Quote:
Originally Posted by Ron crook
Boat does 7 used to long days 10/12 hrs
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In that case, I'd figure 2 long (10 - 11 hour) days should get you up the Hudson, through the Troy lock and tied up at Waterford ready to start up the flight on day 3. Timing your departure for a favorable tide push up the Hudson will save some time, if possible.
Once you're in the canals, many of the locks only operate 7 AM - 5 PM, so you're limited to about a 10 hour day. Figure there will be a lot of traffic due to the late opening this year, so I'd budget 30 minutes per lock on top of your actual moving time. If you start up the flight right at 7 AM, you should pull into Riverlink Park in Amsterdam around 5 PM. This puts you just before lock E-11, so you'll do 9 locks that day.
If you time your departure on canal day 2 to get through E-11 right when they open at 7, you should clear lock E-18 before they close for the day. That will leave you with Ilion, NY as a stopping point.
You should leave Ilion early on day 3, as it's almost an hour to lock E-19. You'll cross Oneida Lake towards the end of this day and tie up in Brewerton before lock E-23 around 4 PM. However, you have a choice at this point. E-23 is typically open until 10 PM, so you could continue for another 2 hours and run through lock E-23, stopping in Phoenix, NY just before lock O-1.
From Phoenix, figure 4 - 6 hours up the Oswego Canal to Oswego Harbor depending on traffic, etc. I managed it in 4 hours flat doing just under 7 kts last year. If you're starting day 4 in Brewerton, add about 2 hours to get through E-23 and to Phoenix.
So if you take an aggressive schedule and run 10 hour days, you could do the canal run in 4 days and the total trip in 6 from NYC. Realistically, you may want to plan a slightly slower pace and take 7 or 8 days for the full trip.