We came into Alton Marina at the end of the day Tuesday. 3.5 days to cover the 265 miles from Ottawa.
Apart from a brief stop in Peoria to let the dogs ashore we were on the boat. Anchored out on the river each night.
Today was very windy with snow and sleet this morning, so we stayed put. Tomorrow we head down the Mississippi, and expect to make it to Green Turtle Bay Marina in four days. Weather and river conditions look good.
We escaped Ottawa today with a bit of effort, and got underway down the Illinois River. Tonight we’re anchored here, and tomorrow we’re planning to get to Peoria.
The ice cleared off the river a few days ago, but we still had concerns about the ice in Heritage Harbor, so Dean got 240 pounds of salt and seeded a path earlier this week.
I don’t think we would have gotten out without that. The ice was soft enough that we were able to bust out.
Today was pleasant, sunny and around freezing. Nicer weather is here for a day or two, then rain forecast for Tuesday. Making tracks.
My hope is to make it to Green Turtle Bay, where I’ll hop off in time to get back to Toronto before heading for England on March 14. It’s looking doable. Dean will do a crew change and continue from there.
More later.
I briefly mentioned a couple of years ago that I had received a ticket in Toronto for anchoring in a spot the local police didn’t like. It was my intent to fight the case, and I was waiting for a meeting with prosecutors. Susan was with me and had taken contemporaneous notes and consulted with some of her lawyer friends. The whole event was disruptive and unpleasant for me, and I have no intention of returning to Toronto by boat.
I learned last week that charges have been dropped. One less impediment to roaming widely this year, and a fair outcome IMO.
I’m curious to know how many successful prosecutions they’ve had. Here’s the charge.
I was monitoring the weather and river conditions in Illinois, and decided that our best chance to get down the river in the next couple of weeks would be early this week. I’d been watching temperature gauge data from the lock stations, and it looked like the major ice had cleared at least as far as Peoria, and the long term forecast looked benign. There were several nice days with temperatures up to about 10c. River temperatures were well above freezing.
I drove to Ottawa Sunday night, and Monday we had a refrigeration specialist in to recharge the refrigeration system and got it up and running.
After provisioning we prepared to get underway Tuesday and discovered a bad alternator belt, and also that we had no spare. I should have had that on the check list. It’s fortunate that we didn’t have a failure underway. After some running around we sorted that.
This morning we got underway for real, and were stopped by the ice in the harbour. Most of the slips were cleared by a couple of bubblers, and there was open water at the entrance, but in between was more solid than it had been coming in. So we aborted the mission.
It’s probably for the best. Friend Matt was driving up the river and reported heavy pack ice below Peoria.
I’m back home now, and Dean and the comfort dogs are happy spending another couple of weeks at Heritage Harbor. We’ll look for another window closer to the end of the month.
In the meantime shore side life is quite pleasant. Lots of snow here, and I’ve been enjoying time outside with Cheddar. Here we are checking on the little boats last week.
Note: I wrote this in December 2023, and am revisiting the idea. Component parts have come down in price. It might be time to do it. Not much has changed in my thinking since I drafted this. A thread on Trawler Forum helped me in my thinking.
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I’ve been thinking for the last year or so about my perfect boat. I’ve got to say, Escapade feels pretty good on me. But it’s not perfect.
It’s all use case dependent, of course. And my boating budget is far from limitless. But it’s fun to contemplate.
One idea that’s been simmering as an alternative to swapping boats is tinkering with Escapade. And building out a solar powered hybrid power train has been on my mind for a while.
What would it entail? Basically installing as much solar capacity as possible, then harnessing the energy provided to reduce my fuel consumption.
I should say that in three years of cruising on Escapade I’ve only spent time on the top deck a handful of times. I don’t want a flybridge or sunning space. The sun is not my friend. I’m happy with the open access to the outside in the pilothouse and shaded cockpit.
So here’s the basic proposal: build an aluminum cage structure from the deck up, and cover it with solar panels. Panels would cover most of the length and breadth of the boat. I think I could get about 500 square feet with good orientation and no shade. That’s about 10kw in capacity. My experience with my existing panels indicates I can expect 35-40 kwh per day yield on average. Maximum daily might be 60 kwh.
That energy can be stored in a 48v battery and used for any of the following:
For the time being I’m expecting the majority of the solar power will go into propulsion. My working plan is to install two electric saildrive units, each about 6 kw. My plan would be to use some combination of diesel and electric when underway. I’m quite confident that I’ll be able to travel at 6 knots under electric only, which is often fast enough for me, but I’m also thinking that I can blend electric with diesel easily by using both to travel the same speed with less fuel.
There are a bunch of ancillary benefits for me. Limited get-home propulsion is really nice to have in a single engine boat. And the idea of having the boat under a permanent protective covering of panels doesn’t bother me a bit. Silent running at times would be nice.
So what’s the payback going to be in reduced fuel consumption? I just called up some numbers from my last full loop:
Distance Traveled: 10,007 NM / 18,500 km
Engine hours: 1,537 @ 1.4 gph 5.5 l/hr
Furnace hours: 958 @ 1.7 l/hr
Total fuel used: 10,050 l
I’ve used 1.0 l/NM as my standard estimate on both Mazurka and Escapade and it’s been remarkably consistent.
What might a repeat with solar/electric look like?
It’s been very cold in Ottawa IL, even by Canadian standards. I’m home, but Dean sent updates today. They have 6000w of heat and the Dickinson heater running, and are surviving nicely, apart from Notre Dame’s defeat.
The goal is still to get south as soon as possible. We’ll be watching local ice conditions and the long range forecast, and grab the first opportunity to get going.
It could be a while before the Illinois River clears.
I’ve had lots of traffic here lately. If you want to track our future progress feel free to subscribe to get posts delivered to your inbox.
We made it. All tied up. Dean and the hounds will stay aboard, and I’m heading home. We’ll resume travel when things open up.
We did some heavy duty ice breaking getting in here. I’m sure it was 4″ thick. This boat does well, as it rides up on the ice and breaks it with weight.
Here are videos taken by Dean as well as shore side observers.
This has been fun.
I’m expecting more spectator videos, and will post here when they come in.
We’ve been getting lots of good advice and assistance the last day or two. Harbor Host Jim reached out and drove us for fuel and a tour of the area.
Later we talked with city staff who could get power to the dock. All very accommodating.
The problem here is that we’re in an an area that’s vulnerable to ice jams and flooding. If as anticipated things freeze up more we could be in trouble at break up.
So our plan for today is to try to break out of here this afternoon and get into Heritage Harbor two miles away. If we can make it to their dock we’re safe indefinitely.
The channel is free and temperatures are forecast to be well above freezing this afternoon. I’m reasonably confident that we can break out of here. Hopefully we can get in at Heritage.
The fallback is to go back up to Spring Brook, but getting in to their docks is far from guaranteed. Hope we don’t have to try.
Things are not looking good for river travel. Today and tomorrow will be above freezing, but then it’s a few more days of bitter cold, and no real respite in the long term forecast.
We did get off the dock in Ottawa today after clearing a hole using prop wash overnight. That was satisfying. But the ice 100′ off the dock was too thick to break through.
Our current plan is to stay in Ottawa until a thaw. Could be a couple of weeks or more. Dean and the hounds will stay aboard.
I’ve been a bit surprised at the extent of the ice. I guess the water temperature follows the air temperature down quickly on the rivers. There are tows traveling the main channel using brute force, but everything else is frozen solid.
Dean’s short videos from yesterday
Boating Adventures 