KARS, ONTARIO TO BURRITTS RAPIDS, ONTARIO

Tuesday, June 30th to Friday, July 3rd, 2015

Day 330-333

Miles Traveled on Friday: 20

Total Miles Traveled: 4927

  Tuesday Dan spent almost all day cleaning the boat.  It was really dirty from all the locks we had been through on the Chambly Canal, St. Lawrence River, Ottawa River, and Rideau Canal.  Angie worked on laundry and some trip planning.  The mechanic ordered the parts we needed to fix the generator and hoped that they would arrive in a couple of days.  That evening we returned to the Irish pub, called The Swan.  Some of the timbers in the building are over 100 years old. 

  Wednesday was Canada Day.  It was a dreary and rainy day.  The marina was not very close to town, so, there was not anything going on at our location.  We stayed on the boat and relaxed.  It was a nice low key day.

  Thursday we took advantage of our delay in travel and did the monthly chore list.  We had hoped that the parts for the generator would arrive in the afternoon, but, sadly, they did not.  We took another try at the "hot" tub, and, this time, found the water to be quite inviting.  We took a nice long "hot" soak that evening and were glad we had to stay another day.

  Friday morning the service manager stopped by the boat and advised us that the generator parts had arrived.  The mechanic was busy dealing with some customers who had just purchased a boat the day prior.  Dan agreed to install the new circuit board and circuit breaker himself.  After the install, the mechanic came to the boat to observe the results of trying to start the generator.  When Dan tried to start it, the circuit breaker again tripped.  The problem was not fixed with the new parts.  The mechanic had to go back and continue to work on another job, but gave Dan a few items to do until he could return after lunch.  After Dan completed those tasks, two boats pulled up to the fuel dock to pump out.  Both were proudly flying a AGLCA (America's Great Loop Cruisers Association) burgee (flag).  One of the boats we recognized, "Bama Dream".  We had met Jesse & Linda briefly at the AGLCA 2014 Fall Rendezvous and had dinner with them in Dunedin.  The crew of the second boat, Ralph & Janet on "Gud-Nuff", we had never met.  Dan was talking with Ralph about our generator problem and Ralph, who has an electrical back ground, said he might be able to help.  To make a long story short, Ralph found some corroded wires causing a short in the starter circuit.  After cleaning some wires and terminals, the generator started right up.  Problem appeared to be solved.  "Gud-Nuff" and "Bama Dream" continued up the Rideau Canal.

   We decided to not waste anymore time and get back underway.  After a quick lunch, we untied and headed up the waterway to continue our journey on the Rideau Canal. 

  Adding to "You Never Know What You Are Going To See on the River" (we are on the Rideau River), we came across a water version of an ice cream truck.

"Ice Cream Float"

  We arrived at Rideau Canal Lock 17 in the hopes of docking with power above the lock.  When we arrived, the lockmaster advised us the there was not any dockage available above the lock.  We could tie up along the blue line (this is a section of dock, which is painted blue, to tie off to when one is preparing to lock through) but there was no power pedestal and we could not use our generator because it was next to a park.  The next set of locks also did not have power and very limited dockage and probably would be full.  So, we decided to stay below the lock on the blue line.  The nice lockmaster did arrange for us to hook up to an extension cord which would give us enough power to run the refrigerator and the battery charger.  After getting plugged in, we walked up to the top of the lock and found that "Bama Dream" and "Gud-Nuff" were tied up on the wall above the lock.  We met up with them for drinks at the restaurant across the street.