When cruising, there are some numbers we keep tract and others we don’t. One number that we have kept tract of is the number of different locks we have passed through, it presently numbers one hundred and sixty. There are numbers that we definitely do NOT keep tract of, the principle one that comes to mind is the dollar amount of the fuel we have used. Having said that requires a bit of our background, to explain how we have passed that many locks under our keel. We started in Florida and did the Great Loop, up to Lake Ontario, and across to Chicago, down to the Mississippi over to the Ten Tom Waterway and back to Florida, back up to the Great Lakes, and through the St Lawrence Seaway, the Rideau Canal, Trent-Severn Canal, and through all five Great Lakes as well as the Welland Canal.
That’s a lot of locking, and all with my wife Patti and our four children onboard our boat MV Summer School
Locks are all basically the same, you wait to enter, allow the traffic inside to leave and in an orderly fashion enter and tie up; you are then either raised or lowered and leave in a orderly fashion.
Well that how its suppose to work, but different locks work by their own rules. If you have never locked before, relax it really is quite easy, and please tell the lockmaster that its your first time, they are happy to take the extra time to make your locking safe and pleasant. So on with some different locking stories and photos.
Lets start in Florida on the Okeechobee Waterway which cuts across the state East to West, you enter from salt water to fresh water, the lockmasters is called on the VHF radio, they will tell you what side that they want you on and if necessary tell you the order they want you to come in. Usually you enter a lock in the order that you arrive at the lock, unless a vessel has a size restriction or maneuverability issues, like a rental houseboat. Trust me you don’t want a rental houseboat entering the lock after you are inside, these are bumper boats, and they smack into everyone and everything. Once you are given a green light, a horn or a wave to enter, you do so at slow speed and maneuver alongside the wall. The lockmaster will tell you where he wants you located on the wall for either the smoothest ride or in order to pack the lock tight. In Florida, Port Canaveral has the same system as Okeechobee, and I’ve never seen this anywhere else. Only in Florida, they crack the main lock gates open to adjust the water level. When the water stops flowing you have arrived, and the lockmaster will open the gates, blow the horn and you are allowed to release the rope and leave, closest boat to the gate first, and so forth. The only locks we have been through that absolutely required life jackets to be warn were in the Seaway Locks of the Great Lakes, in the Welland Canal, and on the St Lawrence from Lake Ontario seaward. The locks in Florida are free, and operate during set hours, typically on demand unless the water levels are low which will effect locking times and water depth. Heading north on the ICW the next locks you meet are either the Dismal Canal which has two or the single lock on the ICW below Norfolk. Both require you to adjust your schedule, because they only open a set times. There is a single Hudson River lock just north of Albany at Troy and in a flash, you are in fresh water again. The Erie Canal, will sell you lock passes at any lock, for any number of days or for the season. Here you will also need your boats registration or your boats documentation to pass through the system.
Locking on the Erie Canal, hanging ropes provide adequate temporary control.
Be sure to have gloves handy to handle the slimy lines. Thanks to Terry for the photo of "Puffin" a Mirage Gh37 Mirage.
The Erie Canal is a joy to travel on, New York has recently spent millions renovating the canal, and the towns along the Erie have put in some amazing infrastructure, the locks are typically electrically operated and the water is allowed to enter the bottom of the lock typically on the side opposite of the on you are tie on to. Going up is always more turbulent that going down, but you will find that this is the case with ALL locks. The Erie lockmasters all use VHF radios and use the green light to enter system. If you want to lock through and the gate is closed, come up to the lock and tie upon the “Blue Line”. If you are stopping and don’t want to proceed through, tie up before the blue line. Top speed on the Erie Canal is 10 mph. If you happen to arrive early at a lock, don’t be surprised to have to wait until the time you should have arrived to enter. Lockmasters do call ahead to the next lock to make the chamber ready for you. Towards the end of the day you may find yourself being asked if you intend to pass through the next lock, yes you are being kept tract of, and lockmasters will often ask the name of a vessel if it is obscured by a dingy or haze. The Erie Canal system includes Oswego Canal so your pass is still good to get to Lake Ontario. The Erie Canal will give you an excellent course in locking, it contains right side, left side, hanging ropes, floating bollards, thrown ropes, and cables to tie off to. This will also be where you will find out that large fenders are the best insurance you can have. And the more fenders the merrier, when transiting the canals you keep your fenders down, all the time.
Here’s a floating Bollard and a mid ships tie on the Champlain Canal, Thanks to George and Jessica and their 41 DeFever.
Here are floating bollards again in use on the Tennessee River, Thanks to John Esch and his 48 Chung Hwa Seamaster.
Lets talk briefly about the option of doing the 45 lock, 125 mile Rideau Canal, this runs from Kingston, CN to Ottawa, CN, and is a historic canal opened in 1832. Many of its locks are run exactly as they were when built; sluice gates and lock doors are opened by hand and the gates are typically wooden. The pace along the canal is slow and relaxed. The Rideau is a busy system and the lockmaster have to load the lock to their maximum capacity on weekends, it is not unusual to pack boats three across in the 30 foot wide locks. This brings up another point, shut down your engine when you are secured and in the lock. It is unusual to keep your engine running, but not unheard of, we’ve locked through three times where we powered in on one end of the lock, and hovered in the lock for under two minutes before the opposite lock door was opened. The difference between the water level on both sided was so small that this was possible.
Trent Severn Lift Lock. Photo by: Patti Clausen, MV Summer School
The Trent Severn Canal, also in Canada off of Lake Ontario offers 45 locks which includes two lift locks. A Hydraulic Lift Lock can be thought of as a 140’ x 33’ shoe box filled with water, and of course your boat, then raised by one gigantic piston. While your being moved consider this, it was the largest concrete structure of its time, (its over 100 years old). Lift Locks prove no turbulence since there is no need to add or empty water from the box, you are just pushed skyward, or dropped, sixty five feet.
Here’s a typical Trent Severn Lock, the water and lock doors are both operated by hand
Photo by: Patti Clausen, MV Summer School
All locks have sills, the sill is the flat portion of the bottom of the lock where the door ride and seal, the sill typically extends out from the lock door. In many cases as shown below it can rise out of the water and if your boat is too close, you will be high and somewhat dry. Lock tenders will warn you if you are too close to a sill, and you may be surprised as to how close they will put you to it!
Photo by Patti Clausen, MV Summer School.
Here we’re about to enter a Welland Canal seaway lock, it’s one of the few times you are required to wear you life jackets, notice the green lights on the right. We will be the only boat locking through and they will dump millions of gallons of water to raise us up in the chamber. The yellow gate that is in the air on the left is a safety gate to prevent the ship from damaging the lock gate, as well as the locks sill from damaging the ships bottom. The Welland Canal requires payment to transit, as well as the series of locks from Lake Ontario to Quebec. The locks at Lake Superior are free, as well as the Illinois Waterway Locks, Mississippi, Tennessee, Ohio, and Ten-Tom Waterway.
You might just think you are all alone when passing through the Welland, but there are cameras everywhere. When you approach the wall the lines fly down from above the top of the lock to your boat.
Photo by Patti Clausen, MV Summer School.
Lake Superior, here we are approaching the Canadian small ship lock, at Sault St. Marie, (The SOO) yes its still cool, even in mid Summer. If you look to the right you will see the “Blue Line”, where you tie up if you are waiting to go through the lock and the lock is closed. The lock building is the closest to the lock and you might just be able to pick out the red light on the high corner nearest to the lock.
Lake Superior Canadian Small Ship Locks, Photo by: Patti Clausen MV Summer School
This is Coffeeville Lock on the Ten Tom, by Jim Woodward, of his Krogen Manatee
The last item about locking to mention is the volume of water used in the locks. When the locks are filled, and you are on the high side of the lock you my very well “feel” water being pulled into the locks gates to fill the chamber, this will depending on the lock, and the position of the gate, be aware that this high volume water movement may swing the boat and cause a mild current under your hull. The same is true with water exiting a lock gate, you may very well feel the current change as the lock is being emptied. Lastly, after all of this water has been changed so rapidly you want to position your boat when entering and leaving the lock so that you are in the middle of the chamber, this is to prevent being pushed around by residual circulating eddy currents in the lock.
There should be no dread to locking through, just be prepared with gloves to fend off the slime of the lock walls, and set your fenders before you enter. A good captain will tell the crew what they expect of each of them. Its as easy as docking, except you don’t get off.
James Clausen, USGC Captain, MV Summer School. a 46' er.
If you have any question just ask. CaptainJim@Boatowner.org