Thank you for mentioning which locks have power. Now I need to figure out which locks have showers, and wood/fire pits as well pre-plan our trip through the Trent Severn waterway.
Go for it, but don't count on getting into those locks with shorepower, as they are generally very popular. And since one can't reserve an overnight dockage at any of the locks, you'd be going on luck only. Check the Parks Canada website for a list of every location and what they offer.
@@BoatingWithBoogaboo Thank you for your kind comment. We are trailer boaters. I had a larger express cruiser, and had a lot of fun with it, but eventually tired of being landlocked on a local instate body of water called the Winnebago Pool, a body of water in Wisconsin with two rivers, five lakes, and the largest lake being Lake Winnebago, a lake that is about 30 state miles / 48 KM long and 10 state miles / 16 km wide, not all that different then your Lake Simcoe from what I’ve read. We picked our current boat with a goal of balancing amenities yet offered us the freedom of trailering. Earlier this summer we purchased our new to us 2005 260 Sundancer, with generator, yet no and arch with a 8 1/2’ beam which give us that freedom to trailer. So no shore power is not a deal breaker for us, but it’s nice when we can get it. I listened to your comment about not running the generator at night when you have no power. If its not crazy hot, we are fine with that, but when its hot, if that’s your local custom we may just leave the lock to drop anchor someplace, fire up the generator, turn on the AC, and get a good nights sleep. I’m completely comfortable running our generator overnight. So far, here is what I have found: *All locks have Overnight mooring Washrooms Potable Water Picnic Area Lock / KM / Features 45 Port Severn 387.1 Ice 44 Big Chute Marine Railway 374.1 Nothing 43 Swift Rapids 361.2 ♦️Power, ice Hamlet swing bridge 42 Couchiching 337.8 Showers, ice CNR swing bridge Highway 11 Lake Couchiching Highway 12 Lake Simcoe Lakeshore Road swing bridge Highway 12 41 Gamebridge 290.9 Nothing 40 Thorah 289.8 Nothing 39 Portage 289.1 Nothing 38 Talbot 286.5 Nothing 37 Bolsover 284.9 Showers Boundary Road swing bridge Bolsover swing bridge 36 Kirkfield Lift Lock 272.6 Nothing ♦️🔄🟩Lake Huron/Lake Ontario watershed Balsam Lake 35 Rosedale 252.9 Showers, Firewood, Ice Cameron Lake 34 Fenelon Falls 247.2 ♦️POWER(top side) Ice, (Note:very popular) Lake Scugog 33 Lindsay 251.6 ♦️Power(lower side) (takes you to Lake Scugog-side trip) Sturgeon Lake 32 Bobcaygeon 222.4 ♦️Power, Ice Bobcaygeon swing bridge Pigeon Lake Buckhorn Lake 31 Buckhorn 194.2 ♦️Power(top side), Firewood, ice 30 Lovesick 184.7 Firewood, ice 28 Burleigh Falls 181.8 Firewood, ice Lock 28 foot bridge Highway 28 27 Young's Point 168.1 Nothing 26 Lakefield 158.9 ♦️Power, shower, ice 25 Sawer Creek 156.6 Nothing 24 Douro 155.1 Showers, Firewood, Ice 23 Otonabee 152.6 Nothing 22 Nassau Mills 151.7 Firewood, Ice Trent University foot bridge CNR swing bridge 21 Peterborough Lift Lock 145.0 Mooring on top side only? CPR swing bridge Maria Street bridge 20 Ashburnham 144.1 Nothing CNR swing bridge 19 Scotts Mills 142.8 Nothing Highway 7 / Highway 115 Rice Lake Hastings swing bridge Next I will focus on going lock by lock, marina by maria, sight by sight, find areas we hope to spend evenings on our planned two week trip on the Trent Severn waterway in June 2026 trip from lock 44 through lock 19. At our pace, we will only need to average 2.4 locks per day. We would rather enjoy the journey then rush through it with a goal of completing the enter system. After lock 19 heading downstream I see a marina with a reasonably good ramp. My hope is to use this marina, take a taxi to town, rent a vehicle, use the rental to retrieve our truck and trailer, return the rental vehicle, get our boat then tow back to our home not far from Green Bay Wisconsin. We’d love to return someday when we are retired and can visit the beautiful Canada 🇨🇦for a longer period of time than a two week total trip. I don’t comment much on your videos Paul, but I sure enjoy them for inspiration and information. Thank you for creating them. - Admiral Annette & Skipper Doug Sea Ray 260 Sundancer “Shambala” Artisan Springs, Wisconsin
Discount?????? After 14 years of promoting the Trent Severn Waterway here, website, Facebook and Instagram, I'm still waiting for that discount you speak of . . .
@@BoatingWithBoogaboo HAHAHA!!! My wife said it's likely due to the fact that its owned by the government....a place she worked for over 30 years!!! A voice of experience!!🤣
Thanks for another great video Paul! Greetings from Saskatchewan! I’m a transplant here though, I grew up at our families cottage on the east shore of Couchiching and enjoyed boating on the Trent Severyn system my whole life as well as on the Muskokas where we would trailer our runabouts to so we could convoy with our cousins. Slipping back and forth between Muskoka, Joseph and Rosso. Great family memories. I don’t want to rub this in, but here in SK Covid restrictions are easing and our boat launches are opening up May 4! I’m so grateful for that. You really should check out some out of province boating some time, it would make for great footage and a great experience. Locally we boat on Lake Diefenbaker, 225kms long, deep beautiful water with hundreds of miles of very secluded sand beaches. It is a unique experience very different to the congestion and traffic “back home”. When the time is right, come check it out. Have you ever been on a house boating adventure? Boats available to rent here. 3 hour flight from Pearson.
Hi Jamie, thanks for that. Sounds like from where you were located on Couchiching, we've probably driven past it dozens of times, both on the water and by road! As for heading out of province to do more boating, that would be a challenge, as I don't have enough time to do all the local boating I'd like to in a regular season ;-) One year, I'd like to try the Rideau or Erie Canals, as they are within driving range of our home port marina. Time will tell where we get to . . . Cheers, Paul.
Greetings from Australia. Nice informative video & yes I'm a little jealous. The wife & I just up sized & bought our first Sea Ray. She is a 1990 420 Sundancer & we love it. Keep up the great videos. Even half way around the world we appreciate them.
Jealous? I much prefer 'inspired' :-) That 420 Dancer is a beautiful boat, you should have lots of fun with that thing! Might be a good opportunity to start a Down ??Under boating channel?? Cheers from 'this side' of the world, Paul.
Although there's no set rules, common courtesy dictates (to the un-brain dead crowd) that running a generator all night is not something that is welcome. We will gennerally run ours in the morning to use the coffee maker, etc., as well as top up the batteries. Same in the evening, usually right after dinner time - again, to top up batteries and run the air conditioning to cool down the cabin before bedtime. In both instances, I like to limit that run time to around 2-3 hours. That said, there is the odd boater who will run their genny ALL NIGHT for air conditioning, usually the big, stinky diesel boats. We've even experienced that at anchor in Georgian Bay. It's annoying, it stinks and could be potentially life threatening for those close by, due to the real threat of CO2 poisoning - that's why it's imperative to have a working CO2 detector on any boat that one would sleep on.
Cool. We bought Boogaboo III, right across from you at Kingsville, Ontario - just west of Leamington. Watch for an upcoming video on that little adventure. . . Cheers, Paul.
That would be a pretty short video, as all of the lower bridges open on demand, with little to no wait time. The only bridge that might be an issue for taller, flybridge style boats is the railway swing bridge just before Lock 42. I've posted at least three videos regarding that one on my channel, so have a look.
I always place the stickers on the starboard side window, not the front. It really doesn't matter where they go, as long as the lock staff can see them. Plus, I've had some tell me they should be elsewhere, while others say that's where they're supposed to be. Typical government confusion ;-)
I wish we had something like your canal system here. That looks beautiful and relaxing. Do you pay for electric at the lock (those that have it) when you arrive for an overnight?
Yes, power must be paid for up front upon your arrival, as they will otherwise have the power access locked up. The whole thing is super easy. Just pull up to the area of the lock wall that you prefer, tie up and head overt to the lock station to pay. Very relaxed and pressure free!
After all the type of traveling we've done for the past two salons we decided that towing anything is not a good option for us. One day we might get a small dinghy, but only if it could be stored on the swim platform.
Hi Paul, thanks for the informative videos. What about water? Do the four locks that have power also have water to fill up boat tanks? Do any of the locks that do not have power have water hookups? Thanks!
The only one that has dockside water is at Fenelon Falls. As mentioned, ALL of the lock stations have potable water, but that's more for filling a kettle, or maybe a few water jugs, not really designed for onboard water tank filling. Otherwise, one will have to go to a local marina to top up their tanks. To get around that issue, I installed a water purification system on Boogaboo, so that we can draw water straight from the lake, purify it and fill our tanks, even while driving! Here's my full installation video: ua-cam.com/video/15850c5SWdA/v-deo.html
You mentioned some of the Locks allowing camping, ive got a crazy idea to do this in my 20 foot bow rider, would I be able to find a place to camp every night?
Shouldn't be a problem, as most of the locks aren't spaced too far apart. Of course, reservations are NOT doable, so you'd have to make sure you can squeeze your bot onto the tie up wall. That said, in over 15 year4s of traveling the TSW, we've always managed to get into a spot we wanted to get to.
I see that you usually stop for the night very early in the afternoon. You said you have never not got a spot but how common is it to see people coming later that cant get a spot
As I have mentioned many times in previous videos, there is no rhyme or reason as to when the 'best time' is to arrive at a lock in order to secure a spot. Often times at the most popular locks (the ones with shore power), they tend to be full of lots of day boaters who have come in from the surrounding cottages, but they peel away before dinnertime. We generally call them the ice cream boats ;-) Sometimes one part of the lock (the upper side, or lower side) might be completely full when we arrive, but the opposite side can have a place to tie up. Again, there is no way to say for sure, just gotta go wit the flow. . .
@@BoatingWithBoogaboo thanks Paul, I've just noticed that you are often parked by early afternoon and my family is more the type to not start early but go later, (in other things, have yet to see how we will be on the boat) but if you are saying that there are day use people that might leave in the afternoon then that might work. Also I'm sure it really varys if its weekend or week day and holiday weekends versus normal. I'm sure in time we will work ot out. Thanks for still having the patience to answer repeat silly noob questions. Cheers 😀
When requesting to book a night at a marina would you use LOA because some sea ray 330s are actually 36 ft. Sort of confused would you say it’s 33 ft or 36ft?
Nicely done. This series has turned you into a Canadian Ambassador of Boating. Your waters are indeed pretty special. Cheers from WA state!
Glad you like them! More to come :-)
Thank you for mentioning which locks have power. Now I need to figure out which locks have showers, and wood/fire pits as well pre-plan our trip through the Trent Severn waterway.
Go for it, but don't count on getting into those locks with shorepower, as they are generally very popular. And since one can't reserve an overnight dockage at any of the locks, you'd be going on luck only.
Check the Parks Canada website for a list of every location and what they offer.
@@BoatingWithBoogaboo Thank you for your kind comment.
We are trailer boaters.
I had a larger express cruiser, and had a lot of fun with it, but eventually tired of being landlocked on a local instate body of water called the Winnebago Pool, a body of water in Wisconsin with two rivers, five lakes, and the largest lake being Lake Winnebago, a lake that is about 30 state miles / 48 KM long and 10 state miles / 16 km wide, not all that different then your Lake Simcoe from what I’ve read.
We picked our current boat with a goal of balancing amenities yet offered us the freedom of trailering.
Earlier this summer we purchased our new to us 2005 260 Sundancer, with generator, yet no and arch with a 8 1/2’ beam which give us that freedom to trailer.
So no shore power is not a deal breaker for us, but it’s nice when we can get it.
I listened to your comment about not running the generator at night when you have no power. If its not crazy hot, we are fine with that, but when its hot, if that’s your local custom we may just leave the lock to drop anchor someplace, fire up the generator, turn on the AC, and get a good nights sleep. I’m completely comfortable running our generator overnight.
So far, here is what I have found:
*All locks have
Overnight mooring
Washrooms
Potable Water
Picnic Area
Lock / KM / Features
45 Port Severn 387.1 Ice
44 Big Chute Marine Railway 374.1 Nothing
43 Swift Rapids 361.2 ♦️Power, ice
Hamlet swing bridge
42 Couchiching 337.8 Showers, ice
CNR swing bridge
Highway 11
Lake Couchiching
Highway 12
Lake Simcoe
Lakeshore Road swing bridge
Highway 12
41 Gamebridge 290.9 Nothing
40 Thorah 289.8 Nothing
39 Portage 289.1 Nothing
38 Talbot 286.5 Nothing
37 Bolsover 284.9 Showers
Boundary Road swing bridge
Bolsover swing bridge
36 Kirkfield Lift Lock 272.6 Nothing
♦️🔄🟩Lake Huron/Lake Ontario watershed
Balsam Lake
35 Rosedale 252.9 Showers, Firewood, Ice
Cameron Lake
34 Fenelon Falls 247.2 ♦️POWER(top side) Ice, (Note:very popular)
Lake Scugog
33 Lindsay 251.6 ♦️Power(lower side) (takes you to Lake Scugog-side trip)
Sturgeon Lake
32 Bobcaygeon 222.4 ♦️Power, Ice
Bobcaygeon swing bridge
Pigeon Lake
Buckhorn Lake
31 Buckhorn 194.2 ♦️Power(top side), Firewood, ice
30 Lovesick 184.7 Firewood, ice
28 Burleigh Falls 181.8 Firewood, ice
Lock 28 foot bridge
Highway 28
27 Young's Point 168.1 Nothing
26 Lakefield 158.9 ♦️Power, shower, ice
25 Sawer Creek 156.6 Nothing
24 Douro 155.1 Showers, Firewood, Ice
23 Otonabee 152.6 Nothing
22 Nassau Mills 151.7 Firewood, Ice
Trent University foot bridge
CNR swing bridge
21 Peterborough Lift Lock 145.0 Mooring on top side only?
CPR swing bridge
Maria Street bridge
20 Ashburnham 144.1 Nothing
CNR swing bridge
19 Scotts Mills 142.8 Nothing
Highway 7 / Highway 115
Rice Lake
Hastings swing bridge
Next I will focus on going lock by lock, marina by maria, sight by sight, find areas we hope to spend evenings on our planned two week trip on the Trent Severn waterway in June 2026 trip from lock 44 through lock 19.
At our pace, we will only need to average 2.4 locks per day. We would rather enjoy the journey then rush through it with a goal of completing the enter system.
After lock 19 heading downstream I see a marina with a reasonably good ramp.
My hope is to use this marina, take a taxi to town, rent a vehicle, use the rental to retrieve our truck and trailer, return the rental vehicle, get our boat then tow back to our home not far from Green Bay Wisconsin.
We’d love to return someday when we are retired and can visit the beautiful Canada 🇨🇦for a longer period of time than a two week total trip.
I don’t comment much on your videos Paul, but I sure enjoy them for inspiration and information. Thank you for creating them.
- Admiral Annette & Skipper Doug
Sea Ray 260 Sundancer “Shambala”
Artisan Springs, Wisconsin
Your trips along the waterway looks so enjoyable!
They are! We love it!!
So many beautiful lakes save the money and anchor in a quiet cove.
Yes, or stay at a lock ;-)
Very good info Paul! I hope Trent-Severn gives you a discount for ALL the promotion you do for them!!! Thanks!!
Discount?????? After 14 years of promoting the Trent Severn Waterway here, website, Facebook and Instagram, I'm still waiting for that discount you speak of . . .
@@BoatingWithBoogaboo HAHAHA!!! My wife said it's likely due to the fact that its owned by the government....a place she worked for over 30 years!!! A voice of experience!!🤣
Thanks for another great video Paul! Greetings from Saskatchewan! I’m a transplant here though, I grew up at our families cottage on the east shore of Couchiching and enjoyed boating on the Trent Severyn system my whole life as well as on the Muskokas where we would trailer our runabouts to so we could convoy with our cousins. Slipping back and forth between Muskoka, Joseph and Rosso. Great family memories.
I don’t want to rub this in, but here in SK Covid restrictions are easing and our boat launches are opening up May 4! I’m so grateful for that. You really should check out some out of province boating some time, it would make for great footage and a great experience. Locally we boat on Lake Diefenbaker, 225kms long, deep beautiful water with hundreds of miles of very secluded sand beaches. It is a unique experience very different to the congestion and traffic “back home”. When the time is right, come check it out. Have you ever been on a house boating adventure? Boats available to rent here. 3 hour flight from Pearson.
Hi Jamie, thanks for that. Sounds like from where you were located on Couchiching, we've probably driven past it dozens of times, both on the water and by road!
As for heading out of province to do more boating, that would be a challenge, as I don't have enough time to do all the local boating I'd like to in a regular season ;-) One year, I'd like to try the Rideau or Erie Canals, as they are within driving range of our home port marina. Time will tell where we get to . . .
Cheers, Paul.
Greetings from Australia. Nice informative video & yes I'm a little jealous. The wife & I just up sized & bought our first Sea Ray. She is a 1990 420 Sundancer & we love it. Keep up the great videos. Even half way around the world we appreciate them.
Jealous? I much prefer 'inspired' :-) That 420 Dancer is a beautiful boat, you should have lots of fun with that thing! Might be a good opportunity to start a Down ??Under boating channel??
Cheers from 'this side' of the world, Paul.
@@BoatingWithBoogaboo Thanks Paul. All we have is instagram at the moment. Happy to have you join us? instagram.com/davo5364/
doing the trent now. thanks to all the helpful vids that u have provided
Fantastic!! Enjoy 😃
Do people run their generators at the non power locks or is that taboo/against the rules?
Although there's no set rules, common courtesy dictates (to the un-brain dead crowd) that running a generator all night is not something that is welcome. We will gennerally run ours in the morning to use the coffee maker, etc., as well as top up the batteries. Same in the evening, usually right after dinner time - again, to top up batteries and run the air conditioning to cool down the cabin before bedtime. In both instances, I like to limit that run time to around 2-3 hours.
That said, there is the odd boater who will run their genny ALL NIGHT for air conditioning, usually the big, stinky diesel boats. We've even experienced that at anchor in Georgian Bay. It's annoying, it stinks and could be potentially life threatening for those close by, due to the real threat of CO2 poisoning - that's why it's imperative to have a working CO2 detector on any boat that one would sleep on.
Great boating up there, such an amazing system of waterways.
It really is!
You really did a nice job on this vlog, thank you. Enjoyed watching! Rocky River, Lake Erie
Cool. We bought Boogaboo III, right across from you at Kingsville, Ontario - just west of Leamington. Watch for an upcoming video on that little adventure. . .
Cheers, Paul.
Thanks, you nailed it.
Appreciate that. Thank you!
Another suggestion: Do a video about bridge height. What is the max to avoid having to open for passage?
That would be a pretty short video, as all of the lower bridges open on demand, with little to no wait time. The only bridge that might be an issue for taller, flybridge style boats is the railway swing bridge just before Lock 42. I've posted at least three videos regarding that one on my channel, so have a look.
Very good info
Glad it was helpful!
Nice vid!
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it.
Great video in your terrific series. Are any of the decals located on Boogaboo's stbd windshield related to a mooring permit and / or lock permit?
I always place the stickers on the starboard side window, not the front. It really doesn't matter where they go, as long as the lock staff can see them. Plus, I've had some tell me they should be elsewhere, while others say that's where they're supposed to be. Typical government confusion ;-)
I wish we had something like your canal system here. That looks beautiful and relaxing. Do you pay for electric at the lock (those that have it) when you arrive for an overnight?
Yes, power must be paid for up front upon your arrival, as they will otherwise have the power access locked up. The whole thing is super easy. Just pull up to the area of the lock wall that you prefer, tie up and head overt to the lock station to pay. Very relaxed and pressure free!
cheers!
Cheers!
Paul, Change the subject, did I miss the video about how you can tow your Seadoo?
After all the type of traveling we've done for the past two salons we decided that towing anything is not a good option for us. One day we might get a small dinghy, but only if it could be stored on the swim platform.
Hi Paul, thanks for the informative videos. What about water? Do the four locks that have power also have water to fill up boat tanks? Do any of the locks that do not have power have water hookups? Thanks!
The only one that has dockside water is at Fenelon Falls. As mentioned, ALL of the lock stations have potable water, but that's more for filling a kettle, or maybe a few water jugs, not really designed for onboard water tank filling. Otherwise, one will have to go to a local marina to top up their tanks.
To get around that issue, I installed a water purification system on Boogaboo, so that we can draw water straight from the lake, purify it and fill our tanks, even while driving! Here's my full installation video: ua-cam.com/video/15850c5SWdA/v-deo.html
You mentioned some of the Locks allowing camping, ive got a crazy idea to do this in my 20 foot bow rider, would I be able to find a place to camp every night?
Shouldn't be a problem, as most of the locks aren't spaced too far apart. Of course, reservations are NOT doable, so you'd have to make sure you can squeeze your bot onto the tie up wall. That said, in over 15 year4s of traveling the TSW, we've always managed to get into a spot we wanted to get to.
What about pump stations and water?
What about them?
I see that you usually stop for the night very early in the afternoon. You said you have never not got a spot but how common is it to see people coming later that cant get a spot
As I have mentioned many times in previous videos, there is no rhyme or reason as to when the 'best time' is to arrive at a lock in order to secure a spot. Often times at the most popular locks (the ones with shore power), they tend to be full of lots of day boaters who have come in from the surrounding cottages, but they peel away before dinnertime. We generally call them the ice cream boats ;-)
Sometimes one part of the lock (the upper side, or lower side) might be completely full when we arrive, but the opposite side can have a place to tie up. Again, there is no way to say for sure, just gotta go wit the flow. . .
@@BoatingWithBoogaboo thanks Paul, I've just noticed that you are often parked by early afternoon and my family is more the type to not start early but go later, (in other things, have yet to see how we will be on the boat) but if you are saying that there are day use people that might leave in the afternoon then that might work. Also I'm sure it really varys if its weekend or week day and holiday weekends versus normal. I'm sure in time we will work ot out. Thanks for still having the patience to answer repeat silly noob questions. Cheers 😀
When requesting to book a night at a marina would you use LOA because some sea ray 330s are actually 36 ft. Sort of confused would you say it’s 33 ft or 36ft?
I always go by 33' and have never seen anyone pull out a tape measure 😉
BoatingWithBoogaboo Thanks for the info!