Lake Ontario boat trip

[john cole]

I'm thinking of taking by boat from Oswego NY up to the Saint Lawrence river this summer across Lake Ontario. I'm somewhat nervous about doing it, this would be my first trip across water of this size. I have a nice deep v hull 21' cuddy cabin boat so I can easily handle some decent size waves, but still would like to hear from others who have made this trip. Such as should I shot straight across or should I run closer to the shore line?

thanks,

 

[Dave0549jv]

Re: Lake Ontario boat trip

I've made the trip from Oneida Lake several times in a 28 footer. We always just shot straight across. We figured the shorter the trip, the better. Definitely keep an eye on the weather. Lake Ontario Maps - NOAA's National Weather Service

 

[john cole]

Re: Lake Ontario boat trip

Onieda is my home water. How long is the trip at what crusin speed on Ontario and st Lawrence?

 

[Bondo]

Re: Lake Ontario boat trip

Ayuh,.... I believe it's 'bout 50 or 60 miles from Oswego Harbor to Tibbits Point in Cape Vincent,...

Goin' up, you'll have the seas at yer portside, or aft portside,...
Should be a reasonably decent ride,...

Goin' back, you'll be pushin' the waves, so it'll probably be a longer trip,...

One thing I've learned in the last 20 or so years boatin' on Ontario is,...
If the Sun shines, there's goona be waves on Lake Ontario,...
Usually from the West, Southwest, or the South,...

Boatin' outa the Northeast corner of the pond, with a pretty flat bottomed tin barge,..
If I wanta make real time runnin' out, I gotta start pretty early in the morn,...

The days of Dead Flat water are Very limited,...

 

[Dave0549jv]

Re: Lake Ontario boat trip

We used to head straight up to Kingston and it generally took us about 2-2.5 hours. More often than not, we had pretty decent conditions, so we could make 22-25 mph.

Prevailing winds and seas are generally from somewhere between west and south, as bondo said. There really isn't much in the way of shelter in the SE corner of the lake, so I wouldn't linger there if there was any chance the weather would pick up.

What part of Oneida Lake are you coming from? I'm in the Sylvan Beach area, myself.

 

[john cole]

Re: Lake Ontario boat trip

I launch out of the Brewerton Area. This summer it looks like I will be keeping my boat on the trailer, marina pricing just getting to be too steep, one of my first trips this year will be down to the beach and back to give the boat a good shake down run, to check out the new (yet to be installed) electronic distributor, and to get a good fuel mileage average. your average speed is what I would be doing too, so your trip is a very good comparison for me. and I hear you both on the winds (they're about my main concern) I don't want to get caught out that far out and have them come up on me. And i'm thinking my return trip would be in the afternoon, so I will need a nice weekend and we all know how plentiful those are here in CNY:facepalm:

 

[LongLine]

Re: Lake Ontario boat trip

Back in the late 70's I wanted to make the trip from Port bay up to the islands in my 21 ft fiberglass PennYan. (Great lake boat) Left on a Saturday morning w/ GF. Made it to Oswego, went for a joy ride up the river and thru a couple locks - just to see how my tax dollars at work. Loved it. Left Oswego around 1 pm after a picnic lunch. Pulled into South Pond to have a look around and got hit with a thunderstorm and 8 ft whitecaps out of the west. Spent 2 days in South Pond tied up to a marina. Made it out on the 3rd day & bottomed the boat on a sand bar that had built up. Heard a crunch so turned on the bilge pump and scooted back to Port Bay to a waiting trailer.

Oh to be young, dumb & in love. (She wouldn't step foot on the boat after that so fixed the stringer & broke up with her)

:joyous:

Tom B.
(LongLine)

 

[john cole]

Re: Lake Ontario boat trip

sounds like a good adventure and some even better decisions

 

[Bondo]

Re: Lake Ontario boat trip

Back in the late 70's I wanted to make the trip from Port bay up to the islands in my 21 ft fiberglass PennYan. (Great lake boat) Left on a Saturday morning w/ GF. Made it to Oswego, went for a joy ride up the river and thru a couple locks - just to see how my tax dollars at work. Loved it. Left Oswego around 1 pm after a picnic lunch. Pulled into South Pond to have a look around and got hit with a thunderstorm and 8 ft whitecaps out of the west. Spent 2 days in South Pond tied up to a marina. Made it out on the 3rd day & bottomed the boat on a sand bar that had built up. Heard a crunch so turned on the bilge pump and scooted back to Port Bay to a waiting trailer.

Oh to be young, dumb & in love. (She wouldn't step foot on the boat after that so fixed the stringer & broke up with her)

:joyous:

Tom B.
(LongLine)

Ayuh,... That's Funny Tom,.... I chuckled all day yesterday, every time I thought of that,.....

 

[john cole]

Re: Lake Ontario boat trip

still get a smile every time I think of it.

 

[john cole]

Re: Lake Ontario boat trip

Another question is how long does it take you to go up thru the canals and rivers to get to Ontario? Due to time constraints just wondering if I should run them or just trailer up to Oswego and launch from there?