First (Boat) Dog

Back in the early 70's, we worked in Beaufort NC during hurricane seasons while living aboard, commuting from the anchorage to jobs ashore. 

One of our joys during those periods was a pair of Golden Retrievers that lived in a house near the dinghy dock. A Golden’s face is the epitome of innocence and their demeanor is ultimate joy and enthusiasm, not to mention that they are absolute hand magnets.

At days end, after working ashore, we’d rustle board the dink and each take an oar to row about a quarter mile across the cut to our anchored boat. We learned to keep an eye out for the four-legged pair because if they saw us rowing they’d jump in the water, swim our way and try to board us in our $20 two man inflatable dinghy. More than once we’d been capsized by our enthusiastic visitors and on a couple occasions suffered dink punctures when they boarded.

The article was written seasons later when we'd been loaned a hard dink.Our sailboat is in the bottom pic at upper left.

 It was kind of funny when we saw the swimming dogs approaching, knowing that we too would likely be swimming the rest of the way to our anchored boat if they caught up to us. When we saw them coming, I’d suggest to Suzy that we needed to hustle. We’d step up the pace but invariably I’d pull a little harder than she could and we’d end up going in a circle, shouting and laughing hysterically, each blaming the other for the course changes. More often than not though, we’d make it unscathed because of having scoured the shore before we set out to asses our probability of getting close enough to the boat that they couldn’t catch up to us.

 We wanted a dog so bad, but Suzy is deathly allergic so it never happened…until 40 years later when my daughter relentlessly encouraged us to look into getting a dog. Knowing the consequences of my wife’s face swelling up resulting in trouble breathing we just couldn’t do it until on a cruise in British Columbia a dog appeared at a neighboring dock that caught my attention. As our eyes locked, he said, “Get a dog like me.”

Dude said, "Get a dog like me!".

 I’d never had a dog talk to me before, so I inquired what kind of magical dog this was. I was told he was a Golden Doodle – ½ Golden Retriever and ½ Poodle. They can be non-shedding, hypoallergenic and unusually very people oriented as well an no doggy breath or odor.

Back home after detailed research, we drove 400 miles to a potential breeder to see what these dogs were all about. In our correspondence with the breeder we were informed that there was a  litter 7 weeks old and they wouldn't be released until 8 weeks, but it was still OK to visit. We'd come - we were only visiting to get an education.

My daughter decided to come with us when we made the trip To Louisville from SC. She had worked at an animal shelter and wanted to give the breeder a once over to make sure this breeder wasn’t just a ‘Puppy Mill’.

WARNING! This link may lead to euphoria.
Merlin's Breeder 

On our arrival, we learned that the couple bred these dogs because of the joy they brought to owners. Anna, whose day job is an MD, attends to the internet, paperwork and of course health and testing of the pups. When we met her husband Charlie he was on his back in the puppy pen with 8 or so adorable puppies pouncing on him from all sides. We knew we’d be back in a week to get a puppy, but which one?

We narrowed it down to two red nosed males but ran out of time deciding. 

We took a room at a nearby motel so we could go back the next day, I guess knowing that we really just wanted to spend time again with all of them.

The next morning we were back trying to decide which puppy we'd like to adopt. For some reason my daughter suddenly pointed and said, “That one!”

Our enthusiasm was slightly dampened when Anna said that a couple had been up from Florida a week earlier and told her they wanted the same puppy. Anna suggested that we take the other one, so we said, “OK, no big deal”. 

We then got to talking with Anna and Charlie, learning that they loved the water and planned to fix up a boat that they had stashed in the corner of their field. We told them how we had lived aboard for 3 years and about the Doodle that had inspired our search. We were in the midst of 20 or so pups while we were talking and the little guy that we had originally chosen seemed to find me fascinating despite the rest of the little pups frolicking elsewhere. Anna and Charlie excused themselves for a couple minutes. When they came back they told us we could have the puppy that seemed to have chosen us. We were delighted and told them we’d be back in a week.

Then they dropped the bomb on us. “We’d be comfortable in letting him go home with you today.” Yikes, we didn’t know anything about puppies. We had none of the things you’re supposed to have for the trip home or when you get there. I was hesitant, but the girls wouldn’t take no for an answer, so Merlin went home with us at 7 weeks.

Merlin (and wife Suzy) on the way home.

We kept in touch with our newfound breeder/boating friends and had them send our whereabouts to the couple who bought the other puppy. The Florida couple wrote us back. We learned that “Niko” had gone to Florida to be companion to their other dog Riley, an Aussie-Doodle.

We corresponded back and forth with Niko’s parents, eventually making several trips to Florida to get the boys together again. Niko also came up to visit Merlin. Merlin and Niko’s last get-together was only about a month ago when we went down that way to do some boating.
Big Duck Tastes Salt for the First Time 

Enough rambling – just know that a new puppy in your life will open doors you never knew existed
. 

How NOT to Train Your Dog 

Just Like Me

And now that I've got myself going on how lucky I am to have a most joyously admitted, 'feather footed lop eard fleabag' best friend - here's some random pics.
 

Me an Mer-Mer on the ICW, cruising in our 18' cuddy

Soggy puppy.

Merlin playing in the salt with my daughters dog.

Couldn't you just squeeze this guy until he squeeked?

Merlin worked as a therapy dog logging over 200 visits to hospitals and old folks homes - I called it reconnaissance for this 71 year old handler.

Merlin and Niko on one of their many get-togethers.

Is this a boat dog or what?

 

Merlin and Niko in FL.

Merlin as a puppy - How could you possibly resist?

I guess he can drive - he DOES have a license!

Best friends - Merlin first - then the Pacifico.

Merlin and his sister Sara Jane

Well damn, doesn't that make you want to take to the water again?

Full speed ahead!

Merlin makes a great four legged pillow and I bury my nose in his armpit before napping for a comforting aroma. If they made an "Eau De-Doodle" candle I'd buy one for every room.

Potty ashore, Cap! The original plan.

Merlin taught himself to swim ashore to go potty, then swim back and come up the steps.

Swimming ashore, while convenient proved to be problematic because whenever he saw the steps down he thought it was an invitation to go ashore - which obviously wasn't always the case.

We then tried to teach him to go on his green mat on the aft deck. We'd all 'gone' on the mat, including traces of his and others 'deposits' but nothing inspired Merlin to take the plunge. Finally after 36 hours there was relief for the entire crew.

Looks like he's been eating Tootsie-Rolls

Nice Tinky-tink

This isn't me, this isn't my boat, but it is my dog.

I got carried away with all the pictures. OK, just one more.

I'm Not Getting Up Until I Smell the Coffee

While on the boat (in the water or Walmart parking lot) I let my wife get up first - I'm not inspired until I smell coffee. She can start the generator with the key fob and get everything ready except the water. Our water for consumption aboard is via easily stored 12oz plastic bottles...that she often can't seem to open. Do I get up or have her bring me the bottle(s) to open?

Well, neither. I made a little gizmo that works for her. Push the button, insert the cap to be removed, release the button and turn the bottle -- she can grip the bottle.

Here we have the unit at rest. The knurled wheel is 'cammed' so as the bottle is rotated clockwise, it grabs harder.



Here, the button unloads the spring holding the knurled wheel and pushing it moves the wheel out of the way.


Insert the cap, release the button and turn the bottle.


And I get to sleep in until I smell the coffee.

A Battery of Confessions form an Unconventional Electron Pusher (and Puller)

Big Duck has 4 batteries, no two the same. We have a flooded 24 and a flooded 27 for house and start, but I don’t really know which is which. 

24 and 27 under the green hose

I have a group 31 AGM for the inverter 

Group 31 on the Port side.

and a small lawn mower battery that displaced the tiny starting AGM for the EU3000i Honda Generator.

Lawn mower battery under a flybridge seat

 How do I keep them ‘up’?

I know there are sophisticated systems, but I’m a lazy, casual SOB so I just use what's there, then add on stuff until I’m happy with performance. This means I’ve got 3 different battery ‘feeders’ and two battery combiners. I’ve also got a timer and of course the usual 1, 2, both, off, battery switch (which I seldom touch). I’ve also installed digital voltmeters for each battery – these voltmeters do draw power but because my boat is on shore power in the back yard I just leave them on all the time.

The boat came with a 10-amp dual bank charger for the starting and deep cycle house batteries. 

On board charger with red light showing when charger is feeding the batteries - it's off when fully charged.

This is a very nice unit and as has been suggested for optimum performance, it charges the batteries and maintains them, shutting itself off when the batteries are fully charged. This unit keeps the fully charged batteries at about 13.3 volts according to my voltmeters.

So then I put in an inverter/charger – a Freedom 30, using a group 31 AGM to power the inverter so I could keep my 120vac fridge and freezer running while underway; 

this worked fine except for extended road trips when we didn’t need the boat generator for a/c or heat overnight. The fridge and freezer would deplete the 31 about the 3^rd day unless we ran the boat generator.

I tried running a lead from the van’s breakaway battery charging circuit to the AGM but it never proved itself – we’d just run the generator at night in the Walmart lot and have the inverter/charger pump amps back into the 31.

To simplify things while in the water, I decided to make the boat alternator charge the 31 by using a VSR (voltage sensing relay) to combine the house (or starting) battery with the 31 while the boat was running. While I was at it I installed another VSR between the house and starting batteries. Now whenever there was a charging voltage, all 3 batteries would be combined. This also allowed me to force a combine of all the batteries on the road so I didn’t have to worry about depleting the 31 and ‘starving’ the fridge and freezer of power on longer road trips if we didn't run the Honda while overnighting.

The ‘forced combine’ did prove to be a little inconvenient when it ran down all 3 batteries and I couldn’t start my boat at the ramp, but firing up the generator and having the inverter/charger feed 140 amps let me start the mill immediately.

In summary, all 3 batteries would now be charged whether on shore, generator or ships power... and I’m happy -- even knowing that batteries of different sizes, ages or types need their own separate sophisticated chargers. My goal is not to join the fight to keep a battery going as long as possible but rather to replace a cheap battery at the first sign of trouble. Also, I never have to mess with the 1, 2, on, off switch – ever.

So how do I know if/when battery trouble is lurking?

Maybe once a year or if there’s a hint of trouble, I’ll turn off external power and light up a 1,500-watt heater using the inverter. I’ll run the heater for 15 or 20 minutes – the gauge showing 100 12-volt battery amps being used to power the heater. 

Using 100 12vdc amps to power the 1,500 watt heater

I guess this isn’t a big load considering there are 3 batteries providing power, but it’s good enough for me to watch the voltage of each battery when the heater is turned off. If they’re all pretty close I’m happy. If not, I drag $100 out of the wallet and bring in a new 3-year car battery from Walmart.

Then, because the on board charger keeps the batteries at about 13.3, while the inverter/charger ‘maintains’ at 14.4, I turn off the inverter charger and let the on board charger manage the batteries for extended periods in the back yard.

I’ve only talked about two of the three battery ‘feeders’. I guess I call them feeders because there so much talk about bulk, absorption and float charges that I can’t keep all that technical mumbo jumbo stuff straight. But I do think that storing a battery at 13 volts is better than at 14 volts, that’s why I use the on board charger instead of the ($1,200) inverter/charger.

The fourth Big Duck battery is a lawn mower battery to start the Honda generator. The little Honda OEM AGM battery needed to be replaced every 18 months so I decided to wire in a (remote) lawn mower battery instead of having to dismantle the generator to change the little AGM.

The EU3000i generator has a remote (key fob) start so there’s a small draw from the generator start battery when the key is in the “on” position. I guess I could turn the key to “off” but I’m too lazy. Instead I have a ‘feeder’ for the generator lawn mower battery. The ‘feeder’ is a Harbor Fright $9 ‘float charger’. One day I may hook it up directly to see what it does to the lawn mower battery, but in the mean time I use a timer so the ‘float charger’ only sees the battery for 15 minutes every 24 hours. This gives me a reading of 12.4 volts on the generator lawn mower voltmeter.

I don't track the time the batteries last, but I'm guessing I'm going on more than three+ years. And I'm certainly not knocking the folks who want to do it right, rather perhaps just wanting to encourage bottom feeders like myself to not be afraid of doing it their own way.

More on my battery philosophy here.

Florida 2015 - Big Duck Gets Salty

Our Fall ‘15 trip to /Florida was a total success…well, except for the weather. It was in the 90’s for most days and we ran the air conditioning in the boat for much of the time underway.

We pulled Big Duck out of the back yard on 10/29/15 in spite of the recent rains that made the yard soggy. 

Puddles in the back yard making my dog Merlin wonder if Big Duck would be able to hit the road.

My wife's brother Doug and his wife Elaine towed their Parker 2120 down from Chicago to share the intended adventure. We headed the 700 miles to the St Lucie South Campground in Florida towing Big Duck in the company of "MokeeDugway". We’ve never been challenged staying in a Walmart parking lot overnight and one of them south of Savannah off I95 was no exception. The 350 miles or so to the Florida campground would be a nice easy run the next day.

There was a little confusion about how things would go when we inquired at the St Lucie South Campground guard station. The resolution was that we could use the ramp for $3 and leave our rig parked in the secure campground for up to a week. This was how we had things planned so we were delighted that it worked out this way.

Big Duck waiting her turn to splash at the St Lucie Campground Ramp

The ramp is on the freshwater side of the St Lucie Lock and quite friendly. We splashed with no problem and with the help of some of the campers who came to inquire about what we had just put in the water, Big Duck was manhandled around to the face dock with ease so we could get things aboard - including the wife in her wheelchair and the dog! We spent the night, rafted at anchor just above the lock - MokeeDugway and Big Duck raft every night and for every meal. We locked down 16’ after a peaceful night. Big Duck would now get her first taste of salt water.

MokeeDugway locking up in front of us.

 It’s about 15 miles from the lock to the AICW, but our late start didn’t give us much daylight for too more many miles. We hooked out on the south end of Peck’s Lake before sundown, watching folks jumping off the “DANGER - Keep Off” platform near a beach. 

I guess the locals need some reading lessons - the sign says "Danger - Keep Off"

 Later, a catamaran anchored nearby and dinghyed their dog ashore to the little beach there – probably hiking the ¼ mile to the ocean on the other side of the spit. Our stay was very peaceful. We could hear the comforting sounds of the ocean surf climbing the beach across the spit during the night.

We did 6 mph for most of the next day, passing Jupiter Inlet, 

Jupiter Inlet from the AICW

then finding a nice anchorage in the upper end of Lake Worth. I’m always amazed at the convergence of all that magnificent floating real estate in the area,

Mega Yachts line up like cattle heading to the slaughter on Lake Worth

but quite frankly have no envy. I can’t imagine any other boat giving me more pleasure at this stage of life.

The boat yards on Lake Worth were packed with all kinds of boats – 

Merlin looking at the floating real estate at the yards on on Lake Worth

from huge yachts to rag tag sailboats. We’d been one of those sailboats on earlier adventures years ago when we first took to living aboard…always looking for a quiet anchorage, do it yourself yard and a meal from below the surface. Those were the days when adventure ruled and our 27’ sailboat was the ticket to absolute freedom for the 3 years we lived aboard, providing bliss 24/7 from RI to the Caribbean.

Things are different now over 45 years later. We still crave the adventure but only if we don’t have to sacrifice comforts. The sailboat had no refrigeration or even running water and the only power source was a small battery for starting the 10HP diesel – but more often than not we hand cranked the motor because the battery was dead. Today, Big Duck not only has a generator, air conditioning, full galley with double sink, 4 burner stove, oven and fridge, but also stand up hot water shower and even a freezer on her aft deck – not bad for a trailerable houseboat that we also use for a camper on the road.

So after a leisurely run from the top of Lake Worth we rafted with MokeeDugway for the night on Lake Boca. We’d spent 3+ months on Lake Boca on our first trip to the Keys with the sailboat. My Mom and her boyfriend lived a little farther down the ICW and we visited regularly while we were anchored there. We’d occasionally run the Boca Inlet and swim on the ocean side. Suzy even got a job at a local deli during our stay back then. Things there have changed soooo much since our first visit. There’s a new higher-level bridge, a park with boat ramp and the vacant lot where we used to get ashore is now a marina.

We headed south the next morning, hesitating for less than a minute for the traffic to clear during a bridge opening at the south end of the lake. The run, to Lauderdale, brought back so many exciting memories…of our first adventure across the stream to Bimini. We’d leave after dusk for the 50 some miles, intending to see the light at Gun Cay in the dark, and then making landfall after sunrise. 

 

Suzy on Thora II @ Honeymoon Harbor on our first trip across the stream.

It was all DR - there was no GPS then. On later crossings we were blessed with a Radio Direction Finder to home in on the Bimini “ZBB” radio beacon. I built the RDF from a Heathkit and personally knew every resistor and capacitor.

Heathkit RDF I built from a kit.

 We thought this radio direction finder was the cat’s pajamas until we used it on the Chesapeake where there are about a zillion transmitters and it was saner to just use DR.

After a casual run down the AICW from Boca we started to get tangled up in boat traffic near the Las Olas Bridge. There were no less than 6 police boats directing marine traffic with channel VHF 16 advising of traffic patterns in the area. One of the police traffic boats directed us away from the bridge opening toward the Las Olas mooring field. I was surprised that there were zero boats floating on the moorings there. About the time I navigated to a place away from the draw to get under the span, the mega yachts were doing a 90° after they cleared the bridge, gliding into the mooring field. It didn’t dawn on me that these huge yachts were backing into slips at Bahia Mar for the Lauderdale International Boat show until I had cleared the area and was able to look back on the mêlée.

We still had some daylight but I thought it best to drop the hook at one of my favorite spots on the AICW for the night. It’s a shoal patch just off the ICW at the entrance to the New River. Here I get to spend the night on my 40-year-old houseboat in the presence of multi million-dollar estates and yachts…in the safety of 2’ of water. 

We could have made our planned destination of Hurricane Harbor or No Name Harbor, both @ Key Biscayne but it would have meant a more hurried return. This way we could enjoy the ride back up instead of feeling rushed.

The night was uneventful. After breakfast the next morning we all headed back north. All of our previous adventures on the AICW were either in a sailboat, which required a bridge opening, or with the cuddy so low to the water we could clear them all. We hadn’t experienced the bridge clearance issue on the way down with Big Duck – any bridge with questionable clearance seemed to see us coming and opened for our passage. We did note that the clearance that the fender boards showed was minimum and at least one bridge explained that clearance in the center of the bridge was up to 4 feet more. It was these factors that led us to ‘test’ our ability to get under the closed bridges with our 10’ air draft on the way north.

I’m not a fan of communicating on the water. I enjoy the solace of me just being responsible for my fate. I’ll take what comes or goes and just hang around a bridge or lock until it opens. I don’t want to talk to you about where I’m going or about you slowing for a pass – I don’t care. Our old boat doesn’t get jostled by wakes – she just does a gentle up and down, and I’m hardly going to bother you when I pass with my wake at 6 mph.

On the flip side, I do have a couple VHF radios. A permanent mount below at the main nav station as well as a ‘plugged in’ handheld nearby. Even though the permanent mount is a modern scanning rig, it is just set on channel 16 or 13 or whatever we find more interesting... The hand held is set to communicate with anyone we boat with – usually on 69 – and talk there is held to a minimum. If I’m piloting from the flybridge I take the up hand held on 69 and can maybe hear 16 from the one below. There’s a lot of talk about blaming someone else for our fate on the water – running aground because of a missing marker, an inaccurate chart, some ahole running us out of the channel, too much wake for our liking, the weather, the current, the commercial traffic, new shoals in the channel, too many ignorant locals, uncooperative bridge tenders, the list goes on and on for the whiners. When I’m out on the water it’s my fate and I get to be totally responsible – it’s the only place I really have this joy in the silence.

We snaked under all the bridges on the way up until we got back to Lake Boca. I’d get on the flybridge and slowly approach the closed span. Some closed bridges required that I duck below the venturi windscreen or I’d bump my head with only inches to spare. The bridge at the south end of Lake Boca was the exception – I just couldn’t risk it but it’s so low that there’s always someone else waiting to get through. It opened in a matter of minutes.

This pic was from a previous adventure but the clearance on the ICW was similar on several closed bridges.

Click here for that previous adventure 

We decided that Mokee should drop an anchor relatively early at Lake Boca where we would stay for the night – there was no rush. But it seems as always that someone else always comes along and spoils the view.

Disgusting how 20 scantily clad girls can come along and spoil the view.

We enjoyed the sights, smells and sounds of the waterway the next day to Manatee Pocket where we rafted for our last night at anchor. I’d used the ramp there at the Sand Sprit Park on many previous occasions and knew the area was anchor friendly. We spent a very pleasant night there after being advised by a coastie that we needed an anchor light while were spending the night in 2.5’ of water 5 feet off the beach?

Make sure you turn on your anchor light here while spending the night!

 Bittersweet day… we ran the 18 or so miles to the St Lucie Lock. Took a ride of about 16’ up, then tied up at the campground in preparation for putting the boat on the trailer. Locking is always kind of a traumatic time for me – needing to do everything myself, but the lock tender there is a great fellow. We came in port to, as did our friend in front of us, and when he saw my stern closer to the lock wall than the bow, hustled back and threw me a stern line. After I got the stern tied off and ran forward, he accurately heaved the bow line to me…made me wonder why I was so anxious about locking?

Getting the boats on the trailers required about the normal effort, but I was jealous of the Elaine’s enthusiasm in making things easy for her skipper.

Elaine jockeying the boat to the center of the trailer while Doug hollers out the window. Merlin never misses a chance to get his paws wet.

 We parted ways with Doug and Elaine at the park. They had about 1,400 miles to get home while we decided to head west across Florida to do a surprise visit to Merlin’s twin brother Niko, in Cape Coral. We didn’t know if anyone would be home there, but decided to take the chance.

We texted Niko’s mom, Cyndi, when we were about a half hour away…she was home but in disbelief that we were in the area. By the time we arrived it was dark and coincidentally Cyndi’s husband Gary drove up from work as we approached the house. We had a very nice visit with the humans while the puppies enjoyed each other’s company. We were invited to spend the night after enjoying a home cooked meal and a ‘sundowner’ (or three).

Twin brothers - Merlin and Niko.

 The trip north the next morning was routine. We Wallydocked just off I10 for an easy 350 miles the next day. We had to leave Big Duck in front of the house when we got home because rain had left the lawn soft and slippery. It was three days later when we finally got Big Duck home in the boat port behind the house.

A fantastic trip with the only failure a winch strap that popped the threads on the hook while I was snugging her up at a gas station on the way home. And my failure to check the circuit that charges the trailer battery from the tow vehicle after rewiring the trailer. I had inadvertently blown the fuse during the rewire and the battery died en-route and refused to power the electric trailer winch on retrieval.

Big Duck went almost 200 miles at 6 -7 mph and averaged a little over 2 mpg. The van towed the boat for about 1,400 miles total - the van gets about 8mpg towing. I replaced the fuse and sewed up the strap - now we're ready to go again -- as soon as the yard isn't mud.