Great Lakes water levels

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prowlersfish
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Re: Great Lakes water levels

Post by prowlersfish »

captainmaniac wrote:We have gone down perhaps a couple of inches. Will take a closer look this weekend... hoping to finally launch on Thursday!

I hope you are able !!!!!
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captainmaniac
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Re: Great Lakes water levels

Post by captainmaniac »

prowlersfish wrote:
captainmaniac wrote:We have gone down perhaps a couple of inches. Will take a closer look this weekend... hoping to finally launch on Thursday!

I hope you are able !!!!!
It's in! It floats! It's dry! .... but a bit too dry... starboard engine isn't pumping any water. So had the pleasure of doing the maiden voyage of the year (1.5 mile trip from storage facility to docks), and docking, on one engine. Crossing my fingers that the impeller just took a set over the winter.
oil&water
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Re: Great Lakes water levels

Post by oil&water »

Wooohooo, summer can now commence!
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captainmaniac
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Re: Great Lakes water levels

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oil&water wrote:Wooohooo, summer can now commence!
.... once I get a new impeller... thought I had a spare on hand but can't find it!
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Re: Great Lakes water levels

Post by jimbo36 »

Captain, don't forget to back flush your oil cooler if that impeller came apart. Good luck. :wink:
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captainmaniac
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Re: Great Lakes water levels

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Got in to the engine this past weekend. Pulled water pump apart and YAY - found this:
IMG_0439.JPG
IMG_0439.JPG (160.44 KiB) Viewed 9255 times
Apparently, the impeller did not just take a set....

One vane still intact, the other 11 f'd up. Part of one vane stuck in an output port of the water pump (but of course sticking down into the pump itself, so it could shred all the other vanes off!!!) Tried to pull whatever hoses I could. Found inboard manifold had a partial vane obstructing it (from years ago - doesn't match up to the impeller). Couldn't pull outboard hose - just didn't have the strength, so hope it's okay. Pulled t-stat housing and found 3 impeller pieces stuck in the fitting.

In total, found 85-90% of all impeller parts. Know I should find 100%, but hoping I found enough that is shouldn't be a problem. As I said, one part I found was from a previous impeller, so hoping that means I can get away with some tiny pieces not causing too much of an obstruction. Will definitely be watching the engine for the next while though.
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AlphaJustin
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Re: Great Lakes water levels

Post by AlphaJustin »

Seems like every other day I'm at my marina in Mexico, NY on the south east corner of Ontario they are raising the docks idk if they just aren't draining the lake enough or what but it's getting worse and not better.
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captainmaniac
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Re: Great Lakes water levels

Post by captainmaniac »

We are still crazy high, but slowly getting better. With a west or northwest wind the water is going to pile up at the eastern end of the lake more, so that may be part of what's going on. The lake itself has dropped a bit since they started letting out water at record rates a couple weeks back... expectation was this outflow rate would drop levels about 1cm per week (for Americans, one inch is roughly 2.5cm ) https://www.theweathernetwork.com/news/ ... sday/83198

The outflow rate of 10,400 cubic metres per second equates to almost 2,750,000 US gallons per second!
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BobCT
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Re: Great Lakes water levels

Post by BobCT »

For what it's worth, I sort of disproved the impellor "set" theory a few years back. I used to think the same thing based upon what they look like when you remove them. I changed one and the vanes were all curled over. I threw it in the trash and about 1/2 an hour later a fellow boater came by and asked what I was doing. I told him that you really need to be on top of the impellor maintenance because the vanes take a set if unused.

I said, "look at this one" and reached into the garbage. It looked brand new! All of the vanes returned to their original position in less than an hour. I kept it for a spare because it was otherwise perfect.

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captainmaniac
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Re: Great Lakes water levels

Post by captainmaniac »

I am really pissed with Photobucket's move to stop sharing pictures, and will be telling them that (even though they still promote sharing of images!!! though I doubt they will care), but did want to share the following 'wow' video that shows just how bad things still are on Lake Ontario.

I would say water levels at my marina have dropped 4-6" from the highs recorded in May, but still stupid high. Apparently the highest water levels we have seen in over 100 years based on some news stories I have read https://www.kingstonregion.com/news-sto ... in-effect/

I have also read https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nat ... 353818001/ .

This is a zoomed in Google maps shot of Toronto Island, and I have circled 6 communications transmission towers.
Toronto Island Pic.jpg
Toronto Island Pic.jpg (208.34 KiB) Viewed 9143 times
Here is a link to a drone video taken in the last few days (you can see the same transmission towers at about the 10 second mark) so you have a point of comparison or reference : http://www.ctvnews.ca/video?clipId=1128534

Here's a Google Map shot of the island in general that you may be able to extrapolate the problem to... In this shot you can see the distinct islands that make up "Toronto Island", and looking at the video you can get a sense of how much of that currently is under water! https://www.google.ca/maps/place/Toront ... 4199?hl=en If you zoom in a bit you will see Forestry Island which is just north west of the transmission towers.

Bottom line - ain't good!

This is one of my favorite destinations, but may be untouchable (along with lots of other facilities) this year.

And water levels have been declining since May, but levels depend on rain and wind (with a lake this big, when the wind blows in any direction, water levels rise on the downwind side of the lake ... in a really bad storm a few years ago I saw a difference of 12" within a few hours! My wife and I spent the night on the boat, going out hourly to check other boats fender height and lines and replacing lines that broke.... we were not completely successful and can share shots in a new thread of some of what can happen if not tied up right and a bugger of a storm comes through)
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Re: Great Lakes water levels

Post by oil&water »

The flooding is unfortunate and as seen from the video, quite severe. Here on the Atlantic, in over 30 years, we have seen sea levels rise enough that a super tide can engulf property that long ago would never be touched. It is only getting worse. Our high tides are now almost at the top of boat ramps and often in others yards.

Having everything continuously underwater up there must be an absolute mess, even when the water subsides.
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WayWeGo
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Re: Great Lakes water levels

Post by WayWeGo »

When I think of floods, I think of transient events. Hard to imagine one that is lasting so long!

On the brighter side, it was interesting to see a dragon boat race captured by Google with the starting line just north of Forestry Island.
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captainmaniac
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Re: Great Lakes water levels

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oil&water wrote:The flooding is unfortunate and as seen from the video, quite severe. Here on the Atlantic, in over 30 years, we have seen sea levels rise enough that a super tide can engulf property that long ago would never be touched. It is only getting worse. Our high tides are now almost at the top of boat ramps and often in others yards.

Having everything continuously underwater up there must be an absolute mess, even when the water subsides.
It's going to be a bugger of a year for mosquitoes!
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Re: Great Lakes water levels

Post by oil&water »

OMG, mosquitos. I can't even imagine how bad those suckers are going to be. At my parents home, it is very marshy, often times with standing water. The tiger mosquitoes are as big as 747s. You get out of the car and there is an air traffic controller on your arm, waving in the girls to land!

I climbed onboard my boat last weekend to dump the tarp across the back deck that had collected water. Those little guys that had been hatched from the tarp tore my legs up. Guess that's what I get for taking a break from working on her.
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Big D
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Re: Great Lakes water levels

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Getting all kinds of really bad impacts. There's a big false sense of security because of the high water levels. I guess most folks think since the levels are so high, they won't hit anything. The problem is the structures that were clearly visible above water that are now below water and not marked are being hit at cruising speed. Be careful out there.
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