Laid Back Cruise

With the upgrade to solid state ignition and new coil, and the new propeller with less pitch and the manual trim set to one notch more bow down, I was dying to get Big Duck out on the water to see what she'd do. Also, I'd had enough experience with help, that I was ready to try a splash solo.

It was a perfect day - expected to be sunny in the 60's. We left home for the 80 mile run to Lake Keowee a little before 1pm. There was little traffic on I85 & I26 and almost none on the HWY 11 50 mile part. The Duck is so well behaved behind the van that there is never a concern towing and with the electric brakes on the trailer stopping is outstanding. With the anti sway bar and load equalizing hitch we are seldom affected by passing semis and mountain road handling is superior.

We'd scouted all the ramps on Keowee without the boat on an earlier trip. Out of 8 or 9 ramps on the lake, there was only one ramp that looked good and it looked perfect - two lanes with a floating dock between them.

I still get a little flustered backing up the long trailer, but in a couple tries I had the trailer just above the water on the ramp. We prepped there as there was only a single empty trailer in the lot. About 15 minutes later, I backed her into the water enough so I could grab the docklines off the boat and tie her to the dock. Then back up to the van and a little farther in she goes. I walked through the van and unhooked the strap and safety line then back to the dock and pulled her off the trailer with the dock lines. Piece of cake really...

All systems performed flawlessly but even though our RPM's were up to 4,400 with the new 'less pitch' prop she still wouldn't climb out of the hole and only made 17 mph. We've got some work to do here, but this wasn't the time to worry about it so we just headed out onto the lake. It was a wonderful day for a cruise and everyone settled in.

The lake was a pussycat so I just kept her about 1800 and explored. My crew didn't last long with the soothing gently motion and inviting sounds of the water against the hull.

We knew we'd run out of daylight, but pushed it because things were so pleasant. We got back to the ramp just a little before sunset.

Getting her back on the trailer was a little more challenging than the launch. Tying up solo wasn't a slam dunk. It's easy to jump off the bow with a dockline, but keeping the stern close enough in the process took a couple tries. Then after putting the trailer in the water I realized I could pull Big Duck up onto the trailer with the dockline, and did, but before winching her up, I needed to raise the outdrive but I couldn't get back aboard - she was too far away from the dock. I walked through the van and out onto the trailer and was able to attach the winch strap. 'Got her up far enough on the trailer so I could get aboard over the bow and raised the drive. 'Winched her up the rest of the way and up the ramp  and off to home we went.

It's a little much for me doing a day trip, but this one was not only a joy but full of encouragement for future solo outings.

Now on to fuel tank extraction/replacement...