Lake Hartwell - June 2016

Trey, Sara Jane, Mel, Packy and Macy at the ramp

We were supposed to take Big Duck to the lake and meet my daughter Sara Jane, son-in-law Trey, grand-kids Packy (6), Melanie (3) and their Pomeranian (Macy) at the ramp for 3 days/2 nights aboard.  My wife Suzy had cancelled the outing several days before we were supposed to leave because her MS had taken a huge toll on her memory and mobility. The cancellation was kind of a relief for me because getting the boat ready and pulling everything together just hadn't happened - I had been spending an unexpected amount of time tending to Suzy.

When Trey got wind of the cancellation he called me and let me know that the outing WOULD take place. They would all come to our house, get everything ready – including shopping for food, then we’d caravan to the ramp.

Things worked as planned. After the 70-mile tow, we splashed, then headed out from the Portman Marina ramp on Big Duck. We found a nice island beach after a leisurely cruise and snugged the bow deep into the sand. The weather was exceptional – the dogs and kids swam and played on the beach. Sara Jane kept an eye on the kids while Trey took care of everything else including cooking, dishes, filling the generator and generally keeping order above and below. After dinner the kids watched Netflix via a Firestick and Trey’s hotspot. We stayed beached overnight.

After a swim the next morning we headed down the lake. The kids and Merlin took turns looking out the open front door. The wind was making white caps, which resulted in hysteric laughter when the kids would get a snoot full of spray. After the ride, we anchored in a protected cove with our stern to the beach, then tied the stern to a tree. This allowed us to put the stern in shallow enough water that we could let the steps down and walk 10’ to shore in ankle deep water. We experienced a perfect night there, which included wine and star gazing.

Thanks to Sara Jane watching the kids and Trey providing the muscle, loading Big Duck on the trailer the next afternoon was routine, as was the trip back home.


So basically I was just a spectator for the whole outing, but I'll shut up now and let some pictures do the talking. 

Packy throws the ball for Merlin

Merlin beats Melanie to the ball

A meal aboard

It's too early to get up

Family bed with vertical dog Macy

Bacon, eggs, pancakes, donuts and maybe a Poptart?

The steps allowed everyone to get aboard with ease

Team effort - they each took an oar.

Ice cream from the freezer

Someone forgot their swimsuit?

Merlin, heading ashore to go potty

I'll be back when I'm finished.

So sad to think we're almost back to the ramp.

Who/What Is In Charge?

There was a discussion on a board about battery chargers. I suggested that my high tech multi stage charger wouldn’t charge a battery in my car after I’d left the key on overnight. I said in order for my Smart Charger to start charging, I had to connect my 30 year old ‘dumb’ charger to the battery to trick the smart one into recognizing there was a battery connected to it. Here’s part of what I got back:

~~~your smart charger is less likely to try and charge a battery that should not be charged~~~

And my observation:

There are so many people and laws and signs telling me what and what not to do that I simply will not tolerate my “Smart” charger telling me that my battery should not be charged.

Wow, a 7 stage charger. Is the alternator on my car that smart - how does my car battery survive without all that technology? Then again - if you want to spend $300 or more on a high-end battery I guess it follows that a high tech charger is in order.

I hope you can tell I'm being sarcastic. There are techies in every discipline and I'm glad we have them...and I love giving them a rough time. At 70+ maybe I'm just not able to keep up with the new technology - hell, I'm still using a single blade razor. So, if your bag is high tech - by all means go for it...and maybe we can have a little chuckle.

I guess I post here to let the folks who don't have big bucks, know that you really don't need to go high tech to enjoy the water. When I bought my trawler many years back, everyone told me that I shouldn't go out on the water without the very latest equipment. How the heck was I going to manage on my budget? So I sold the trawler and quit listening to the folks who told me I had to have the latest stuff.

 My current boat is over 40 years old, it uses <$100 WalMart batteries and the gasoline motor has a carburetor. It's nothing to brag about - doesn't shine, isn't fast, has an old fashion gravity head and I have to store it under cover to keep the neighbors from complaining about the eyesore...but it makes me very happy. And for those of you out there without big bucks – low tech is an option to consider if you can tune out the well-meaning techies.

Boating - My Rules Don't Include Yours

Life is full of people, signs and laws, telling me what and what not to do. But I do find solace in being on the water.  On the water I can temporarily participate in a kind of anarchy. You may bring rules and conditions with you when you’re on your boat, but I don’t, and I don’t recognize your baggage. The really refreshing thing about this is that I get to be totally responsible for who I am and what I do – it’s never anyone else’s fault that I’m confused, angry, frustrated or not happy. I just make my own adjustments so there’s never a problem.

You can pass me to port or starboard or on whatever whistle you like, but don’t expect me to bless your decision on the VHF. I don’t care what speed you pass or how much wake you make  because I have made my boat wakeproof. I am courteous and tolerant so pretty much anything you do is OK by me unless you expect me to comply with your expectations or obey your rules – remember, on the water I don’t recognize any obligations, yours or anyone else’s. I’m out there to do my own thing on my own time. I run aground on my own without blaming inaccurate charts – I can find happiness waiting for a bridge to open no matter how long it takes without voicing my intentions on the radio – I gladly pay whatever price is asked for fuel when I need some – if I don’t like your marina, I don’t complain, I just don’t go back – if you want to be an ahole about passing, I let you – If I don't like what's going on around me I go someplace else - if the ICW traffic is uncomfortable, I go offshore - if you anchor too close I’ll move or we can raft.

I can get away with my unorthodox boating bliss now, but I know eventually the water will go the way of the land. “Important” boaters ultimately require strict laws, rules and conditions to make their lives totally predictable whether on land or on the water, and if things don’t go their way, they’ll need grounds to blame someone else. I know the day will come, but until then I’ll continue to just be responsible for my own joy/fate while I’m out on the water and let the VHF hails, horns, whining, gestures and complaints go unnoticed.

Slippery Ramp?

This stuff works great in my back yard when the ground is soggy from rain and the grass/mud gets very slippery. I'm guessing it would work as well at the ramp (although I've never had problems with wheel-spin at any ramp)? I cut the 27 side in half and put a ~14" runner under each rear tire. This even works when I use the front hitch (which significantly inhibits rear traction due to about 1,000 lbs tongue weight in front of the engine) to push the rig slightly uphill.

Home Depot

They come up pretty clean and after one rain they look like this - ready to become a trellis?

This slippery 5hit used to frustrate me no end

Only The Best for Me

When I was building a garage for my $7,000 house in Oregon, I had a friend help me. 

Click f/ Oregon House 

We both went to the lumber yard and I was being very concerned about the quality of the stuff that was going to be used for my garage.

He asked, "Do you want to use 50 year wood for a project that is likely to last less than 10 years?"

We settled on only what was necessary to get the structure up - mostly the cheapest materials. I realized that there was no rationale in using the best/most expensive components for a $7,000 investment?"

We moved 2 months later, rented it for 3 months, sold the whole shebang 6 months later, and entire lot was leveled in less than a year by the next-door utility company.

I know we anyways want the best - but how often is it really necessary (especially for this 70 year old)?

The Checkout Line

Ever wait in the checkout line with 3 or 4 other folks, staring endlessly at the gum and magazines?

Finally it's the woman's turn in front of you. She waits until the checkout person says, "Your total is $XX.XX". Then the purse comes off the shoulder and is placed on the counter. The purse is unsnapped or unzipped and her fingers walk through the compartments until she finds her wallet. She fiddles with the wallet until she finds an envelope and pulls out some bills to count. The unneeded bills go back into the envelope which then goes back into the wallet. Then the wallet is turned over and the change purse is unsnapped. She rustles around in the change purse for a spell picking out coins, then opens the purse wide and sticks her hand in to dig around in the bottom. Finally after the woman has (overly) conquered the amount needed, she is presented with change and a receipt. The wallet is opened again to retrieve the envelope for the bills which are placed carefully in it, then the envelope finds it's home in the proper compartment of the purse. The change in coins waits for the coin section to be found and unsnapped and they are then deposited. The wallet is then put back in the purse. Now for the receipt, which of course must go in an envelope which must be retrieved from a different section of the purse. The purse is then purposefully zipped or snapped and finally it goes back over the shoulder.

Why are these women so seemingly surprised when they're expected to pay?

Now mind you, this is an observation, not a complaint. I'm retired and absolutely refuse to be in a hurry ... these women just tickle me.

Boat Battery Dispenser

I previously made a battery dispenser for the house (you can buy a commercial holder, but I wanted a dispenser). This first model was a trial and error wood design and had to be mounted a couple inches from the wall.

I used  #4 machine screws and ballpoint pen springs as 'plungers'.

It works well, but I wanted a flush mount for the boat and if I could make it lighter and moisture-proof that would be nice too, so I bought some Expanded PVC sheets - 1/8" and 1/2" to experiment with.

I love this stuff - it's a great boat material - easy to cut and shape. It's waterproof and unlike Starboard it can be easily glued to not only itself, but to wood. I did some tests and was impressed with, Gorilla Glue, All Purpose Cement (Oatey 30821) and epoxy. Silicone worked, but as to be expected, I wasn't impressed with the holding.

The 5200 takes so long to cure I gave up on it.

So onward and upward with the Expanded PVC. The first challenge was how to flush mount the unit and still get the batteries out. I came up with a 'puller', made from a brazing rod. This required a hole for the rod, a slot to allow it to be pulled out and a recess in the backing plate to keep the 'puller' out of the way unless it was being used.

This was a test model to see how things might go and what sizes would work.

I liked the 'puller' despite not having a firm solution as to the vulnerability of the exposed ends of the pull rods.


With the wood version, I cut relief slots in the backing plate to slide the dividers into for gluing. I also made spacers to keep the dividers vertical while the epoxy set up. This time I would use the spacers with All Purpose Cement and stick the dividers directly to the surface of the Expanded PVC back plate.

The wood spacers were cut away at the lower edges to keep oozing glue from sticking to the spacers.

I glued  four vertical guides to the backing plate so it would be easy to position the divider group on the plate after glue was applied to the 1/8" divider edges using a syringe.

I was happy with the results the next day after the glue has set up.

I mechanically fastened the 'puller' base and the sides (w/ stainless sheet metal screws) so if things didn't work out I wouldn't have to un-glue anything, but so far except for the slightly larger areas between the dividers, everything is working better than expected.

The little handle at the top of the unit allows the plexiglass front to be raised to 'refill' the dispenser.

On the wood version, I shimmed out from the base so each column of batteries would be close to the plexiglass. On this version I'll see if that is necessary before going to the trouble.

And unlike the home version where any battery can always be dispensed, the marine version will have a lower plexiglass position that will keep the batteries captive while the trailered boat is being jostled on the road or in enthusiastic sea conditions.

I still haven't decided what to do with the exposed rods...maybe a small knob on each or I could bend them down 90°? We'll see.

~Addendum~ 

Over 20" of "D" cells falling after one is removed is quite a strain on the dispenser. Also, I realized that on the boat I don't have the luxury of a lot of room to slide the plexiglass up to refill the dispenser. Even after cutting the boat unit down to about 11" I still didn't have room anywhere on the boat to slide up the plexiglass to reload the dispenser. 

I bent the pull rods down 90° to see if I could slide the plexiglass down past them, but there wasn't quite enough clearance. I though about relieving the base so I could make new rods and bend them sooner for clearance. This would mean a complete rework of the base and new pull rods so I got to thinking about something kinder if a battery was needed on a rocking boat. Maybe pull tabs of some kind? 

I found an old USPS Tyvek envelope and cut it into strips the width of each battery column, then glued them to the backing plate about half way up letting them hang out the bottom by about an inch. This worked well enough that it was worth mounting on the boat.

My 40 year old houseboat get's a couple mordern touches.

The double stop sliding plexi front is held in place by the removable stop about 1/2 way up on the right side. And now I can be comfortable knowing even though I don't keep batteries in my non-pyro emergency device, that I have them visible and conveniently on hand.