Some TIPS and Canadian NORMS for you to know:
The eastern-most locks are all Starboard-side-to (westbound going up).
Canada wants our engines OFF once secured in the chamber. PFDs are not required here, but they are a good idea, obviously.
The chambers are typically left FULL at night for safety reasons. So early-rising UP bound vessels may need to wait for the chambers to empty.
If there are three 40-50 foot boats, the lock master is likely to have 3rd and 4th boats RAFT UP to the boats on the starboard wall… so long as wind conditions make it safe to do so.
On the way UP these locks have too much turbulence on the port side wall. So while that wall has cables, they are only used for locking DOWN.
Lock #6 Wall (high side) has 30 Amp shore power. They accept plastic. So you don’t need Canadian currency (CA$10.75).
The next place with power is the Town of Cambellford Town Walls between Lock 12 & 13. I believe all the lock walls have picnic tables, washrooms, (no fresh water hose spigots), and maybe showers. Everything is first-come-first-serve as Lock Walls. But in general, it does not appear to be a problem to find a place to tie up for the night someplace here on the TSW, plus there are anchorages shown in the cruising guides. The walls at Campbellford DO take reservations. We recommend it!
With the exception of Lock 1 none of these locks have VHF radios!
Some say the bridges and locks use VHF-14 here. But it has been pretty quiet on 14 and 16. So, if you NEED to contact a lock you can try the phone.
But my observation is these folks are not sitting in the office much! They are outside helping boaters lock and tie up to the walls and, in addition, several of the upper gates are HAND OPERATED! ((I’ll have to capture some video of that.))
The staff are clearly well-trained, 20-Something year olds, who are encouraged to be as friendly and outgoing as naturally possible.
Tying up to the BLUE painted wall means “I intend to lock thru.” If you tie up before getting to the BLUE wall, it will probably be assumed you are just tying up to the wall for the night or for a bio-break or whatever.
This morning, we only tied up to Lock 1’s Blue painted wall (before they opened for business at 9:00am. The well-coordinated lock masters called ahead to the next lock, so there was “instant service”. We could simply enter into the open lock gates. Unlike in the States, There are NO GREEN / RED lights here. So there was no VHF or light signals to say “Come on in!” It seemed to all work just fine.
The “lifts” were typically 15-28 feet for most of these first six locks.
Here are two links with more information on the TSW and more specific info about each lock.
https://parks.canada.ca/lhn-nhs/on/trentsevern
https://parks.canada.ca/lhn-nhs/on/trentsevern/visit/posteeclusage-lockstation
Five boats are tied up here at Lock #6 today.
We followed Cygnus V thru locks 1-6 today. They continued on to Lock #13. Ray has to change out our fuel filters. So we turned back to get a spot at Lock 6.
Summary Notes about the first 35-40% of TSW:
Lock 1: Buy your PASSES / stickers.
Lock 6 (high side): First lock NB with Shore Power.
Lock 9: Sells ICE. Both block + cubes. They take plastic.
Between L12 and L13 Campbellford City Walls (east has 50A shore power, west has 30A shore power.) Calling Karen & Cindy & crew to get reservations is highly recommended. 705-653-1551. Tell them Shellerina sent you!