Most boaters pack cold beverages when they head to the water, but food is often an afterthought. Tom and Langley Shealy are here with a solution.

SunDogs of Lake Murray in Chapin, is a floating ice cream and literal hotdog stand dedicated to accommodating hungry boaters through the summer months on Lake Murray in South Carolina. The Shealy’s serve hot dogs, ice cream, “bawled” peanuts, Coke products and the occasional pizza.

The SunDogs boat is a 20-foot pontoon boat loaded with concession flags and an original street hot dog stand bolted to the bow for keeping hotdogs and chili warm as well as a freezer storage for the ice cream and beverages.

Powered by a ‘500 Dog Power’ engine, SunDogs crosses the Lake and serves the boaters on the islands of Goat, Bomb, Spence and Bundrick aka Sandy Beach. For those who may not know, Lake Murray, is located in the heart of SC just west of Columbia and is roughly 48,000 acres.

The Shealy’s, residents of Chapin on Lake Murray, took over the running of the Sun-Dogs boat in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. Like many of the residents of the Lake and surrounding areas, the pandemic forced many outdoors with their families. With local business shutdowns and the need for social distancing, the boating traffic on Lake Murray increased exponentially.

“I was ready for a bit of a hotdog break, so I asked my neighbors, Tom and Langley, if they’d like to keep it going”, said Steve Jones, owner of the hotdog boat. Steve has run a hotdog boat on Lake Murray for more than 10 years, as well as the Hotdog Express wagon in Hilton at the crossroads. “They said yes, created SunDogs of Lake Murray, and well, it’s a wonderful thing”.

The Shealys launched the SunDogs boat over the Memorial Day weekend in 2020.

“A literal trial by fire”, said Langley Shealy. “We had to get our lake legs and our food prep and service game on very quickly”.

“We sold out of hot dogs the first day.” said Tom Shealy, boat Captain. “The boats stacked up around us waiting to order. We are now in our 2nd season, so we’ve got it dialed-in now! With a concession look and feel and Hawaiian-surfer vibe, Sun-Dogs serves cold ice cream the kids of all ages enjoy and we’ve taken lots of kid photos for our FaceBook page, SunDogs of Lake Murray.”

“People get a kick out of seeing us, and we have a lot of fun doing it,” said Langley. “Last summer was our summer to learn. Now, SunDogs has really taken off and we have made lots of new friends and we appreciate our repeat customers that we affectionately call ‘repeat offenders’. The smiles on everyone’s faces make the work worthwhile.”