Day 2 - Couchiching Lock to Kirkfield Lift Lock 36

Many small canals lined with trees but many were shallow

Day 2 didn’t start as anticipated. We were expecting to be the first boat up the Couchiching lift but that never happened. The Parks Canada staff didn’t show up till after 10 am and then took a boat down the lift first making us wait at least 30 minutes. We were happy to get up the lift lock only to be advised by the lock master that there was a Railroad Swing Bridge about 10 minutes up the Trent and it was best if we waited at the lock because there was a train on the rails. I questioned him and he suggested that our wait could be 1 hour so we decided to wait it out. Shortly after he said the train had passed and all was clear. Well that was far from the truth.

We boated down the waterway to the railroad bridge and waited, waited and waited for at least 10 minutes with nothing happening. Then we heard the horn of another train. Yeah………… we had to continue to wait. Finally, it passed and we eventually saw the bridge start to swing. By then we had travelled about 2 kilometers on the water in approximately 2 hours.

After passing through the Couchiching Lock we were on our way down Lake Simcoe and back into the Trent at Gamebridge Locks. This section of the Trent appeared to be a man-made canal and they were still doing reconstruction on this section to improve the depth and sides. There were 5 locks within a 5-mile section and we breezed through them. At the final lock the lock master was kind enough to give us some locking tips and helped us get on our way quickly so we could make it to a swing bridge before it closed. Timing and rushing – what a day.

After passing through the 5 locks we entered a small lake named Canal Lake. It was narrow with lots of river type areas that were treed on both sides. Very cool countryside. The view included an 18-hole golf course, cows reading a Remax for sale sign and a bunch of goslings learning the ropes from their mom and dad.

This is one way to get All Your Ducks in a Row

Moooooooo

Then the trials and tribulations of our day continued. The upper end of Canal Lake was jam packed with weeds including all kinds of vegetation and masses of sea weed. Shortly after entering this area we realized that the channel was shallow and we felt like we bottomed out a few times. But the worst part was we could feel vibrations and shaking and we wondered what was happening. As we tried to increase our speed from 5 knots to anything greater, we found the boat would not go faster and struggled with power. Then we knew we had weeds wrapped around our props. Fortunately, it was about 5 miles to our destination for the evening and we limped to the Kirkfield Lift Lock.

Kirkfield Lift Lock - we went up 49 feet in less than 1 minute

This is how the Lift Lock works

When we got to Kirkfield Cynthia boldly said she would go under the boat and remove the weeds. Well the props were just a little too far underneath for her liking so Captain Paul decided to do the task. After 10 dives and at least 1 minute per dive he managed to get the weeds off the props. It was not a fun swim but between Cynthia and the Captain the job got done. The gunk was off both props and both shafts.

Every trip needs some humour

So after all these shenanigan's we are Pooped……………… we are not where we wanted to be but will make headway in the morning. It is just too bad the locks don’t open till 10 am this week as we can’t make time in the system. Our plan is to be in Bobcaygon tomorrow and say hi to our friends at our cottage area.

The Hallman Experience Day 2:

Weeds on the prop that were impeding our speed. Solution:

Cynthia led the charge by donning her bathing suit and said, “I’ll get the weeds off the prop” but to her surprise she could not see them from the aft swim platform. Captain Paul proceeded to jump in the water and dove under the boat to clear the weeds. It took about 10 dives and 45 minutes to get everything off and we are now hoping that any issues are cleared up.

Every day is a new Adventure. Stay tuned!