anyone ever done it? of course i find the distance on internet, some distance and times at 10 knots between locks, but anyone ever did it ? what is the real time line to do it all from waterford to niagara?
is it only canal? or there are a couple lakes we can open up the engines a little?

thanks for any info!

I live in the Rochester, NY area and very near the canal and have known about it all my life. I bike down the canal paths. It is a very, very, very long slow ride (5-10mph for the majority of it). There are only a few spots (like where it combines with the Mohawk River) that you can get up to 45mph but they are only a couple of miles long.No lakes. Then it's back to boring and loading up the engines.
Great if you have a cruiser boat and want to just crawl offplane.

How many days trip?

It is slow going and the locks will call ahead and if you go too fast you will get a ticket , it also goes through oneida lake so you can hold it wide open for 25 miles in syracuse

ive did it it took 2 days, remember DO NOT SPEED if you do the lock tenders all talk to each other and if your early to a lock the police will be waiting, we found it best to have a 6 pack (beer) in a brown bag sitting on the wall when you pull out ( i think there was some dry county's in the system ) and thell be waiting with the door open and ready to lift you. put fenders all over your boat and use rubber gloves the walls and ropes are slimey

2 days? For 380 miles distance?
You meant... 12 days? Or 21 days?

I do stand corrected. Oneida Lake is there (unlimited speed) but is very dangerous with rocks and shoals. You need to stay in the middle channel and it is not buoy marked all that well.
Here is a link that will help you with speeds on the canal and distances. It can help you determine how many days it will take based on the speed limits. They estimate 5-6 days.
http://www.offshoreblue.com/cruising/erie-canal.php

The guys that take the big boats to the ocean say it takes about 6 days to do but it also depends on when you go because sometimes you have to wait for long time at the locks if there is a lot of boats and barges trying to go through