Brian Nystrom

When did they start charging for access to Walden Pond?

Neocorp's retail site is now called "Quality Nylon Rope": http://www.qualitynylonrope.com/ That's somewhat ironic, since what you want for deck lines is their 3/16" polyester "Sport Cord".

In a similar vein to Dan's comments, I've found that a good monocular like the Brunton 6x30 is the best way to go for kayaking. It's small enough to be carried easily, can be used with one hand (it's fixed-focus) and has enough magnification to get the job done on the water, where you're rarely steady enough to take advantage of higher magnification. Sadly, it appears that the Brunton is off the market, though you may be able to find one on Ebay. Celestron and Barska sell a similar monocular, though I can't vouch for the quality compared to the Brunton.

Cool! They're not to far from where I work.

Linda's boat was formerly mine, but the forward bulkhead is positioned closer to the seat than standard j(a factory option) and it was just a bit too close for my long legs. Since Linda doesn't suffer from an overabundance of leg length, I gave it to her and bought a stock boat for myself. While my AA may not be getting a lot of use these days, it's definitely not for sale. Linda is keeping her Pintail and Rumour.

If you're ever down on the Cape, I'm sure that Linda would let you try hers. It's white over white, like your Avocet.

Christopher, did you buy Michael's boat? If so, I guess that gives you a matched pair of "bananas" now, though one is still a bit green (not quite ripe?). Linda has been talking about selling her AA too, since it's the boat she uses the least out of her fleet.

I built a simple A-frame rack using a pair of sawhorse brackets, 2x4's and 2x2's. I made mine to accommodate a tarp, but if you don't want to cover your boats, it's even simpler to build. I set in on 6x6 patio blocks and staked it to the ground with rebar. It has withstood several winter's worth of abuse and the only thing I've had to do to it is to replace the tarp once due to sun damage (better the tarp than the boats. The basic design can be scaled to hold as many or as few boats as you need. I just added a tutorial on making this rack on my website: http://www.briannystrom.com

Mike, as I recall, you have a Saris roof rack on your Corolla, which is what i have. Contrary to David's ill-informed assertions, it's arguably the most solidly designed rack to ever hit the market and it makes Yakima and Thule racks look spindly and under-engineered. Sadly, Saris didn't do as good of a job of marketing it as they did of engineering it and they stopped making them a few years ago. I'm just hoping that it will work on whatever my next vehicle is, as it would be a real shame to have to shelve it. Leon, I can assure you that there are no Morton-Thiokol O-rings in my rack. Moreover, roof-rack design is simple mechanics, it isn't "rocket science"; space shuttle design most certainly is. It's a poor analogy.

Actually, yes. My rack is readily detachable and I don't leave it on the car when I'm not using it. Since I'm installing it every time I need it, it effectively gets inspected every time it's used. It's grip on the car is strong enough to dent the steel "roll cage" section of the roof and the adjustment knobs are locked after installation, so I'm confident that it's not going anywhere. As I mentioned before, the boats do not move when they're in the rack, which is another good indication of how solid it is. If I didn't feel that the rack was strong enough to safely carry my boats without tie-downs, I'd either add tie-downs or get another rack. All this said, racks fit very differently on different vehicles and it's up to the owners to determine how secure their rack system is. Some rack/car combinations are downright scary and not much more secure than foam blocks on the roof. I've been fortunate that both of the cars I've owned since I started paddling have had very solid rack systems. As they say, "Your mileage may vary".

I'll chime in along with Rick and Mike. I don't use bow or stern lines, either. As long as the rack is solidly mounted, they're not necessary. I don't use worn or frayed straps and I replace them if the buckles start getting sticky or worn. The boats are held solidly in cradles (not "J"-cradles or foam blocks) and they don't move. In addition to the other reasons people have cited for not using them, I find bow lines to be very distracting and irritating when driving. I'm not trying to discourage anyone from using bow or stern lines, but with a good rack setup, they are nowhere near as critical as some would have us believe.

Actually, I'm pretty sure I used a small Thermarest pad rolled up and stuffed between the seat and the hull. A paddle float will work in areas where there is more room. I'll edit the tutorial to suggest it. I've used custom-carved Minicel foam backers in a few repairs, too. Thanks for the feedback!

John, I've got the gelcoat repair and the gelcoat restoration pics up on my website: www.BrianNystrom.com Go to Kayaking > Tutorials and you'll see the links for them. Most of the site is not working yet, but I'll be putting up a lot more content as I find the time.

One more thing... Keep in mind that there is no direct correlation between weight and durability. A boat built with high-quality materials (woven cloth, vinylester or epoxy resin) and advanced methods (resin infusion or vacuum bagging) can be both lighter AND more durable than a boat built with lower-quality materials (chopped-strand glass, polyester resin) and less advanced construction (chopper gun, hand layup). That said, comparing boats built with the same materials and methods, a heavier layup will most likely be more durable.

How have you determined the weights of these boats? If it's based on the weight;s listed by the manufacturers, you may be in for a rude awakening when you actually weigh the boats in the real world. Some manufacturers weigh their boats without hatch covers and deck rigging, and some have even been known to weigh them without seats! OTOH, some manufacturers are honest and weigh their boats completely outfitted. Some manufacturers, such as NDK / SKUK, are know to have variations of as much as 20% from one boat to the next, due to the inconsistencies in their manufacturing process (a 10% variation is pretty typical). Additionally, older boats are likely to be heavier than newer boats, due to advances in manufacturing. The bottom line is that the only way to know for sure is to weigh examples of the model and vintage that you plan to buy, or better yet, the exact boat(s) you're considering.

Webshots, which is where my stuff was hosted, went down the toilet and has been replaced with an absolutely useless site called 'Smile'. I'm in the process of building my own site to host the material I had on Webshots. As with most projects, it's taking a lot longer than I planned, but since the Gelcoat repair was the most popular of my tutorials, it will be one of the first ones I do. I'll post here when I've got some content ready.

The simple method for eliminating neoprene boot stink is: Wear socks - The bacteria that make boots stink feed on skin oil, sweat and dead skin cells. Wearing socks helps to cut off this food source and it is absolutely key to preventing the stink. Rinse them after every use - Plain ol' fresh water is all you need for this; just make sure you rinse them thoroughly. Dry them thoroughly after every use, preferably in the sun - If you don't think you'll have sufficient time for them to air dry, stuff them with newspaper or cedar shavings, or use a boot dryer.These same principles can be used with other neoprene garments, too. Wear under-layers. Rinse after use. Dry thoroughly.

Sorry, but that's actually untrue and you can test it for yourself with nothing more than a box of identical rubber bands - or cut-off sections of a "bottle"-style seal. Stretch one around your wrist, then add a second beside it, then a third and so on until the area covered is an inch or so wide, like a typical wrist seal. Essentially what you're doing is the opposite of trimming a seal. I guarantee you that the more rubber bands you add and the greater the total surface area covered, the more uncomfortable it will become. When you're dealing with elastic materials like latex, while total compressed area is changed as you trim, the amount of pressure per unit of area does not change. Reducing the total compressed area improves comfort. I can say from the experience of trimming my own seals and those of several others that trimming any style of seal that's too tight makes it more comfortable. That's true with "bottle"-style seals, even if you don't trim past the "neck" and into the tapered area. The other element that's important is getting seals that are as close to the proper size as possible, as the less you stretch them, the less pressure they create. Unfortunately, garment manufacturers have to use seals that will work for the smallest likely customer for a given suit size, so they inevitably end up being very tight on most people. That's not meant as criticism, it's just a reality of manufacturing. When it comes time to replace seals, one can remedy this situation to some extent by choosing seals that are as close as possible to a proper fit. Although my wrists are not especially large, I use the largest size seals that OS Systems offers and still end up trimming them considerably. With Linda's small wrists, we've been able to find a size that fits her pretty well right out of the package.

That depends on who you talk to. The seal manufacturers all recommend trimming over stretching and in the dive industry - which is the primary market for latex seals - trimming is pretty much universal practice. Why there's even a debate in the kayak industry is beyond me.

Replacing wrist seals is an easy DIY job. You can purchase everything you need from OS Systems at: www.ossystems.com They make seals in several sizes and two thicknesses, and in my experience, you should go one size larger than their sizing indicates. You will still need to trim the seal to fit (as with any seal), but you'll be closer to your correct size at the start.

If anyone is interested in a -40 degree bag (Moonstone Abruzzi Ridge DL, Long), I have one that's never been used that I was planning to put on Ebay. You'll have a really tough time getting cold in it!

Is Richard Najarian still with the club? He used to be able to get us space in the complex where his business is located.

Although Kokatat's service is excellent, keep in mind that this is made possible by Gore's lifetime warranty on Gore-Tex fabric.

Neither was I, but that's never stopped me before! There are discussions about this on paddling.net and Kayak Forum, too. My feeling is: Allowing the boat and swimmer to drift into shore was probably the right decision given the conditions.It might have been possible to perform an assisted rescue using a stabilizing tow to maintain position outside of the surf zone, but there really isn't enough footage to make that determination with any certainty.IMO, the rescuer on the left did a poor job of protecting himself, as he was too preoccupied with watching the boat and allowed himself to get whacked from behind. He should have either stayed outside the surf zone (to assist if necessary) or landed. Following the abandoned boat into the surf with his back to the waves was a bad move.The rescuer on the right should have immediately moved a safe distance away from the swimmer once he determined that the swimmer was OK and that he was going to swim into shore. Bouncing around in breaking waves with the swimmer holding onto the bow of the kayak is very risky, with a strong possibility that the swimmer is going to catch the bow in the chest or chin.This rescuer also apparently got Maytagged when attempting to land, but you can't tell if it was avoidable or not.While the utimate outcome was good (fortunately), it seems to me that it could easily have ended up with three injured paddlers.

AMICA will write a boat policy to cover your kayak(s) and it's inexpensive. IIRC, I was paying ~$100/year to cover three boats.