Duck Delivers Delight in DeLand

Big Duck's first major outing was an overwhelming success.

We left Spartanburg on Oct 6th in the company of Doug, Elaine and their Parker, MokeeDugway. We were headed to DeLand to cruise the St Johns River.

It's always nice to buddy boat with the Gentry's but it was especially comforting to have backup on this first 'away' cruise.

We Wallydocked Thursday night near Savannah,

 Friday night was again in a Walmart parking lot, in DeLand this time. It rained most of the night due to a weather system that was nearing tropical storm proportion.

The low pressure rain was so intense and persistent that we decided not to splash on Saturday, but rather get a motel room for the night.

Our daughter Sara Jane, son-in-law Trey, 18 month old grandson Patrick and their dog Kasey met us at the motel in anticipation of a cruise but the forcast wouldn't allow it so they continued south.

It rained relentlessly all day Sunday so we stayed another night in the motel, but discovered it was pet friendly so instead of Merlin and I spending the night in the van as we had done Saturday, we all huddled in the motel room waiting for the rain to quit.

By this time, Big Duck was being overpowered by the deluge and her 40 year old weather stripping and window seals were letting in the rain. We became familiar with the leaks and after using a newly acquired shop vac to suck up the inside water from the carpet and cushions we were on our way to drying her out by repositioning the cushions and 'hanging out' the sheets...the rain continued. OK, one more night in the motel.

Finally, Tuesday morning things looked promising. We made our way to the ramp at Ed Stone Park and splashed without incident.

At Ed Stone staging area

The crew anxiously awaiting the launch

 Mokee Dugway and Big Duck - Splashed and ready

Finally underway, we cruised to one of the many secluded feeders and anchored. During this run, I was able to max out Big Duck at 20 mph at just shy of 3500 RPM. We will need a little more grunt (less pitch) to realize her 30 mph potential.

We made our way back to the Ed Stone dock the next morning. Trey, Sara Jane, Patrick and Kasey would meet us there for a few days on the river. While we were waiting for them to show up, I unleashed Merlin for a run in the puddles which were left by the receding storm.

When the new crew arrived, we headed up (well actually down, as the St Johns River flows North) to Silver Glen Springs. We found a spot near the beach to anchor in the clear waters. Mokee Dugway rafted with us so we could all get together and marvel at the area.

Merlin knew to exit via the steps and swim ashore to go potty, then he would swim back and get aboard on his own.

Kasey is not a swimmer, so he needed to don his life jacket to do his duty ashore.

Once back aboard, Kasey lounged in the tropical paradise of the aft deck.

There were several unmanned boats moored/anchored/abandoned at the springs but we only had a couple daytime visitors for the 3 days and 2 nights we were there.

There was a couple living aboard who visited us. They had 2 dogs.

Merlin was sad to see them leave after their visit.

The clear water of the spring, invited swimming. All but Suzy eventually got their feet wet.

Big Duck is so comfortable both as a camper and as a boat. What a joy to awake to a happy 18 month old.

Meals aboard were a gormet delight, thanks to planning and preparation by willing and able crew members.

Besides swimming, activities included:

Sudoku



Reading to the dog

Driving the boat

Lounging and watching a video

Birdwatching

Reading

Swapping sea stories

Wishing we could play with the birds and fish

Playing lookout from the flybridge

Cruising/sightseeing

Chillin' out on the aft deck

The final night was spent closer to the ramp, anchored in a loop. Not having a beach to swim to, we were so proud of Kasey who learned to tinky-tink on the green mat. Merlin can hold it for a long time and never got to the point of being tempted to use the mat as we needed to get to shore the next morning to send Trey, SJ, Patrick and Kasey back north. Even then, Merlin was in no hurry to relieve himself.

After 4 nights aboard, were reluctant to call the cruise over, but eventually decided to put the boats back on the trailers, then decide what to do next. The retrieving went well except for the cranking necessary to get Big Duck forward on the trailer. We had to crank for a while, then move the van up, crank some more, move the van up, then crank some more. Even with all this rigamarole, Big Duck's bow remained about 2" from the bow stop.

Big Duck on her way back to the ramp.

Everyone pitching in while we get The Duck ready for the trailer.

After we got the boats settled on the trailers, I decided I needed a motel for the night, so we made our way back north to Kingsland dodging hundreds if not thousands of bikers...turns out it was Bike Week in Daytona that week.

At the motel, we realized the trip had taken more out of us than we had imagined as we all totally crashed.

The rest of the trip home was uneventful, except for the loss of a second Bearing Buddy on my trailer.

Then, finally back home, it took a full day of R&R to get back to normal.

'Got a few projects before we go out again this weekend. I'm going o try putting on the load equalizer bars and a single anti-sway bar for the trailer. We brought Big Duck back from Las Vegas - 2,100 miles without them and down to DeLand and back withoput them, but I have the equipment so I'll see what effect it has on towing. Stay tuned.