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alcoons

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Posts posted by alcoons

    2023 Walden Pond-area practice sessions and paddles

    in General Message Board

    Posted

    At the last BOD meeting I suggested reactivating the Upper Mystic Lake practice sessions in West Medford (Goggle and zoom in on Mystic Lakes State Park, 481 Mystic Valley Pkwy, Medford, MA 02155). The sessions were well attended. We usually used the Upper Lake, taking advantage of the small, accessible public boat ramp (keep zooming) and the small beach to its right. There is a large parking lot at the put-in and overflow parking at the entrance from Mystic Valley Parkway, a two-minute walk. There are no fees. Never seen it crowded on weekdays. The only negative is that various parts of the Mystic should not be used for swimming after heavy rain storms in which there is overflow. However, this is a fairly rare circumstance.

    image.jpeg

    image.jpeg

    Keel Strip Repair Suggestions?

    in Boat repair, outfitting

    Posted

    I have successfully removed my old KeelEazy strips and replaced them with a new ones as the FAQ suggested at the KeelEazy Site (https://www.keeleazy.com), "Simply apply a little heat with a hairdryer or heat gun and peel it off. Then clean the surface with Alcohol to remove any trace of the adhesive residue."

    I have also have followed Pintails suggestion to "make small V-shaped incisions in the new tape where the curvature is at its greatest so that you obviate the likelihood of that "lifting" effect."  I have done this multiple times on my old and new Cetus hulls. It is particular important due to their tight radius curves in the transition to the bow and stern. It does take some practice to make the correct cut.  Make sure that IF it ends up overlapping you put down the stern flap before the bow flap so there is less friction. #7 on the Installation Instructions (same URL) says, "Acute Angles and Corners: To go around a sharp corner, you may need to make a notch or scallop at the apex of the corner to go around the corner. If you make a flap, be sure the leading edge goes over the other so that it won’t catch when moving your boat."

    Below is my best none-overlapping notch after some use. Overlaps are hard to make smooth. Maybe there is an expert in the club that can provide better suggestions.

    150424333_NotchingKeelEazy.thumb.JPG.ecba13f92737147b2f4092c9337dd26c.JPG

    NSPN Kick-Off Paddle, June 3, Odiorne (Cancelled)

    in Past Trips

    Posted

    1 hour ago, Sue H. said:

    Hi Al,

    Yes you are registered !  The only way a person shows up as going under NSPN Calendar for this event is if they click on going.  The completed registration form and indicating you are going in the calendar posting, do not coordinate with each other.  The folks that indicated they were going have to go to the Trip/Events forum under the Message Board and follow the instructions within, otherwise they are not registered !  A bit confusing I know, the BOD will look at this conundrum and see if there is anything we can do to resolve the confusion.

    Best, Sue

    Thanks. Looking back at similar upcoming events which I am not signed up for helps me see the confusion.  On the top of the left-hand side above the horizontal "Going, Maybe, Declined" is "Going" enclosed in a large, blue box. Below that is "Maybe and Decline" in a white background. That suggested to me that I was enrolled. Perhaps that could be redesigned so there are three choices of equal value Going?, Maybe?, Decline? each indicated by the same blue font (already used for Maybe and Decline). 

    PS. While this trip's signup makes it more complicated since you have enroll through a form, something like my suggestion would make the event page more clear in general for now.

    Wacko tide today

    in General Message Board

    Posted

    Wish I could answer your question. Observation: when I walked at Castle Island yesterday I was thinking I was seeing the lowest tides I have ever observed. Particularly easy to judge by how far out I could see exposed rocks off the south east corner of the fort beyond the South Korean War Memorial. Guess I am not so crazy after all. 

    Anyone know if Clammers Beach is open to non-residents?

    in General Message Board

    Posted

    Hi Bob,

    I have not paddled there recently (injured) but they generally are around from early/mid July through early/mid August. I believe their appearance is related to the full moon in July and ends with the one in August. I tend to avoid Essex Bay during that period. Not sure about the relationship between Cranes and the rest of Essex Bay. I read the winds reduce the greenheads on any given day but not sure.

    I have friends that have a place at Conomo (where Clammer's Beach is located). I will try to find out the Greenhead situation from them and post here.

     

    Update on The Winthrop Town Landing Put-in

    in General Message Board

    Posted

    As parking has become problematic at the last lot before Deer Island, many of us have found the Winthrop Town Landing a great place to launch for the Harbor Islands, outer Boston Harbor, etc. The extra paddling is balanced by sufficient parking most times, bathrooms, and an easy put-in.

    There has been an inconsistent policy about the $5 fee for launching over the last few years. At first I was told the fee was for launching at the great new boat ramp, not for shore launches. Then some of the employees said it was collected for anyone launching either at the ramp or the shore launch immediately to its left. I spoke to the Harbor Master and his assistant over time and the answers varied.

    NOW

    Launching on the ramp now costs $10. However, there is a clear statement under Parking under the first link above: "Fees apply to use of the boat ramp and not parking."  I stopped in recently and the Assistant Harbor confirmed the policy.

    Notes

    • As you enter from the street go straight, staying to the left. There are some parking spots just before the ramp marked for car top boaters! However, you can park anywhere as long as the spots are not marked for other use (such as trailers, etc.).
    • Overall, I have found the staff there very nice, and the entire place is well run. It was just the inconsistent fee situation that was bothersome. 

    Selling/Buying Kayaks online

    in Classifieds for Individuals

    Posted

    FYI. Here is what I learned from trying to sell my original Cetus recently:

    • The quickest and largest response came from Craigslist. Had 5 interested buyers respond immediately, and sold it within a day.
    • Had one person immediately interested on NSPN classified but it was not the right boat for her.
    • Posted on 6 different kayak Meetup groups and received no response and just a few views. It is not obvious where the "For Sale/classified" area is for a Meetup Group and not all have one.  
      • Computer: MORE>Message Boards>For Sale...
      • Phone: I just tried to find it on my phone and could not.
    • I could not post on paddle.com since minimum sale price is $1,500

    Other suggestions for those selling boats or equipment?

    Editing Post with Pictures

    in General Message Board

    Posted

    24 minutes ago, rfolster said:

    If you click on the triple dots at the upper right of the initial posting, you should see an EDIT option.  Once in editing, you should see that all of your pictures appear in a separate box below the posting editor frame, separate from the pictures in your posting.  It might be easiest to delete your pictures from the posting, and reinsert them in the order you want them to appear.

    Thanks for the details but I tried that. It retained the display order I first used, which was the reverse order I entered them in. Not the end of the world. 

    ICELAND 2021 Hornstrandir Expedition

    in Trip Reports

    Posted

    Wow for the successes including dealing with what could have been real problems of the expedition. Wow for sharing the personalities and emotions in your report. I have seen from land a bit of the North coast. However, until now I had no sense of the beauty, variety, and challenges of where you paddled. Thanks for sharing.

    Skills Practice Session Sat. 7/17/21 8:30 am @ Riverhead Beach, Marblehead

    in Past Trips

    Posted

    Did find it. Thanks.

    FYI. I use Verizon mail, but it is handled first by AOL (which was bought by Verizon) and then passed onto my client. Last week's confirmation went through fine. This week's was caught by the AOL spam trap (default settings) with the message: "For your security we disabled all images and links in this email. If you believe it is safe to use, mark this message as not spam."

    Al

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