Unstepping mast(s) on a ketch for canal transit Richelieu River

[CanoeKetch]

Hi All, -- I am off to Chester, Nova Scotia Thursday to accept (or not, but likely yes) an Aries 32 ketch built in 1962 (Alaskan white cedar on oak frames with epoxied cloth below the waterline). If accepted, my USCG Capt (ret.) brother, our father, and I will be sailing her home to Vermont on Lake Champlain this July (it's a bit of a bucket list thing for Dad and he will be restricted to the cabin and cockpit when underway). However ...

At the end of the grunt part of the trip (iron jib upriver from Quebec City), we will have to motor up the Richelieu River to Champlain. The minimum bridge clearance in the Chambly Canal is just over 27 feet. The mainmast is 38' and unquestionably has to be unstepped. The mizzen is 24' 11" and stepped in the cockpit. OK, I've answered my own first question. With a theoretical foot of clearance for the mizzen it should be unstepped too. I was wondering if it was possible to just unstep the main but one foot of clearance (maybe) seems a bad bet ... unless we slung Dad out from the mast in a bosun's chair and heeled her over a bit . I have no experience with unstepping stayed masts, let alone while on a trip, let alone two of them.

Has anyone done the run up the Richelieu and have any pointers? Should I have the boatyard in Chester built a rack for the masts or can they be lashed aboard? Thanks!

[Ian McColgin]

Definitely racks sort of on the line of boom gallows. If the main mast is keel stepped, you can really anchor the whole unit by making a center post that can be wedged at step and partners. Even for just a few days, it's worth the extra wood to give yourselves standing headroom in the cockpit and maybe make a slope down forward so you can easily step over the spars at the foredeck to allow for line-handling like when coming to a dock or anchoring.

G'luck

[CanoeKetch]

Thank you! The main is deck stepped, but I'll be talking to Tern Boatworks in Chester on Friday and discuss ideas.

[CanoeKetch]

Ah, I am more reliably informed that the bridge clearance is 29 feet. That gives three feet clearance for our mizzen. So maybe only one mast to deal with. Better.

[Canoeyawl]

I came up with a plan (on paper) to "catch" the mainmast in a "saddle" hoisted with a halyard on the mizzen, limiting the overall height to that of the mizzen...
(I have a short video of the concept, if you pm your email to me I will send it on)

[Garret]

I helped bring a 70 ft, schooner down the canal & surprise, surprise, the masts had to be unstepped They had already had them taken out before I arrived - done in Sorel I believe. I can get more info if needed, though it was quite a few years ago.

The canal is fun - you will want some French if you want to communicate with folks, as it goes through some rural/small town areas. It's the only place where I've ever looked down on cows while at the wheel of a boat...

Good to see another Vermonter here!

[CanoeKetch]

And also from the hills no less; we are in the western foothills of the Greens and can look down on Burlington and much of the Champlain Valley a short walk from the house. My brother used to be reasonably fluent in French and mine goes up and down. My wife is from Montreal and even though she is anglophone, she speaks French, but she isn't going. I'm trying to brush up. The Gaspe Peninsula will be even more "tout en Francaise." A 70-footer! Wow!

[Garret]

And also from the hills no less; we are in the western foothills of the Greens and can look down on Burlington and much of the Champlain Valley a short walk from the house. My brother used to be reasonably fluent in French and mine goes up and down. My wife is from Montreal and even though she is anglophone, she speaks French, but she isn't going. I'm trying to brush up. The Gaspe Peninsula will be even more "tout en Francaise." A 70-footer! Wow!

So - are you in West Bolton - or the "flatlands" Bolton?

The 70 footer had to go diagonally in a couple of the locks & brought a lot of people looking. My brother was first mate & she'd done a circumnavigation of New England & Quebec - Stamford CT to the Gaspe Bay, out to Kingston Ontario, then back to the canal, down the lake, Mohawk Barge Canal, the Hudson, and then back to Stamford from NYC. It was for the Tall Ships event for the 400th anniversary of Quebec City. Yes, she had a centerboard, as the Mohawk is limited to 6 ft. depth. On the schooner, they'd put up a 15 ft. or so yard to hold the VHF antenna & radar. I wish I remembered the clearance heights better - 29 ft. seems high to me. On that boat, the masts & booms were set on deck on X supports - raised again when they reached the Hudson.

Sounds as though you'll do just fine Francais-wise, as it's the attempt to speak their language that makes a difference.

[CanoeKetch]

Whoa! That was a voyage!
True for the French. As I tell francophobic friends, the only two words of French you need to know to get by in Quebec are "bon jour." The locals will immediately know you don't speak French from your barbarous accent, but appreciate the effort and the respect shown that you are in a French-speaking Province.

BTW, this is a true Canoe Ketch. She is a double-ender. Aries 32 full hull shot with masts.jpg

[Garret]

Pretty boat!

Will she be in Mallets Bay? Point Bay? Shelburne? Somewhere else?

[CanoeKetch]

Well that was a bit of a Catch-22 for a bit. I needed insurance for any of the marinas near us (Burlington area or the Islands) and the only insurer that I could find to insure a wooden boat was Hagerty (I had used them for the Artful Otter), but since she is over 30 ft. they needed a current marine survey by a S.A.M.S. accredited surveyor. There are only two such in Nova Scotia and neither will do wooden boats. Then I called down to a marina below Fort Ticonderoga, Chipman Point. I had gone by them twice on A. Otter and always got friendly waves from people on the docks (I was rowing A. Otter the first time and that may have had something to do with it - sympathy waves :-). Bingo! The owner (Chip) loves wooden boats and is the last marina on the lake to not require insurance. So I have at least a promised mooring. It is a drive but a third of the cost of marinas on the main lake.

[Garret]

Bummer - but glad you found a spot. The lake has a different feel below Crown Point for sure.

[Frost]

Don't know if you've tried The Charlotte Sailing Center. Its at McNeil cove, right where the ferry heads over to Essex NY. If you can get your boat hauled/stored and launched down in Ti, you might consider getting a summer mooring in Charlotte. A guy named Andy runs the place, he's a bit of a freewheeler and is hard to get ahold of, but if you're just looking for a mooring it could work. A fairly protected cove and a lot closer to Bolton.

Also, if you're looking for info on the Richelieu, you might contact Gaines' Marina in Rouses Pt, NY., and in the first town south of the border. They're full of Canadian vessels that make their way down and are a full service place plenty capable of doing most anything.

[Garret]

Good call! I'd forgotten about Andy. Friends have a wood Chris Craft there. My brother used to have his wood yawl at Point Bay, but don't know if they are still accepting wood boats. Olddad here (Grant) has his wood powerboat on a mooring @ Coates Island in Mallets Bay also. I have a little FG I/O there & they are great folks. No facilities other than a porta-potty & I don;t know if they have any moorings available.

[CanoeKetch]

I had not thanks! I had passed by and noted the moored boats but it didn't occur to me while scrambling for a place to put her before committing to buying her. I'll give the Gaine's Marina a call re bridge clearances and restepping the mast(s).

[johngsandusky]

Beautiful boat. Good luck with your delivery, enjoy it.

[Marty J]

Obligatory: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kiv0fxFcV3I

[CanoeKetch]

Well! Slinging Dad out in the Bosun's chair is back in the plan! Thanks!

[Garret]

Obligatory: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kiv0fxFcV3I

Ha! I guessed the right video!

[phiil]

I noticed recently on the
Champlain canal that the smart money folks were just loading the spars onto trucks and meeting them at the other end.

[JamesCaird]

In other small canals I have traversed their is often a collection (in a corral) of horses at the yards which step and unstep spars, left after people traveling the other way have finished with them.

[CanoeKetch]

Just seeing this now, thanks for the idea.

[Mark0]

We just bought property in the Chester area and will be sailing down the St Lawrence this summer about the time you are coming the other way. I'll keep an eye out for you. Have a good trip !

Cheers,
Mark

[CanoeKetch]

Congratulations! Chester and its environs are wonderful, though I suspect I needn't tell you that. One thing that will make us more identifiable when underway is that, to my slight surprise, the boat has new tanbark sails. They would not have been my first choice, but like the merlot color we had to get on our new car last spring (our 14-year-old Subie was mortally wounded in mud season, forcing us to buy something on the lot), the color is growing on me. We closed on her this past Tuesday. Headed out to Chester to start fitting her out late this month or sometime in May.

[Mark0]

Oh, I like tanbark sails. We had them on our old schooner. Our current sails are a cream colour which looks great, but doesn't quite look as traditional.

Cheers,
Mark