Herkimer & Perkins: Building Backyard Boats in Buffalo, NY

Messing About in Boats, Boots, and Byways:

Archive of Erie Canal Journal entries for 2004: 06 September 04

One of our favorite destinations is the Erie Canal, which originally began in downtown Buffalo, and later when the canal was widened and renamed the Erie Canal Barge Canal, the canal began, and still begins, at North Tonawanda on the Niagara River where Tonawanda Creek empties into the river.

We have biked in five-mile bites from Lockport to Brockport, and we've rowed a time or two, too.

Erie Canal Journal entries for 2004 -- listed by headings with links to files
Erie Canal Journal entries for 2004 -- posted in a (large) single file

Erie Canal Journal entries for 2003 -- listed by headings with links to files
Erie Canal Journal entries for 2003 -- posted in one file

Erie Canal Journal entries for 2002 -- listed by headings with links to files
Erie Canal Journal entries for 2002 -- posted in one file

Harmonica -- a labor of love

06 September 04: The Reverend and I met our friends Mary and Mike at the Medina Guard Gate and boat ramp for a Labor Day picnic.

With Mike at the helm and our mates in the forward cabin, I was able to take some long-overdue pix of the Harmonica in action.

One can rent this boat for trips on the Erie Canal; we've seen it a few times in the past few years of messing about on the canal.
Stern view of the rent boat Cayuga; it is quick and silent, compared to the usual run of 2-cycle fare.
Harmonica, Mike at the helm, with two passengers, our mates, forward.
Side view shows our 47-pound-thrust trolling motor. The white pieces at the top of the boat are hook-and-pile for the awning, which fits flush.
These shots of the Harmonica are of the canal at Medina, where Oak Orchard Creek goes under the canal.
Building at right is a mill on the bank of Oak Orchard Creek. Trim on the Harmonica with three aboard is slightly by the bow.
Three chairs in search of some butts.
Harmonica is tied fore and aft to rings on the abutment of the Medina Guard Gate, at the boat ramp. I also threw out the anchor and added two boat cushions inline with the tie ropes to minimize rubbing against the high abutment.
Mood shot of the canal, with the dock and boat ramp in the foreground and the towpath to the right; we're looking upstream, or west, toward the village of Medina, which is just around the corner, less than a mile.
Strong lines of steel echo the strong lines of the Harmonica.
Looking up to the sky framed by trees at the Medina boat ramp.