Well, after a marathon of ELEVEN locks today, Sylphide, Dad and I arrived in Waterford. That’s a record number of locks for me, and one I’m not keen to break any time soon. We’ve officially done all 362.9 miles and 36 locks of the Erie Canal.
I wish I could have taken my time and explored the canal at a more civilized pace. Unfortunately, I’d gotten a late start, and was flirting with the canal’s closing schedule, and didn’t fancy being trapped in New York on a boat over the winter. I’m happy to say that particular source of stress is now behind me.
There were some other sources of stress, though. For some reason the stove didn’t work today. No idea why. There’s plenty of gas, and I think I’m doing it right, but no matter what I did, I couldn’t get it to fire. That is until we decided we’ll be going out to dinner, then it lit on the first try. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I fiddled some more with my wonky horn, and it seems to be working again, which is nice. On the other hand, I’ve been plagued by a truly aggravating nuisance alarm on my dash volt meter. It keeps showing my engine battery dropping to 11.9-11.8 at random intervals, when I don’t believe it is. The other meters I have are showing well over 12. I’ve had no issues starting the engine either. I think I’ve got a bad gauge or sender, or maybe a loose or dirty connection somewhere. I dunno. More investigation required.
On a more pleasant note, I was greeted by a very friendly member of the Trawler Forum community on arrival at Waterford. My first encounter with one in the wild. Alas, I committed the cardinal sin of not having any beers aboard to share! We had a pleasant chat despite the lack of social lubricant. Lovely fella.
We later bumped into him and his wife again at McGrievy’s pub, where we enjoyed a most succulent dinner, and some equally succulent conversation. We continued the chat aboard Sylphide after dinner, and a grand time was had by all.
