Exploring ideas for my annual "big boating trip" for 2019. I did the Rideau as part of a 17 day loop cruise this year and really liked it, and the Trent-Severn looks like a similarly great trip. The only downside is that I will not be able to do a loop, it will have to be Lake Ontario to Lake Huron and back the same way. Anyway, I would love to hear any recommendations for must-see places on the Trent-Severn. For reference, on the Rideau, we really enjoyed Westport, Perth, Merrickville and Ottawa. We expect it will take 7 days of traveling each way, excluding extended stops; this is based on the 35ish MPH cruising speed of my boat, the distances between locks, and what looks like not too much no wake zone on this route.

Dave, could you dunk the boat and then move the trailer to the other end of the waterway to avoid the round trip? Possibly take a train or bus back to your starting point?

We are considering doing that, but if it's anythinf like the Rideau, we really won't mind a return trip, I lust love the idea of a loop...

You can certainly do a loop that includes the Trent-Severn, but perhaps that is a wee bit longer then you want!

I found this old thread to revive now that the world has changed. With the border between the US and Canada effectively close to all cross-border boating, the Trent-Severn will be off limits to US boats. I'm not familiar with that part of the countries but from what I read on the other forums I frequent this is going to have a major impact on boating.

Similar thing out here. With the borders closed US boaters who often cruise up into Canada for their summer are SOL. Same for Canadian boaters who like to cruise down into the San Juans and Puget Sound areas. We had planned a 3-4 month trip up into Canada but with my chemo crap going on and the borders closed that whole trip is down the tube.

Many locks are also closed, along with marinas. Not a good situation for those who travel by boat including Loopers and snowbirds.

I think the general thoughts on the other forums is that this is not going to be a good year to do the loop. I don't know squat about the loop, the locks or any part of that trip but it's too bad that things will be shut down.

Even before the virus pandemic, it was not a good year to do the loop because some of the locks were closed for maintenance. At least these two issues happened the same year.

This is going to be a very tough year for marinas and those who use them!

On another boating forum I use members were complaining about their marina moorage fees going up. I think if I was a marina manager I'd be having second thoughts about imposing an increase in fees in these times when a lot of people are out of work.

Wow have times changed for us. When I made that post:

I had no idea that we were just days away from driving out to Michigan to look at what appeared to be a "Holy Grail", "cream puff", 1992, fresh-water, Tollycraft 44 that had just hit the market.

I also had no idea we'd fall in love with that boat, that we'd be making an offer, then a counter-offer to the counter-offer and that by January 2019 we'd be under contract to buy said Tollycraft.

I had no idea that we'd be selling our beloved Regal 2550LSC to a lovely couple that have become friends, love the boat as much as we did, and use it extensively in one of our favorite cruising areas (Lake Champlain).

I had no idea we'd be trading a trip on the Trent-Severn for a FANTASTIC trip across Lake Erie and the entire Erie Canal with fellow BABCer WayWeGo on board as a friend/talented-conversationalist/teacher/deckhand/helmsman/navigator/bridge-clearance-expert.

I had no idea we'd be cruising from Troy to NYC on the Hudson River or that we'd be cruising from NYC to Hampton Beach, NH on the Atlantic ocean.

I had no idea we'd be reluctantly giving up our plans to keep the boat on a mooring in the Merrimack River and renting a slip that we thought we'd barely tolerate in a wonderful little "working person's" marina on the NH coast the near the southern border with MA.

I had no idea we'd love the marina life and that we'd make, what will likely be, lifelong friends at our new marina home.

I had no idea we'd be putting our house on the market in June 2020 and moving aboard the Tollycraft full-time (at least until October, 2020 when we need to decide to stay in NH year round (and thus buy another home very close to the boat) or start heading south on the boat for the colder months).

What a fun adventure. It's good to be flexible and to be married to a woman that embraces adventure like I do. This is a woman that eagerly jumped at the chance to move her and our kids to Oxford, England with me for 3 months, with less than a weeks notice, in 1999.

The Trent-Severn can wait a few years to host us, no regrets. We are enjoying the beautiful New England coast this Summer. I hope the pandemic just fizzles out and things return to normal for everyone.