Brian Nystrom

Lisa, if the drysuit is one of the older Gore-Tex models from Stohlquist, Gore will replace it with a Gore-Tex suit of your choice from another manufacturer. I got a new Kokatat Gore-Tex suit to replace a Stolhquist suit that was delaminating. It only cost me the postage to ship the old suit to Gore.

Yeah, she contacted me 3 minutes ago to say she sold it this morning.

For the record, I have no financial stake in this transaction.

I found out about the following boat on Paddling.com and contacted the owner: https://newhaven.craigslist.org/spo/d/new-haven-11-foot-kayak/6971155492.html It's a '96, which means it's probably the new design hull and deck. Unfortunately, while the new design is more mainstream, they don't handle like the pre-'95 boats that I prefer (this is definitely a personal preference and not a knock on the new design). It's dirty, faded and has some gelcoat damage on the keel (I have additional pics of this), but it appears to be easily repairable. The price is a steal and I'd consider buying it to restore and sell (it pains me to see it languishing and it would be a fun project), but I can't justify the 3-hour drive each way from NH. Perhaps someone here would be willing to give it some TLC and a good home. ?

I'll be really interested in hearing your impressions. My biggest concern is that the system seems too rigid to be comfortable for paddling.

That system looks pretty slick and I'll be interested in your impressions once you've used it.

Unscented talc works really well and you don't have to deal with gooey lube in your hair.

Thanks Christopher, I knew I could count on you for support! ?

I typically purchase glue from the same source as the seals (www.ossystems.com/maintenance-repair/drysuit-seals/), but Aquaseal or Goop should work. I wouldn't use contact cement for this particular application. I just looked on their site and the DLS-2 wrist seals aren't in the price list. If you click on the little "Add" button in the listing, they'll be added to your cart at $33/pair. You may want to call them, just to make sure that they're in stock. They list neoprene wrist seals, but I didn't see any pics of them.

Here's a post I made on Paddling.com several years ago, that contains more details about the gloves. I apparently had the orange and blue gloves confused in my post from yesterday. I use the orange gloves (double-dipped) for greater dexterity. I must be getting old...?

I haven't looked into commercial dry gloves in quite a while, but there used to be a pretty substantial price difference, as the Atlas gloves are dirt cheap. Nobody was using the orange gloves the last time that I looked. If you have a dry suit, you'll probably need the seal cement at some point to replace worn out wrist or neck seals. Unfortunately, I don't seem to have any pics of the gloves I made.

I just use commercially available latex wrist seals, the same as I use on my dry suit. They're glued on in the same manner. When sourcing Atlas gloves, you may find them with attached liners. They're easy to remove and replace. As I mentioned, I like to use wool liners and I typically carry a spare pair two switch to when the first pair gets damp.

I prefer dry gloves with wool liners. You can either buy commercial dry gloves (typically based on Atlas shells) or add your own seals and liners to Atlas shell gloves (which is what I do now). The blue (double-dipped) Atlas gloves seem to be the most popular, but I prefer the orange (triple-dipped) gloves for increased durability. You can buy Atlas gloves dirt cheap online or through local marine suppliers.

We just bought 14 SeaLect hatch covers from TopKayaker.com to get our boats ready for the 2019 season. BTW, if anyone is looking for a classic Pintail, Michael Brokenshire is selling one...with new SeaLect hatch covers.

For washing and drying during the winter, I installed a towel bar on the ceiling of the shower in the bathroom. I can easily hang a couple of dry suits, PFDs and misc gear for rinsing. The gear can hang overnight to dry, then be moved to the gear closet in the basement. Installing the towel bar is a simple job, just make sure you use expanding anchors to handle the weight.

Be careful. Spin cycles can be a problem with waterproof garments, especially dry suits with booties, since water can pool in them and have no outlet. I've never used a washer with a dry suit; I've always just hung it in the shower and rinsed it off (or just worn into in the shower). If the inside needs rinsing, I just turn it inside-out. I even installed a towel bar on the ceiling in the shower specifically to make it easy to hang kayak gear for rinsing.

Apparently, it's not uncommon for seals to drag larger prey to the surface and thrash away at it to tear off chunks and/or kill it. The speculation is that this is what the seal was doing and the kayaker just happened to be in the wrong place a the wrong time. Then again, perhaps the seal was just in a pissy mood and threw his food at the kayaker.

Wax? What's that?

Even Boreal seems to be confused about what they've created, as the specs say that it's a soft-chine boat with a rudder. Regardless, the keyhole cockpit ruins it as far as I'm concerned.

That's always the way, every boat is a learning experience.

I suspect that it will be considerably more difficult to do that in real conditions. What I'd really like to see in these videos is for them to do the instructional part on flat water, then show how it works in wind and waves. That will make it abundantly clear whether a technique is actually a valuable rescue skill or merely another pool trick. I'm not insinuating that there's anything wrong with the method depicted in the video, just making a general point about rescue videos.

A brave woman doing amazing work, especially considering she was holding her paddle upside-down and backwards.

Your last sentence is the crux of the issue. Paddlers have to practice this with the people they paddle with and do so consistently. One of the things that made the NSPN training programs so effective is that they were taught by people you paddled with and you practiced with others you were likely to paddle with. In the few cases where I've needed the rescue skills I learned, everyone knew their role and the correct techniques, so very little communication was necessary between the rescuer and swimmer. When we found ourselves in situation we hadn't practiced, we were able to adapt and improvise solutions based on what we knew, cooperating with similarly-trained team members. Pick your paddling partners carefully!

I don't see where this differs significantly from what we were teaching 15 years ago. It's all about both parties knowing what to do, then being smooth and efficient about it. It's also quite a bit more challenging when you get into conditions where you're actually likely to need to perform a rescue, but the same principles apply.

It's not a question of toughness, it's the fact that it stretches which is the problem. The force of water over the deck easily overpowers bungee cord and the items underneath come loose. The other issue you'll encounter is that even good quality bungee cord deteriorate relatively quickly and has to be re-tensioned, until it gets to the point where you're forced to replace it. Even on my fiberglass boats, I've converted to hard lines with sliders to tension them, since they hold items securely under almost any conditions. I do have one strand of bungee running across the foredeck to use to temporarily hold items (gloves, hood, etc.) when I don't need them. However, I understand that the are not secure, so I don't leave them there for long and don't use the bungee at all if conditions are rough. Running cords and sliders is easy, though you will have spend a little time to make your own sliders. I imagine you've got plenty of short scrap from your keelson and stringers that would be suitable. It's just a matter of cutting them to length, drilling a couple of holes and rounding the edges. The only critical dimension is the difference in distance between the holes on your sliders and the mounting points for your cords. The greater the difference, the greater the tightening effect when you push the sliders toward the gunwales. I don't recall the dimensions I used, but I can always measure them for you when you're ready.