Boating Adventures

I’m back on the Great Lakes. Whew! The last couple of days have been stressful. This is the only picture I took since my last post. But there are lots here from my November 2019 trip through in Mazurka.

I’m tied up at Crowley’s, and will be here for a while. More on that later.

Stressful? I’d say it took three parts. First off, I’m still having trouble with air in the fuel line. I had the filter assembly off last month, and thought I had solved for it. Anyway, coming up the Illinois I had a couple of times when the motor stopped suddenly. It would restart after a few minutes. I went through the system again, and found a rubber seal at the connection to the injector pump that was badly deteriorated and had failed when I overtightened after bleeding. I used some gasket sealant to seal it up as best I could, but was still not 100% confident that a sudden stop wouldn’t happen.

The second issue was the wind. It’s been howling at times over the last couple of days. Highly variable, but 30-40 knots at times. The big tows were all stopped, so I had the river to myself. But I got into a bit of trouble coming into a lock downwind. They only had floating bits on my starboard side, and I made three or four unsuccessful attempts to get alongside the lock wall. The lock tenders suggested I float in the pool, and I did that while they slowly raised the lock. It worked, but I was imagining what would happen if I lost power.

By word of explanation, Escapade has a lot of prop torque which pulls the stern to port in reverse. It’s very difficult to get the stern against a wall when coming downwind in a breeze.

The third issue is the route into Chicago. It’s a narrow cut with no place to stop, hard walls, and I expected it to be jammed with barges and activity based on my last trip through in Mazurka, which wasn’t entirely without incident. Not somewhere to be suddenly disabled.

As it turned out it was an uneventful trip in. There was almost no activity on the river because of the wind, and the motor kept chugging. But I had trouble relaxing for a while after arriving.

It’s good to be here. My old friend Bruce took me out to dinner at a great Mexican restaurant nearby shortly after I arrived, and I’m plugged in and looking forward to spring in the yacht yard.

I anchored here as it was getting dark. There is public docking here, but I was happy to stay on the hook.

I had forgotten how remote the river is below here. It’s like the lower Mississippi, with dikes set back from the natural river. I didn’t have mobile coverage for lots of it.

I’ve been enjoying it, but am looking forward to tying up in Chicago later this week.

I got back underway from Alton Saturday late morning, and am now anchored here about 90 miles up the Illinois River. Last night I anchored near Kampsville. Stopped in Hardin for dinner.

I’m on my way to Crowley’s in Chicago.

The water is high here, at minor flood stage, but it’s been smooth sailing so far.

I’m in Ontario this week in a rental car. Back to Escapade this weekend. I’ve been vehicle shopping. My 2010 Prius is dead. Here is my next daily driver

It’s a Honda Silverwing. I’ve wanted one since they were introduced almost 20 years ago.

I’ll be riding it this summer, and if I like it I’ll try to find a good way to carry it aboard Escapade. It’s pretty porky at 550 pounds, but I’m sure there is a workable way to do it.

I’m tied up for a while.  Booked a slip for two weeks at Alton Marina. Plugged in for the first time since leaving Lunenburg.

I’ve been here before, when I was downbound in Mazurka. It’s a good spot.

The two week stay assumes I’m going to continue on upriver to Minneapolis. I’m very keen on that right now. It wasn’t part of the original plan, but I’m ahead of schedule. It’s about 1300 miles return. That trip has been on my wish list forever, and I like shoulder season cruising. High water might stop me, but I’m assuming I can turn around and head for Chicago any time if the going gets tough.

In the meantime, some shore side activities and boat cleaning and maintenance!

I’m anchored here where the Missouri flows into the Mississippi. Between wing dams it’s quite pleasant.

The river opened today at 4 pm, and I got here at dusk. The river was flowing fast through St Louis. I was making 10.5 mph through the water and at times ground speed was below 5.

Alton Marina is just a few miles away on the other side of the Mel Price Lock. I can sleep in tomorrow.

Yesterday was fun, but required all my attention.  The current was stronger, 4-5 mph in the center of the river.  I was on the banks most of the time, trying to stay in slacker current.  Made 56 miles in ten hours, and anchored here at mile 170 for the night between wing dams.

As it turns out, I should have gone a bit farther before stopping, as there is work happening at mile 172 with daily closure of the river from 0800 to 1530. I heard about it yesterday, but didn’t realize it is in effect today as well. So I’m sitting waiting until it opens.

My destination is Alton Marina, about 30 miles and two locks upstream of here.  Samantha and Sarah are joining me there tomorrow night for a biking holiday.  I won’t be there today as planned, but should make it tomorrow.

I’m thinking of heading north on the upper Mississippi after that, rather than heading for Chicago. I think I’ll stop in Alton for a week or two and then decide.

I anchored at mile 114 just above Chester, IL between two dikes. Nice spot. There are many places to anchor around the dikes and dams.

Progress today was 60 miles in about 10 hours of travel. I’m traveling at about 9 mph through the water, so an average of 3 mph current against me. I’m able to get out of the current a bit on bends by hugging the inside. In deep water the current is about 4 mph.

I’m enjoying this, though it requires a high degree of vigilance when outside the marked channel. Today was a bit more relaxed as I got into the rhythm of things. Not much debris, though there is the odd big tree.

I’m back on somewhat familiar waters. I came south through here on Mazurka a few years ago. The Mighty Mississippi. It still impresses.

I anchored here at dusk. Was underway for about 11 hours – 18 miles down the Ohio and 54 miles up the Mississippi. Heavily overcast and grey, with gusty SW winds. This isn’t very sheltered, but is well outside the channel.

The pics show my interests. Lots to see today – tows, wing dams, industry and a massive ongoing effort to keep the river under control.

I finally got through the Kentucky Dam around noon, and had a fast ride down to where I anchored here on the Ohio River about 6:30. I’m between two wing dams in relatively quiet waters. Nice spot, protected from the southerly winds expected tonight. The last two pics are looking forward and aft from my anchored position.

The Ohio is high, but has been dropping for a while, so there isn’t any major debris. Smooth sailing. Lots of barge traffic, and I expect lots more down to Cairo.

I’m getting excited about climbing the Mississippi. I like going upstream as there is an incentive to get in close to shore to avoid the current, and far less risk in doing so. Downstream is comparatively less interesting and the appropriate route is in the deep water channel.

Rain has stopped and the weather looks pretty good for the next few days. Water level is forecast to go up about 8 feet on the Mississippi this week, but will still be pretty low. Minor flood stage is about 30 feet, and a year ago it was at 36 feet. Right now it’s at 17 and going to crest at 25 on the weekend. I can work with that. When I came down a few years ago it was at about 30.