We had the end of the Erie Canal in sight then someone said, not so fast. Exiting lock 6 of the canal our waterflow alarm and engine overheat alarm went off. A quick check and we discovered no water was coming out of the exhaust. I quickly shut the engine off and unloaded all the junk out of the aft cabin so I could check the strainer. Sure enough it was clogged. I cleaned it out and started the engine but still no cooling water coming out. Martha said we better anchor as we were drifting close to shore. We quickly set the anchor just in time as a major squall came through with heavy winds and rain. The anchor held and gave me time to investigate further. I removed the hose from the water intake throughull and no water came out. It was still blocked. I put on my mask and dove below but could not see any obstruction. I poked a screwdriver up into the hole but when I checked above still no water. Hummm. I then got a spare piece of hose, attached it to the water intake and blew as hard as I could. Success, water started pouring in. I hooked everything back up and started the engine and cooling water was circulating again. I believe we sucked up a small piece of wood in the lock that got caught in the ball cock valve. We decided to stay at anchor and have lunch when the lock tender called us on the radio. Eagles Wings are you OK? You are long overdue at lock 7. We explained our delay and thanked them for the check in. After lunch we went through lock 7 and decided to stay overnight between lock 7 and 8 until the wind died down. Only one lock to go before the Oswego marina and putting our mast back up. The next morning the winds were howling and Martha said she would prefer to be in the marina with power for our heater and other conveniences. We set off for lock 8 and entered but just as we grabbed the lines in the lock a 30 knot gust hit us and Martha was unable to hold onto the line. The boat started to turn sideways. I dropped my line and quickly returned to the helm but it was to late. We were sideways in the lock drifting towards the closed doors. I hollered to the lock attendant on the radio to open the doors, open the doors. He hit the switch and the doors started to open slowly as we drifted towards them. The lock is only 45 feet wide and our 34 foot boat with a 50 foot mast on deck offered little room for maneuvering. Luckily we were at the top of the lock and the mast was high enough to clear the lock walls and railing. I did several forward and reverse cycles spinning the wheel from side to side and was able to complete a 180 in the lock so we were now pointed downstream and just slid by the doors without hitting them as they opened. All and all is was quite the hair raising experience to say the least. We made it back to the spot on the wall where we had stayed overnight and tied up again. We decided to stay there until the winds die down and we can get our mast put back up in the Marina. It looks like we will be here for another 2 nights as it is still windy today and the mast guy dosen't work on Sundays. Even though Monday is a holiday the mast guy is coming in so the plan is to go through lock 8 then and hopefully get our mast put up. So close yet so far.