Brockville to Quebec City

Saturday, May 24

Arrived Brockville, good weather the next day – Street Market Day! English breakfast at Cosie’s, shopping, walking. Boat ran well, and we are hoping our troubles are behind us!

Sunday, May 25

Stewart, son-in-law and Lock Crew, arrived at noon. Had a pub lunch then left to get to Iroquois Locks (arriving at about 6 pm), which we had booked 8am for the next morning. We had intended to just hang out at the lock using the pleasure craft pier until the morning, but got waved right through- water levels are so high the lock was basically open.

Fuelish Hopes

Our good fortune, however, evaporated. As we cleared the lock, the engine died, having burped a bit on the way there, despite drawing from the ‘clean’ port tank. We quickly veered to the Canadian side, once again dropping the dinghy, lowering the outboard and using the dinghy to push us out of the shipping channel and into a more sheltered bay, where we dropped the anchor. Got out 30m chain and held fast for the night. Clearly the engine issue was nowhere near solved, so we needed to find a marina with access to mechanics and potentially a haulout.

Monday, May 26

We aimed for Chrysler Park Marina – the last Marina before the Eisenhauer Locks. With the dinghy still roped in beside us, we managed to sail down the river, wind behind us and light (7-10kn) – wing on wing. Very thankful for these conditions. Limped into Chrysler Park under dinghy tow. Very helpful staff and harbour master.

After further inspection we realized that this fuel situation was beyond our own management, so we elected the “nuclear” option…well nuclear as far as the credit card was concerned ! We were unable to book anyone who could “polish” the fuel  (filter it and put it back in the boat…“call me in 6 weeks”), so we opted for fuel disposal = just get rid of the whole lot and start fresh.

A huge shout out to Tomlinson Environmental, who took pity on us and actually reassigned a truck to us for the next morning.  With that secured, we found a diesel mechanic who was scheduled to be in the neighbourhood and would drop by that afternoon to do a quick check.

Tuesday May 27

Started prepping the boat for the fuel pump out, which meant taking apart cupboards and drawers, lifting the floor and getting access to the fuel tanks.  We did not have enough gasket material to replace the full access panels if we took them out, but we did have enough for the smaller openings that the fuel gauges fit through, so those became our tank access.

Additionally, we manually pulled the anchor and all of the  300 feet of anchor chain (about 700 lbs in total) out on dock to tilt the boat back, draining the fuel aft where we can reach it. This also allowed us to mark our chain every 10m for anchoring (something we had not had time to do in our accelerated departure).

The disposal truck arrived 9am and within 30 minutes fuel tanks were well drained. We flushed each tank with another 10 gallons of fuel, which the truck also pumped out. Stew and Steve got out our very small oil pump and continued to manually pump every drop they could from the corners and crevices (painstaking work, but Stew loved it!) .

Then it was back to “reassemlbly”, getting the tanks sealed, re-installing the cabinetry, and the now familiar task of flushing the fuel system and replacing all the filters.  With help from the harbour staff, we borrowed more jerry cans and humped fuel from the fuel dock to the boat so there was enough fuel to get us to the gas dock. Yup… Visa was burning. A shout out to Toy Story Deisel mechanic Travis for popping over after his work day to check the engine – within 10 minutes he gave us the all clear “You’re on your way to Newfoundland!”

Wednesday May 28 – Locked and Loaded

At first light, we left to get to the Eisenhauer Lock for 8am opening. The US locks are pretty relaxed about pleasure craft eg. show up, we will let you through when we can. We waited for 2 commercial vessels to pass and got through around 10am, then onto Snell Lock for 11. Occasional engine sputtering as the last molecules of muck passed through the system which generated some sphincter clenching  moments, but it did not give up. Long day meandering the channel in thankfully nice weather.

Given we were still hesitant about the engine, we booked  the Valleyfield Marina. This is just before the Canadian lock complex. It was pricey but we thought we might need the engine looked at. Would recommend anchoring out in adjacent bay instead. Stew mapped the walk to a Microbrasserie and dinner at Chez Pauline – delicious.

The Canadian lock system (3 groups of locks) is not nearly as relaxed as the Americans. As it is a commercial seaway, the big boats get priority and they tolerate the rest of us. Pleasure craft must book in advance and get one shot each day at a lock passage –  you miss it, you wait 24 hours – you take too long between locks, you are stuck there until the next day.

Thursday May 29

8am we joined 4 other boats to head downstream and catch the first lift bridge . Rain and cool – again thankful for the canvas!

The transit through the locks was largely uneventful, with almost no wind and the rain easing into the afternoon.  It is an active seaway (see pic)! The one hiccup was at the Kawnahake lift bridge (before the last lock into Montreal). The bridge is 16m clearance and we need 21m. We pulled up to the bridge and radioed them to request a lift.  No response on any channel….. for about 10 minutes. Getting a wee nervous about our lock timing, Alison called the Bridge Authority office and told them our predicament, put on hold, then 2 minutes later, up goes the bridge. Then we get stuck in the last (St Lambert) lock because the downstream doors wouldn’t open, so we rode the water up and down and  -hallelujah – it triggered them to open. We exited the lock system at 7:05pm, but now had to turn up into the current to get Port D’Escale Marina in Old Montreal. This may not sound like a big deal, but the river generates a 5+kt current here, so with the motor “flat out” we went ‘walking speed’ (1-2kn) -took us 1 hour.  The engine sputtered -sphincter clenched- pumped/primed and engine responded. Slow but sure we pulled into our slip around 8:30 and hustled up into the old town (5 minutes away) for a late celebratory dinner at Maggie Oates – fantastic meal.

Friday, May 30 – Montreal

Woke to sunny sky and warmer temperatures. Wandered the old town for a little supply restocking (EtOH).  Our trusty crewman Stew left us to return to wife/work. A long walk in the afternoon to visit friends and shake out sea legs left us exhausted. So glad to be here but looking to wind conditions to determine when to leave and where to go. The tides and current increase between Montreal and Quebec City. Need to carefully plan our overnights and want good shelter for Wednesdays blow.

Saturday May 31, Rookie Mistake

Impatience, is the Enemy of Good Judgement, and we fell for it again. We had been eagerly anticipating leaving Montreal. No more locks, no more bridges. River widens out…sailing downwind with the current in our favour…ahhh, wonderful. Not to be…

Having had enough delays and watching the weather forecasts we made the decision to leave Montreal on Saturday morn to get ahead of a bit of blow coming in from the NE (the way we wanted to go). Unfortunately, the weather evolved about 12 hours faster than forecast and caught us halfway to Sorel where my dream sail turned into a pounding upwind (wind against current) with15-20 kt headwind.  Rookie mistake. Gag. To crown the day, the marina destination turned out to be a total poop show. We had booked a spot for our 50 foot boat, and on arrival (in a 20 kt crosswind) we headed to the slip allocated on the phone that morning; only to be waved off at the last minute and directed to another dock on the other side, which we quickly realized was less than 40 feet and had to abort…REVERSE! So we drifted to the gas dock (Marina waving us off)…  In the midst of this crosswind maneuevering, one of the bowlines goes overboard and into the bowthruster – kaput. What is it with dock “crew” – we yell “Cleat” – duh, you cannot hold a 30,000lb boat. Jumping off we get 2 lines secured. No time to cry… Steve strips down, dives the bowthruster ( 14 degree water), cuts the line away, changes the fuses and gets it working. Options – none – conversation with marina “I am not moving the boat, you want it moved, you move it”. An here we are. All feels better after dinner with wine, early sleep. Will leave early tomorrow morning for a safe harbour.