Fall Shakedown 2015

We'd been the 2000 miles and back from SC to Lake Powell in the Spring with our 40 year old houseboat. Click to read about that trip. As always, things surface that you want to do before you take her out again. The main concern was a tire that had irregular wear - inspection revealed that the driver's side of the rear axle on the trailer slid back due to a broken weld. We couldn't go out again until that was taken care of. We also had a fuses blowing for the running lights on the trailer on the way home. This wasn't a big problem because the turn/stop lamps were still functioning and we seldom run at night, but it too needed to be addressed.

I removed most of the stuff on the boat that could potentially go missing when I took it to the trailer shop to have the axle repaired. These guys do great work, but sometimes it takes them a while and the boat could sit in the yard for several weeks. I'd taken another houseboat there for trailer work and it was a couple months before I got it back - but like I say, their work is top notch.... They build custom trailers from scratch

New axles, tires and fenders on a ComboCruiser

I got my trailer back from the trailer shop two weeks as quoted. Maybe they were getting a handle on the schedule thing?

The next project would be a total rewire of the lights rather than trying to find 'where the wires were too long' for the running lights -- "gotta shortn' them". This is not an easy task when the boat is still on the trailer. I ordered the new wire from these guys.

Between the humid 90+° temps and rain, I was not inspired to crawl around in the dirt/mud under the trailer until things moderated, which ended up being September. I took every trailer light off the trailer, all seven of them, to verify their integrity, then rewired them using the tinned, marine grade wire that I had ordered. Some folks like to use heat shrink sealant filled wire connectors, but I like to use wire nuts which I fill with 5200, silicone or caulk whichever is handy.

In this case I used latex caulk.

 Just about the time I had the wiring under control I noticed something else that needed attention...the coupler had hairline cracks on both sides just behind the hinge pin.

The hole was there from the very beginning.

I ordered a new 14,000 lb coupler - who knows what was on there originally, then made arrangements with a local welder to grind off the old coupler and weld on the new one. The welder had done other work for me but had since quit dealing with the public because he had contracts with several local businesses. He said he would do the work when he had some free time, but was away from the shop quite a bit. I pass his shop several times a week so I figured I'd just keep an eye out and when the new coupler came in I'd stop in and see when was a good good time for the welding. I had planned to go to the lake on Thursday, but the welding would come first.

The welder was offsite on Wednesday so I was hoping Thursday would work and hooked the boat up to the van in preparation. I'd run the car by the welder the next morning and if he was there I could be back with the boat in about 20 minutes. Then Wednesday night I decided to go to the lake on Thursday anyway.

I was on pins and needles the next morning waiting for my wife Suzy to be ready to leave, staying close and encouraging her without being a nuisance. Finally we hit the road for the 70 mile run to the marina at a little before 11 - not too much later than I had hoped to get underway.

We were about 2 miles from the house when I looked at the TPMS monitor to check on the trailer tire pressures. Damn, I'd forgotten to reinstall the sensors on the trailer tires, wanting the sensors to be off when I had the coupler worked on. Then it dawned on me that I had also left the boat GPS in my shop, as well as my Coast Guard distress kit. I wasn't about to turn around now that we were finally on our way. We made it to the ramp pretty much without incident - of the 70 miles to the ramp, only the first 4 and last two are non-interstate. I did notice an intermittent slight imbalance of the front wheels on the way, but I had also experienced this last Spring on the way back from Powell, owing it to improperly balanced brand new Walmart tires. I'd already planned on having the tires re-balanced.

I have to admit that it's quite a chore to get Big Duck off the trailer into the water. The boat is 28' long @ over 10,000 lbs and I need to do the entire operation myself because my wife is disabled and can't help. It takes about 20 minutes to get the boat water ready; the first thing I do is start the generator and boat air conditioner so I can pace myself in the heat. When the boat is water ready I back her down until she's deep enough that I can start the motor. I then open the back of the van, climb out onto the trailer tongue  and undo the bow strap. Then I climb up onto the bow and aboard. After blowing the bilge I start the motor then it's back down off the bow and through the van out the drivers door and onto the dock.

Now, from the dock, I use the boat hook to grab the bow and stern lines that have been prepared for picking up, and tie these lines to the dock with much slack between the boat and dock. Get back in the van...back down several feet...lock 'em up...and float the boat off the trailer. Then pull forward, get out of the van, pull the boat to the dock with the dock lines and secure it. Now it's time to walk back to the lot, get my wife and either wheel her to the boat in her wheelchair or if it's close enough, use the rollator (walker) to get down the dock to the boat. By now the a/c on the boat has cooled things down and she will be in comfort while I park the van/trailer. All these things went smoothly because I took extra time so as not to tax these old bones.

Now I throw the dock lines aboard and jump on the bow, then step through the front door and down to the helm. As I put her in reverse and back out into deep water I realize that the GPS that I had left at home is also the chart plotter and depth sounder - so I pull out the cell phone and fire up the Navionics app to use as a plotter and track chart depths.

The weather was ideal and the lake was a pussy cat. We wandered around for close to an hour at 6 - 8 mph. Then I decided to slide the throttle forward -- a little at a time. She was responsive up to about 3,600 rpm. When I bumped her a little more at 3,600 she hesitated for a tiny fraction of a second then would give me a hundred or so more rpm. I had the same results a couple more times until she was just shy of four grand. I bumped her again to find she was wide open - we were doing about 14 mph...she was trying to get on plane but couldn't quite make it.

Fourteen mph isn't a disappointment. We seldom run more than 8 mph and my best handling and mpg at that speed is with an elephant ear prop (15 1/2" diameter). I have the same pitch at 14 3/4" diameter with smaller blades that would likely give me the rpm (4,600) and speed I need to get on plane (18 mph) but I like the handling and economy of the elephant ear prop.

Then I dropped the trolling motor and played with it for a while. I'm thinking with the Honda generator running - feeding up to 130 amps to charge the trolling motor battery via the inverter/charger, I could run the trolling motor all day. The remote controlled trolling motor will move Big Duck at 1 to 1 1/2 mph and the control is awesome...it's like a bow thruster.

Getting the boat back on the trailer was routine - well kind of. I took the remote trolling motor FOB with me when I jumped ashore and was amazed that I could actually drive the boat via the trolling motor without being aboard...but then the trolling motor won't clear the trailer frame after the boat is aligned between the trailer guides...I couldn't have gotten the boat up to the bow stop anyway, so I climbed back aboard and power loaded her during which time I tore the winch hook off the strap because the stitching broke. The strap had been taken to a shoe repair shop and stitched to the tune of $20. Next time I'll do it myself!

I was tidying things up in the lot when I noticed that the cracks in the coupler were wider than before. It turned out that the load equalizer bars on the hitch opened them up when they were in use. It was time to get the coupler replaced.

I saw the weldor at his shop as I was driving by the next day and made arrangements to drop off the boat and new coupler. I'd previously had this fellow weld me a cube of aluminum angle angle to mount an air conditioner in my cuddy cabin boat and his work was nothing short of perfect.
Aluminum a/c frame
He gave me his card I could call him prior to bringing the boat over. I immediately noticed the name of the place had changed from Colonial Welding to Colonialgallery. On a subsequent routine drive by I noticed he was in the shop and stopped to make arrangements to bring the boat in, which I did -- with the new coupler.

I stopped by the welder later in the day on another run past his place and noticed the old coupler had been torched off.  I stopped to check things out and learned the new coupler didn't fit. "A" frame couplers today are made for a 50° angle - the 40 year old trailer needs 30°.

30° couplers are no longer available.

I stopped by the trailer shop again to see if they knew of anything that might work. They suggested adjustable coupler, so I bought the parts and took them to the weldor. He had them welded on in less than an hour.

It looks a little nicer with paint.

Alas, when I went to hook up the equalizer bars I found that this new set up was longer so now the equalizer bars were too short. Most trailers have bolt on equalizer brackets that can be moved. Big Duck's trailer has the brackets welded on and I didn't want to have any more welding done so I made the bars longer.

So a little more about the Colonialgallery...
It turns out this guy, Russell Blackwell is really a metal artist.

If you go to the link you can see some of his work. Here's a few pieces I liked.

There's over 4,000 feathers in the Osprey

Even the basket is woven metal.

Anyway, we weren't ready for the road yet. Balancing the tires was still on the plate, and maybe a front end alignment because I noticed the steering wheel needed to be a little to port while going straight. But during the miles I drove the van while deciding where to take it, the drivers front brake started dragging. Then it dawned on me that the symptoms I was experiencing -- bouncing front wheel(s) and pulling, were the same thing that happened when my my ABS module was failing. After pulling the ABS fuse the problem went away. So, now we're ready for a well earned trip Florida...if I can get the boat out of the back yard through the mud from 3 days of rain.

 

St. Johns, Disney, Tampa

2/6 – 13/99

I don’t usually spend time in motels while I’m boating, but I’ve often thought staying ashore at night every now and then while on a boating adventure might not be a bad idea. I had the opportunity to try this combination of nights aboard and nights ashore on a recent trip from my home in Spartanburg, SC to Florida. We’d leave Saturday morning, heading for a ramp in north Central Florida; spending a couple nights aboard before heading to a Disney Resort for a couple days. From Disney/Orlando, we’d head west to put the boat in again near Tampa and hopefully see some of Sarasota before heading back to Disney to meet up with our daughter to share a couple days of Winter Break with her and Mickey.

We left home towing the 15’11” cuddy, planning to put in somewhere between Jacksonville and Lake George on the St Johns River. The sun sets early in Feb so we started getting serious about locating a ramp at about 2pm. It wasn’t long before we came on the Green Cove Springs ramp and were in the water well before sunset.

We scooted down the St Johns for only a couple miles before we snugged up to the wooded eastern bank in about 5 feet of water. After spending nights in Charleston amidst the voracious no-see-ums, I had sewn together a net, which protects the entire cockpit from blood hungry bugs. I panicked when I realized that I had left that net back home in the garage. Our options were to liberally apply anti-bug lotion, or get below at the first sign of bugs. Favoring the ‘get below’ option, we kept a sharp eye out for bugs, but they never did make an appearance before we turned in at 8:30.

Eight-Thirty may seem a little early to turn in, but ya’ gotta remember, it gets dark about 7 and swinging on the hook in the dark on a 15+ foot boat offers relatively few post daylight options. I was ready for the sack before 8, but between us we decided to stick it out until 8:30.

Watching the sun come up over a hot cup of coffee while aboard, is for me, one of life’s greatest pleasures (and turning in at 8:30pm makes getting up at 5:30am quite palatable). We had our second cup of coffee and ‘cup of granola’ after we got under way. The boat will do almost 30mph, but we favor speeds just below and just above planing. This translates to about 8mph pre-planing and 16-18 mph post planing. We began heading south at 8mph just as the sun lost contact with the horizon. The temp was in the low 50’s; the sky was clear and the winds just evident enough to produce cats paws. It was a perfect morning.

The St Johns narrows gradually on the way up stream to Lake George. I hadn’t been too impressed with the river between the ICW and Jacksonville on a previous trip, but this section proved to be our kind of country. We like snaking along, being able to take in the birds and fauna on the banks. We eventually made our way to Lake George, then on to Silver Glen Springs.

On the approach into Silver Glen Springs you’ll notice the water becoming clearer and clearer. The spring feeds crystal clear water into Lake George…the clear view of the bottom reminded me of Bahamian waters. Up inside the approach we ran into a fleet of ’flats’ boats; the kind propelled by airplane propellers attached to big V8 engines. Farther inside it grew so congested that navigating was near impossible. At the spring itself, there are a series of buoys that describe a one way loop between the outside of a small anchorage and the shore. The anchorage was packed to the point that you could walk from one boat to another the whole way across. In addition, there were boats tied to the shore with anchors into the channel to keep them from swinging into each other. These boats varied from rental houseboats to runabouts to cruisers to cigarette boats – many running their loud motors or generators. This was not our kind of place and after a single trip around the one way loop (often having to raise our outboard to keep from fouling anchor lines) we high tailed it back to the middle of Lake George and dropped the hook for lunch.

After a leisurely lunch we headed back north, but as we were exiting Lake George, we decided to explore the creek that takes one up to Salt Pond. It was a little tricky finding our way in and the water was very shallow at places, less than 18 inches, but the solitude and birds inside were well worth the effort. We tied QT to a tree for about an hour, to do some bird watching, then made our way back to the St Johns.

We came across a secluded quiet cove off Drayton Island while taking a shortcut out of Lake George into the St Johns River and decided to hook out for an afternoon nap. We then continued back north until we ran out of daylight.

It was after dark when we dropped the hook in a shallow area just west of Whetstone Point. The lights came on in a house on the bank, and we could see a couple peering our way from the porch, but I guess they decided our 16’ boat was neither threatening nor imposing. As usual it was coffee at sunup and we were on our way north again. All too soon we were approaching the ramp at Green Cove Springs. We decided to spend some time checking out the boats at the sprawling piers at the Green Cove Marina before putting QT back on her trailer. I wonder what all those massive piers were built for?

We spent the next couple days with Mickey…m.o.u.s.e. Disney World is always a pleasure, especially if you spend your nights within the Disney facilities. Staying in Disney accommodations allows one to experience the superb Disney service, leave the car parked for the duration while using Disney transportation and being allowed to enter the parks an hour before the regular Disney crowds.

After Disney we headed west, to the Clearwater area. I figured we’d just start looking for a ramp when we arrived at the Gulf. We took the Gandy Bridge out of Tampa and turned north after crossing the ICW. I stopped at a municipal building to inquire about a ramp and learned that if I backtracked, I’d find a ramp less than a mile down the road, just south of the bridge. It was a very nice ramp with restrooms and easy parking. We were on the water, heading north, in about 10 minutes.

Not having a schedule or even a plan for that matter, we leisurely made our way north. The weather complimented the comfortable waterway so we kept moving mostly at sub planing speeds until dusk. We snuggled up to the southern shore of a spoil island about MM 137 to watch the sun set. I noticed that there seemed to be a distinct boundary of sea grass as we made our way into about 4 feet of water. We dropped the hook off the bow onto a clean sandy bottom, walked ashore for a spell, then settled in aboard for the night. About 2am the boat suddenly listed to port, waking us out of a sound sleep. I arouse to find us high and dry, now planted firmly in the sand that was left exposed by the exiting tide. We tilted the motor up allowing the boat to regain a level attitude and turned in again. The next morning as we sipped coffee, watching the sun come up, I commented on how hospitable the area was…you don’t have to go to the beach, it will come to you.

After the sun broke the horizon, we meandered north, with the traditional cup of breakfast granola with cold Pop Tart chasers. When we ran out of markers at MM 150 we followed a local fisherman out into the Gulf. It was gorgeous out there – we decided to head south outside, staying within eyeball distance of the beach to keep an eye on the happenings there. We nosed in closer at Clearwater Pass, but decided it was too nice outside to head in. It wasn’t until we approached Pass-A-Grill Channel that we decided we needed to decide whether to head in or keep going south. We opted for a compromise…we’d run the pass, head back to the ramp, load up the boat and splash again south of Tampa Bay.

We took the Sunshine Skyway Bridge across Tampa Bay. What an interesting piece of architecture. We decided Sarasota would be a likely place to put in, settling on the ramp at Lido Key. The Southwest Florida Boating Guide (our only chart) touted the anchorage at Sarasota, but after a slow cruise through the rather busy anchorage we decided we could make a few more miles south and still be settled in time to watch the sunset. We hooked out near a spoil bank in Roberts Bay for a very peaceful night.

The next morning it was coffee at sunup, then south. The trip down the waterway was as pleasant as could be. At one point we passed a fisherman on the bank, complete with chair, umbrella, cooler etc, holding a pole with the line leading out into the water. It was a postcard picture, especially since sitting right next to him looking as content as the fisherman himself was a great blue heron. Those two sure made that beach look enticing.

When Venice Inlet was to port, we swung west. We just had to see what the Gulf looked like…just a peek. The sun was shining out there, there were ever so gentle swells, and the temperature was perfect. We decided to stay in the Gulf for our trip back north.

I put a waypoint in the GPS in 30 feet of water off Mira Mar Beach. A goto at 18 mph showed we had plenty of time to get there, so we slowed off the plane for a spell, even dropping the hook for a 45 minute nap as we cleared Blind Pass.

We liked New Pass better than Sarasota Pass, then noticed that the ‘chart’ also suggested New Pass. The way in was well marked and easygoing. We scouted out the marinas and moored boats as we made our way back to the ramp. It’s always a little sad putting QT back on her trailer for the trip home, especially after such a perfect cruise, but we’d be heading back to Disney World before heading home, to spend a couple days with our daughter on her Winter Break.

Car miles = 1,934

Engine hours = 23.2

Boat miles = 278

Boat fuel = 37.1