Crossing Oneida Lake and Brewerton

This blog will chronicle our (Pat and Patty Anderson's)

cruising adventures on the Great Loop!

DAY 83 - June 22, 2017

Yesterday Oneida Lake was snarly - this morning it was a pussycat! We had an easy crossing from Sylvan Beach to Brewerton. We tried once again to get Daydream on a plane, and we did - but WOT (wide open throttle) gave us nowhere near the RPMs that it should have, and the fuel burn was horrendous. We possibly could do several things, but we have decided we will just remain slow cruisers, where at 2000 RPM we go 7 statute miles per hour and burn 0.9 gallons per hour. It isn't a race, anyway!

Welcome to Brewerton banner

Kayak on bow rail so sun can get
to solar panels

We are tied up at the Brewerton Free Dock, which is actually a fairly low concrete wall with a nice rubber bumper next to Riverfront Park. None of the other boats we have been traveling with stopped here, so we are pretty much on our own today. 

I took the kayak down off the roof where it was covering the solar panels, and put it on the bow rail so sunlight could get to the solar panels, since it is a nice sunny day. At nearly nine p.m., the solar panels had kept the battery up to 97.3%, so they are doing their job! There is no electricity here, so if we wanted to stay a day or two, I feel confident that the solar panels would handle our power needs as long as the sun continues to shine!

Baxter giving us "the Look"!

Baxter jumped out of the boat and went walkabout in the park. Patty called "come" and Baxter, being the well trained Lhasa that he is, promptly sat down and gave us "the Look." That look says, you can say "come" all you want, but I am going to just sit here until I feel like going back to the boat." I eventually had to go out and put a leash on him to bring him back!

Shortly after we got here, the city parks crew arrived and erected a stage. They told us there would be a concert at 6 p.m. Before lunch, we walked down to Brewerton Boatworks and bought two new 20' lines for the locks, since our 50' lines are WAY too long! We came back and had lunch, then went to the pharmacy a few blocks away for a couple items I needed, and stopped on the way back for ice cream. We seem to be making a habit of stopping for ice cream! 

The band arrived and started setting up on the stage at about 5 p.m. They are the American Eagle Band and do country and classic rock and roll. We had our sundowners and supper, and the concert actually started before we were done with supper, but we could see and hear them from the cockpit, and after we were done eating, we went out and joined the crowd, which was kind of sparse. They were not bad for a bunch of old guys - the band leader told me the bass player (sitting in the chair in the photo) was 80 years old! I hope am still playing music at 80, but really I will be satisfied with still being vertical!

Here is a short video clip of a very sweet couple obviously enjoying the music!