First Family Outing - Observations and Discoveries

If you were fortunate enough to have a Nana when you were a kid, you can identify with how we feel about Big Duck. You probably didn't brag about Nana to your friends, she was 'old' and showed signs of her years, but she was caring and seemed to know what you wanted/needed. She had class and character. She was always there for you...a glass of lemon aid when you came in from mowing the lawn, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich (without crusts) when you were starving, a band aid when you had an booboo on your finger or a comfy lap to lay your head on when you were weary (and she would gently run her fingers through your hair). She always made you feel good. That's how it is with Big Duck.

One might think that in the nagging 100° heat all day with 4 people a baby and two dogs on board that folks might get a little testy, but that never happened. Sara Jane and Trey are great parents and were totally prepared for an overnight away with Patrick. Consequently P was a joy the whole time. Big Duck's interior was a great playground and offered little opportunity for P to get in trouble. Outside, the 'fenced in' aft deck offered the same advantages. We also had no worry about the dogs, Merlin and Kasey, for the same reasons.

The walkway next to the head is single file (for adults) but everywhere else there is room to get around. It was such a hoot to see P scooting along the floor when the dogs were heading around or over him. Neither being bothered by the other.

See P's head between the two dogs?

The above pictures also show how accommodating Big Duck is. The bunk beds to starboard offered a great place to spread stuff out...swimsuits, towels, clothes, pillows etc.

The boat sleeps 7 inside. SJ and P slept aft in the converted double dinette. Suzy and I slept forward in the double converted setee and Trey took the lower bunk bed. After P went to sleep w/ SJ in the dinette, SJ came forward and we all marveled at the joys of our day.

When Trey was not helping unload or load the boat, or steering, or taking the dogs ashore, he was cooking or engineering comforts for the rest of us, like trouble shooting wiring or fabricating sun shields for the windows. No, he's not for hire.

By all rights, having a 16 month old aboard in 100° heat for more than a couple hours is a recipie for disaster, but not when you've got full time mom SJ along. I can't remember more than a whimper out of either of them. And SJ was eager to pitch in when P was with someone else, after her nap of course. And speaking of naps, I believe we all had the pleasure, a real tribute to teamwork.

I'm not sure why, but I'd been head strong about the selection, procurement and comissioning of Big Duck, so for months I'd kind of left my wife out of that picture. I very much missed her organizational skills and attention to stuff I never could bring myself to do aboard, but it never dawned on me to get her involved. Finally she said, "Hey, I want to help." At which point I realized what I'd been doing.

She was forgiving and a great partner in the final stages of getting Big Duck ready. Without her this cruise never would have gotten off the trailer...clothes, bedding, food, water, safety gear, medical supplies and prescriptions, galley equipment, cleaning supplies for body and boat, meal planning and an unfailing willingness to pick up after me as I caromed from task to task. Granted, Suzy doesn't get around too well, but none-the-less, she always seems to be in the right place at the right time. Big, big hug for Suzy!

Towing Big Duck is not a problem. First, unlike most boats, Big Duck does not have a bow pulpit. This means the trailer can be shorter by a couple yards, and this also means the trailer tracks closer to the van around corners - no need to swing as wide. Big Duck's trailer is 31 feet long from ball to tail lights, and there's 10 feet of trailer sticking out past the centerline between the tandem axles. The ten-banger in the van is quite capable, although as I mentioned in an earlier post, I don't expect to maintain speed up hills/grades...and I never tow over 55 mph. The run down I26 from home to the lake is quite hilly. I never set the cruise control on this stretch because she'll shift back and forth whether in Tow/Haul or not. Using 'foot on the gas' I can prevent the shifting by allowing her to slow down on some of the grades. When we brought Big Duck back from Las Vegas we averaged 10 mpg over all. During the 100 miles down and 100 miles back we bumped 9 mpg but she was left running to keep things cool for at least 1/2 hour at both launch and retrieve.

So, how thirsty was the 350 Chevy in the duck? The fuel tank is 40 gallons. I already had some some gas in the tank and stopped at $100 instead of filling her all the way up. I'd say she was 7/8...lets say 36 gallons when we hit the water. Except for about 10 minutes at WOT, we cruised under 2,000 rpm (between 7 and 8 mph). The GPS said we'd covered 31 miles and change on the water. The tank looks to be about 2/5 full after the outing...lets say 15 gallons left. That means we used 21 gallons.

But, we filled the generator 2+ times at 3 gallons a crack, so the engine burned about 12 gallons to go those 31 miles or we got about 2 1/2 mpg. I'll know much better when we get the Flowscan installed.

On the last outing, the boat pulled to port. I moved the tail end of the I/O trim tab to port a little and that problem went away. However, Big Duck does like to wander and correcting can be a chore until you realize that the boat is not necessarily tracking the way she's pointing. She likes to crab a little during corrections and if you get the bow pointing straight up the rhumb line, you'll most likely overshoot your correction. You have to kind of sneak up on it; once you learn this she becomes much better behaved.

We found the bilge pump running every couple hours. I have a little siren at the helm so we know when the pump is active. There was never much water in the bilge and it appeared clear. It didn't seem to be coming in at any of the thru hulls or at the outdrive. Not enough to worry about, but something to look into. It could be from the freshwater tank? Then later on, the pump quit coming on, but it should have...there was water in the bilge. No biggie - I have the bilge pump auto switch mounted to a plate and it can be easily extracted for inspection/replacement.

And as mentioned earlier, the prop will need to be changed out. Another simple task.

What else? Oh yes, a little more trailer work. One fender shows signs of being kissed by the chine - need to work up a system to get her more level, or raise the bunks...and the bunks need to be slipprier so I can pull the bow all the way up to the stop after I get her loaded.

I'm still working out ducting forward for the air conditioner. The squirrel cage fan was very efficient for blowing cold air forward, but it's an additional piece of gear I'd like to do without.

Both shoot thru the hull transducers work well. I like having one forward and one aft; each set to alarm at a different depth. The aft one is set to warn us at less than 12' feet of water, and the forward one is a danger alert at 4'. The Garmin 478 is great combining the GPS, Chartplotter and DS and can be easily moved topsides when we steer from the flybridge. The trouble with this scenario is that the alarm siren is at the lower helm and if I forget to bring the Garmin down when steering from below and the shallow alarm goes off, I can't silence it without going back topsides to hit the button on the Garmin.

And it's hard to remember to turn the bilge blower on now that I don't have an outboard motor...but I'm getting better. And when I do turn it on, it's hard to remember to turn it off, so I'll wire a 5 minute wind up timer in the circuit that will remember to turn it off.

In the 70's, I guess no one drank, because there isn't a single cup holder on the entire 28 feet of boat, either below or topsides. How did they get along without them back then?

I had checked out the 4 burner propane stove right after bringing the boat home. It works great. I don't think it had ever been used - the oven was also immaculate. Our meals had been planned around the microwave so there was really no need for the stove, but we decided to boil some hot dogs for lunch instead of nuking them. Guess what? No matches -- no way to spark the burner to life. Note to self, "need lighter for stove".

Many projects to nibble away at, but nothing keeping us form going out again. I'll let you know when we do.