Great Loop: Erie Canal – Winter Harbor / Brewerton

Days 157-162: June 23-28, 2023

The next destination on the Loop was Winter Harbor in the town of Brewerton. This trip took us across Oneida Lake, the largest lake entirely within New York state. It was a pretty relaxing journey and a nice break from the narrow passages of the canal.

Gross bugs

When we got to the marina there seemed to be tree debris everywhere. It wasn’t though. It was dead mayflies floating around into massive (no really, we mean massive) slicks across the water. It was not a great smell. Luckily, the current floated them off quickly. This photo shows a ‘small’ collection of them that got accumulated by the dock and boats.

Coda on the hard

When leaving one of the lock walls one morning Coda sucked a log or something into the bow thruster and it was not sounding happy. He swam under the boat at one of the anchorages and found that three of the four propeller blades on one side had broken off. It just so happened that Winter Harbor had the blades in stock and could pull him out early the next week. Being Friday, it would delay us for 5 days. The marina had a loaner vehicle, so at least made it a good stop for provisioning and getting maintenance done.

Projects

With the multiple day layover, it allowed us to work on some projects. One was to fix the entry stairs leading into the boat. The stairs lift open on a hinge and that hinge was just fastened with tiny screws, really not a great original boat installation. Those screws can’t handle the stress of people going up and down. Steve manufactured a support for the hinge, and we checked it off the list. Right after he jumped and down — enough to put Tonia on edge — on the stair to make sure it would hold.

The other project we worked on is a longer ongoing one. We are making screens for our helm area to allow for airflow and to keep out the pesky bugs. Steve is always looking for an excuse to use his fancy Sailrite sewing machine and his seamstress expertise came in handy.

Fun & Games

We had the pleasure of celebrating Annette’s 13^th birthday with her. She requested lasagna so Tonia complied with a gluten-free homemade lasagna. Annette was thrilled to get a bubble gun for her birthday and the day ended nicely with a rainbow for her.

We also enjoyed a meal out with other Loopers laid over in Winter Harbor, including Saga, Coda, Legacy, Thistle, and a couple others that joined the fun.

In the evenings after dinner, we got the Loopers to join us for a heated game of Codenames. Some enjoyed more than others and we’re looking forward to another match with Sheri as she was into it!

Thistle was also delayed in the marina waiting on a mechanic to address an engine issue so Doug & Sheri introduced us to “little beers.” It’s just Licor 43 and heavy cream in a shot-sized portion, in this case mini red solo cups. It does resemble a beer in appearance though not in taste. Pretty yummy.

We also enjoyed a lovely evening out with Doug & Sheri at The Cafe Bella Luna, which had some tasty and LARGE dishes. The leftovers were great though!

Fire

On one of the afternoons, we were working around the boat when we heard a mini explosion. More of a pop like a propane tank or something had burst. I could hear Delaney from Shenanigans (the boat behind us) say there was a fire and calling 911. We poked our head out to check and sure enough the boat across the canal had caught on fire. It took a very long time for the fire department to come so there wasn’t much left of the boat after. At least they saved the house. It was a pretty crazy thing to watch and scary to think if it had spread more.