Leaving the Great Lakes

Sailormon6 · #1 (**permalink**) 01-16-2005

If I buy a Lake Erie sailboat with 4 foot draft, what is the most efficient route to get it to Long Island Sound (other than trucking it, which I am considering, but I''m looking for alternatives)?

maestro · #2 (**permalink**) 01-16-2005

it would have to be the Erie Canal- Hudson River-NY Harbor/East River- Long Island Sound. Unless you want to go all the way up the St. LAwrence out into the North Atlantic and down the coast, but my question would be why?? It''s not the most efficient way (and that''s what you asked)

Sailormon6 · #3 (**permalink**) 01-18-2005

Thanks for the reply, Mike. I''m just looking for a more interesting way to get out of the Great Lakes. Trucking the boat will get it where I want it to be, but it''s a lot of work and no fun at all. It seems to me that cruising out the canal and rivers would be more pleasant, even under power and with the mast down.

maestro · #4 (**permalink**) 01-18-2005

I can tell you first hand that the erie canal is a great experience......some of the towns on the canal are worth seeing (especially the vinyards near Cayuga and Seneca Lakes) I live on the Hudson, and there there is no more picturesque sail. Sailing down the Hudson past Manhattan and the Stature of Liberty is a grand sight....

Sailormon6 · #5 (**permalink**) 01-19-2005

I''d really like to make that trip, but can a boat with 4'' draft make it through? I found a website that says the original design of the Erie canal put the depth at 4''. Is that the present depth, or is it either deeper or shallower today?

TrueBlue · #6 (**permalink**) 01-19-2005

According to this website, the Erie Canal depth varies from 12-14''.

http://www.greatloop.com/greatloop/faq.htm#5

maestro · #7 (**permalink**) 01-19-2005

the Erie Cacal is NOT the ICW!!! I''ve seen 40+ footers travel the Canal...here on the Hudson I see the snowbirds each spring and fall, with quite a few from Toronto....they travel the Erie Canal....

jparker11 · #8 (**permalink**) 01-19-2005

From the horses mouth regarding vessel length, beam, and draft:

http://www.canals.state.ny.us/faq/index.html

An amazing turnaround for this ancient relic of another era.

Anybody want to start a Euro style canal boat operation?

maestro · #9 (**permalink**) 01-19-2005

too late...they already have canal boat vacations along the Erie Canal....my good friend wrote an article in the BoatUS magazine last year about the trip.

trecksail · #10 (**permalink**) 01-29-2005

The Channel site mentioned bridge raising timetables. Can a sailboat make it through the entire system with mast stepped?
Joe