators, and running gear. Does anyone have a reliable source?

    Any other advice you can offer is much appreciated.

    Thanks in advance for all of your help.

    Best Regards,

    Nicholas
  2. yotphix

    yotphix New Member

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    Nicholas, I will try to find time to give you a better answer over the next day or two but let me say that one of the highlights of your trip will be the North Channel. This is the area, North of Lake Huron and at the extreme NW end of Georgian Bay. There are endless beautiful sights up there. You will pass countless islands and sheer limestone cliffs, all the while in the clearest water imaginable. Sounds like a fantastic trip!
  3. K1W1

    K1W1 Senior Member

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    Hi,

    Why would you require Magnesium Anodes to cruise up in the Fresh Water regions you describe in your post?
  4. nas130

    nas130 Member

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    Please correct me if I am wrong, but I was under the impression that zinc and aluminum anodes do not corrode/oxidize in fresh water.

    Nicholas
  5. K1W1

    K1W1 Senior Member

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    Hi,

    Thanks for your straight forward reply.

    I can't say for sure which is why I asked.

    I was under the impression that the need for anodes was nil in fresh water.

    Maybe someone with an intimate knowledge of the subject can enlighten both of us :)
  6. WannabeeYhtsman

    WannabeeYhtsman New Member

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    No trip to that area is complete without a visit to the Bruce Peninsula and a stop in the Harbour of Tobermory. Little Tub Habour is a small but deep harbour but for a boat of your size you will need to call ahead for docking.

    This is a great area for diving and hiking. Fathom Five Nation Marine Park is crystal clear blue water underwater national park ideal for exploring shipwrecks. A few of the wrecks are very visible from above the water but I am not sure you can use your own yacht to explore them.

    Enjoy your trip

    Cheers

    http://www.ontariotravel.net/TcisCtrl?site=consumers&key1=destinations&key2=Southwestern&key3=BrucePeninsula&language=EN&linkType=I

    http://www.tobermory.org/

    If you stay overnight in Tobermory, plan to have dinner at the Grandview Dining Room, great views and even better food.
  7. nas130

    nas130 Member

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    Thanks for all your help guys, keep it coming.

    The waterway guide claimed that Georgian Bay is the best fresh water cruising in the world.

    Does anyone have any more ideas on the technical aspects of the trip?

    Nicholas
  8. Loren Schweizer

    Loren Schweizer YF Associate Writer

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    nas130:
    In your description of the vessel, you neglected to mention hull material.
    At 90' LOA, you might be an aluminum Broward and I don't think magnesium anodic protection is recommended for that application due to the extremely high galvanic voltage that would ensue.

    You might try boatzincs.com for a definitive answer and check with your engine mfg'er. for good measure.
  9. viking 58

    viking 58 YF Historian

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    If cruising the north channel be sure to have some extra wheels on board.

    Below are a few pictures from our last trip. We entered at Meldrum Bay then to Whales Back on the hook to Little Current to The Sportsman's in Kilarney and then back to Drummond Island.

    Great Trip

    Attached Files:

  10. viking 58

    viking 58 YF Historian

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    a few more.

    Attached Files:

  11. nas130

    nas130 Member

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    Thanks again for all of your answers.

    I had heard that the North Channel is pretty skinny.

    The boat is aluminum. Those pictures are amazing, I am getting really excited to be cruising in such a beautiful place.

    Nicholas
  12. mp-willow

    mp-willow Senior Member

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    Nas130> That trip is very nice. Toranto is one of my favorite Canadian Cities. Fathon 5 marine park is worth a stop if you like diving or snorkeling. Also if you can the citie's theature is almost as good as New York.

    When traveling the cannal take your time and relax. Look out for a few small towns and local country charm. Do you need a pilot for New York Harbor? As for the lakes, Fishing!! Have a grand time. ;)
  13. CaptEvan

    CaptEvan Senior Member

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    The Welland Canal is mainly a commercial one, meaning they do no favors for recreational vessels and it is hard on fenders. Assuming from your length you will have at least 3 crew aboard you will be fine by rule, but not by knowledge. It is best to hire a local to lock through (about $150), as most of them work for the canal authority and their advice is invaluable. PM me and I will give you an excellent contact and phone number.

    For the most part you can check into Canadian customs by calling 1-800-CANPASS. If it has getten any more complicated in the last years, they can guide you through it.

    While you will love Georgian Bay, and hopefully the North Channel, be cautious with that draft as levels will be low this season. If nothing more, be sure to visit Kilarney and Portage Cove just beyond it to the northwest. This might lure you further.

    Oh, and zinc anodes are fine in freshwater, they just last a lot longer.

    Evan
  14. yotphix

    yotphix New Member

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    Toronto is a great city! At your size you will have to book a berth in advance though as there is really only one that will work for you. It is a great spot - for security, since it is in front of the Toronto Police Marine Unit, for amenities since it is just steps from a great waterfront Hotel with a rooftop pool/bar and right downtown.
    I have no idea what sort of things your boss likes to do but Toronto in the summer has a lot going on, something for everyone.
    Fuel might be little tough. I think that you mike be able to get into the Ontario Place fuel dock, though it is definitely not longer than your boat. You might also be able to temporarily use one of the Harbour Tour/party boat spots and get a truck for fuel.
    Ditto the above post for the Welland canal, it definitely caters to the lake freighters but the locks are 730' long and 80' wide so lots of space. It is hell on fenders as the walls are rough and there is a lot of turbulence in the locks when they are filling. When we are in the Panama we put multiple layers of plastic garbage bag on ours in place of the usual soft covers.
    You might try these http://www.portsbooks.com/ cruising guides. They are marketed toward much smaller boats but they are about as comprehensive as it gets.
    got to run again, good luck though, man I'm jealous!
  15. yotphix

    yotphix New Member

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  16. dawntreader

    dawntreader New Member

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    We boat in lake ontario, lake simcoe and georgian bay with a Regal 3560. Volvo recommended and installed magnesium anodes on our boat expressly for the fresh water.

    There are Ports guides for Lake Ontario, Lake Huron and the North Channel and the Trent Severn waterway. Excellent books as suggested by another reader here.

    You should be able to moor up against the inside of the breakwater in Ontario Place, though obviously reservations are in order. http://www.ontarioplace.com/en/marina/marina.html

    You might want to schedule ontario place during the summer festival of fire http://www.ontarioplace.com/en/events/festival.html. - an amazing set of international fireworks display - and you're pretty much right under it there.
  17. nas130

    nas130 Member

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    Hello Everyone and thanks for your replies.

    I have arrived back into the United States and have learned very much.

    Troy:
    I tied up at Troy town docks, the dock master is Joe and was a pleasure to deal with. He took us to the grocery store, had a fuel truck ready, and even took our boarding ladder in for some machine work.

    Erie Canal:
    It is very easy to transit the canal. We were around 20.5 feet tall and I believe 21 feet is the maximum height. The lock tenders will fill the locks with water a few times and dump them to lower the pool height creating more bridge clearance at the the two lowest bridges (The one bridge is west of the Waterford Flight and the other is b/n lock 7 and 8 of the Oswego Canal) I tied up at Lock 13, Lock 20, Fonda and Rome. I draw around 6'10" and churned up silt at Rome. Fonda is a Municipal wall. When you draw as much as me, there are not as many options for dockage along the way. Most of the locks are very isolated, but the lock walls are all good tie ups. The hours in the beginning of the season were from 6 or 7am to 10 pm and opened on demand. Because of low water levels in the reservoir, in the fall the locks were closing at 5 and only opened on the hour, regardless of the distance between them. Next year I will purchase the paper to make me commercial traffic so the lock tenders have to open on demand, regardless of other traffic.

    Oswego:
    I stayed at Oswego Marina. It is a nice facility, but they aren't very confident of their depths. They had arranged a fuel truck to deliver fuel for me, but the NY Department of Environment or whatever it is called will not let them pump fuel from a truck into a boat. I did not have the problem in Troy, so I assume something local happened that had everyone nervous. So I took fuel out of their tanks and even with my Alpha Laval running was still clogging racors.

    Great Lakes
    I loved cruising the Great Lakes. The info about John's Quay in Toronto is good info. We spent the majority of our time in Georgian Bay. Tobermory is a great port and a nice place to spend a few nights. Parry Sound is another great port. Navigating the rocks getting into it is very intense your first time. You really need to pay attention to your charts and keep a sharp eye. Beckwith Island is a great anchorage. We were in Little Current for only one night, but it seemed like a nice place. Around the corner from Little Current and Killarny is Baie Fine which is the largest fresh water Fjord in the world. The Evinrudes used to keep their boats tied up at the end of it. The strip charts for Georgian Bay are the best charts by far. I was not the biggest fan of Richardson's Chart books for any of the great lakes. The chart datum on most charts is very old so navigating can be a nerve racking endeavor.

    If you run your boat on 100 amp, you will not have shore power in most marinas. I plugged in once for one night the whole summer and that was at a private dock. We had two rough days all summer, and the chop on the Great Lakes is nasty. You really need to respect the weather.

    The only negatives of the great lakes are running on genny constantly, the marinas have no clue of the depths at dockside, and the bugs in Georgian Bay.

    Surprisingly there is a bit of current in the Great Lakes!

    Welland Canal
    Because of CaptEvans advice I had a great trip through this canal. It is 8 locks and 26 miles or so. I called canal control and hired two of their employees to lock through with us. We did this in both directions they fit us into the locks before any other traffic and we did not have to wait for any traffic. It took about four hours going south and 6 hours going north. I was locking behind the Arctic Sunrise the Green Peace ship and canal control was afraid they were going to disrupt shipping. The locks are much more violent then the Erie Canal, so you need more fenders and to be diligent on the controls.

    Customs
    Updating your cruising permit in the Great Lakes is very easy to do, they are all aware that yachts are different and know how to handle us. Canadian customs are a breeze, you clear in by calling the CanPass number that Evan listed.

    Thanks for all of your help.

    Best Regards,

    nas
  18. CaptEvan

    CaptEvan Senior Member

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    Glad you had a great trip. I just finished a delivery to the east coast through the Welland and was treated like crap, 9 1/2 hours. Must have just missed you on our way through the Oswego and Erie.
  19. WannabeeYhtsman

    WannabeeYhtsman New Member

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    Thanks for all the great info about your trip. Glad you liked Tobermory.

    Cheers
  20. YachtForums

    YachtForums Administrator

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    Great post Nas130!