chetpk

Plan on making it.

If I square away a few more things to free me up for the day, I will try to make it. -Scott

Pretty close -$250 and I figured I was going to need new epoxy, gel coat and colors if I was going to try to do it myself which would have been about a $100 right there so it started to become a no brainer to give this guy a try. I had seen a some of his work on big power boats which suggested to me that this was not going to be beyond the range of his skill sets. It wasn't and I'm pleased with the results. All three compartments of the boat are still bone dry..

I had a mishap in the rocks just north of the Cliff House near Ogunquit Beach in Maine on an April 7th. Normally I do my own repairs, but for this one I decided to give a man whose small fiberglass boat shop happens to be only about five miles from me the chance to try his magic. I was both pleased by the work he did and his very reasonable price. I would recommend him. He first started building 20 to 30 ft plus boats with his dad about 35 years ago and has a lot of experience with fiberglass, resins and gel coats. Some of the larger "Eastern" sport fishing boats that are on the water today he built with his dad who designed them and they now lease the molds to Eastern. Today he just concentrates on repair work. He is John of JC Boat Co (603) 801-8173 and is located about two miles off of Exit 3 on Rt. 101 in Candia N.H. His turn around time is based upon what he already has booked as he is a one man operation with some part time help. Here is a link to a photo album showing the boat with its' damages and after he fixed it. https://picasaweb.google.com/111328304688886244913/CetusKayakDamageThenRepairsOgunquitMePaddle4712

I am in. See you at the launch. ~Scott

On tents, Doug, I am with those that says keep it as large as it will comfortably fit in the boat since if you do get pinned down by weather, having some room to sprawl around to read or play cards etc. is always a nice comfort factor. Almost all of the outdoor gear is made in Asia these days and often in the same factory. As far as "tent design" goes, I think they have taken that as far as they can so nobody has an upper edge there anymore. Look for more vertical walls and good head space to go along with the square footage of the floor. Make sure the fly comes almost all the way to the ground and has adequate pull out points to stake it down for a good blow. Almost everybody is using the same fabric and type of aluminum in their poles until you get into the more exotic mountaineering tents which are overkill for 95%of us. I also like to carry a fly to go with the tent so if it rains you can have cover to cook under and hang out under. I wouldn't go much below a 9'X9'. Painters aluminum extension poles from Lowes or Home Depot work great for a fly because they can go on the deck of the boat, are reasonably cheap and they have a wide range to their extension height. Just have a lot of parachute cord to guy it out. This tent is actually pretty dam good quality and packs well. http://www.amazon.co...7&condition=new Main reason it is cheaper is they don't advertise much. Those full page ads in Outside Magazine will greatly impact a products cost. There are a number of off brand companies making good products these days, but running small ad campaigns thus lowering their costs. When it comes to stoves if you want to keep it simple then a gas canister stove from EMS or even Sports Authority will cover the bases just fine. you usually do get a little more fire power out of your liquid gas stoves, but they are a tad more in operational needs. MSR has always been the top of the heap and EMS as I'm sure you know routinely has their 20% off sale. The Whisper-light has been a longtime standard of the MSR stoves and any of their canister ones would also be top shelf. Sleeping pads can make or break an evening spent on the ground. I now use a "Big Agnes" air mattress. I've also used a basic Thermorest, but usually coupled it with a closed cell foam pad. I recommend a closed cell foam pad no matter what because they are cheap and you can use it as your seat or putting half of it against a rock and the other half sticking out as your seat. They also can be strapped on the deck of the boat if necessary because when they get wet, they do not absorb water. Crazy creek chairs or some generic brand of that design are also a nice camp luxury even though I don't own one. For bags you do want to go synthetic fiberfill, but I wouldn't go too "Mummy" in shape as it will feel very restrictive. I would look for one that is a little more of a boxy rectangular mummy shape, but also see what its' compressed specs are as some can be pretty dam big even after stuffed tightly. Many of your off brands will work fine for summer time use and once again there may not be a large difference in their fiberfill and nylon covers then your expensive ones. Probably cheaper zippers and less thread count to the stitches sort of thing. If you want high quality equipment cheap, but used, then it might be worth a ride to North Conway and check the basement of IME (International Mountain Equipment) right on the north end of the main drag in North Conway or a little further up Rt. 16 in Intervale is Ragged Mountain which also use to do consignments. Stuff there comes and goes and can be beat to hell to pristine, but almost always at a large savings. They can have tents, bags, mattresses, stoves, flys etc. and almost always of high quality backpacking level to full fledge Himalayan climbing quality gear. Locally it is most likely going to be EMS, KTP, REI, LL Bean and even Sports Authority which can be ok on some of the basics. On the Internet, Amazon - http://www.amazon.co...nb_sb_noss_null Sierra Trading Post -http://www.sierratradingpost.com/?afsrc=1&gclid=CP77xuX2r64CFYeK4AodCAu8TA&codes-processed=true Sportsman's Guide - http://tinyurl.com/7w9vv77 and even can all cover most of the bases. ~Scott

In 1981 I spent the summer on Baffin Island to the south of Ellsemere and I can't say enough about how incredibly raw, intense and beautiful that part of the world is. When there, I met a professor from the community college on the Cape who had been doing repeat trips to Baffin Islands eastern coastline using just an inflatable kayak exploring completely on his own and this predated much of the electronic gear we have today for sending out an emergency broadcast or simply contacting another radio. He was way ahead of the curve in terms of kayaking adventures in real remote areas. He loved the inflatable because it was easy to slide-drag over the ice. I don't remember his name though.

Jeff, I've used the factory rails on both a Ford Winstar and a Saturn Vue for one kayak and can't remember if I ever had two on them. My understanding is that most factory mounted rail systems and their cross bars are good to about 200lbs, but as you know there is no set standards and they probably do vary a bit. I bought Thules adapters that clamp around the vehicles own rack then with the Thule bar going across did carry two boats in that configuration and didn't have any problems. http://www.rackattack.com/product-pages/thule-450-crossroad.asp ~Scott

Well, unless they have changed the laws of physics, I think that the one leaning onto the the front deck of the kayak being rescued to stabilize it is more likely to raise the stern then sink it. Then us portly paddlers add even more "stabilizing" power to the whole process, me thinks. I have considered this new fad diet of helium though.

Well of course I could always loose some weight as that might lower the other boat's stern a tad when I have to lean on it. I didn't post this because we had issues with the rescue, we didn't, but it did make me want to put this out there for discussion to see if there were ways to further the efficiency factor considering the fact that being efficient and having all involved expend as little energy as possible carries the most merit in the end. ~Scott

Yes Ed, that is the photo that first triggered my thoughts, but in doing a basic net search, I've seen some other photos of re-entering from the water where the stern looked high. For the record, this event went pretty quick and I don't recall any issues because of the high stern, but in looking at the photo, it gave me pause as to what might have made the mechanics of the whole event even more efficient and that is when I wondered about doing it in a way in which the stern could be allowed to stay lower in the water. ~Scott

I just received a flyer from Ocean State "Job Lots" and I noticed they are selling the "J" style kayak saddles for $50, normally $120. No brand name is given, but looks alot like your entry level older Thule ones. They also are advertising your locking plastic roof top carriers for $300 by a company called Swiss Cargo. Supposedly normally $500.

In looking at pictures of rough water rescues one thing caught my attention today. That is the fact that as the person who is managing the rescue, lays across the deck of the boat belonging to the person in the water, their body weight lying across the front deck can make the stern of the other kayak be lifted quite high out of the water. Thus the person in the water really has a higher distance that they need to muscle their body up and out of the water from to get up and onto their own boats back deck. Am I missing something or is there an added step that would allow the swimmers boat to have their rear deck stay lower in the water making it easier for them to get all of their body up and onto that back deck? Respectfully, ~Scott

For me, I think it was finally a chance to say I have now paddled each month of the year since venturing out to ocean paddling a few years back. When I did make the move from freshwater lake paddling to the Big Blue, I remember hearing the experienced paddlers back then talk about "Lumpy Water" days. Well yesterday put a little exclamation point to that description. The eight made for good camaraderie and worked well together in the two pods of four so everybody could paddle in a variety of conditions and watery terrain. After "Occupying" Kettle I guess it is called, we collectively and individually relished in the fact that for that day, we were in the 1% crowd, leaving the other 99% to the more sedate ways of the land lubbers. But will admit, "sedate ways" overtook me after setting foot back on land. So much for thinking these AARP paddles are relaxing cruises. Please excuse the lack of picture quality. Someday a better camera. https://picasaweb.google.com/111328304688886244913/PaddleFromTucksToMagnoliaBack12411 Once again, thanks to Doug.

A good report, better pictures and a great trip. One that I had thought about doing for a long time, but never did. Now I know what I missed ... so far. I have paddled both sides of the southern half of Moosehead and now wonder why I haven't gone back because it is a great place to paddle and enjoy while it still is mostly undeveloped and not covered in powerboats. Must have been even better doing this in the off season to increase the sense of adventure and solitude.

Paddling With the Volcanoes If you have ever paddled on Winnipesaukee Lake you have actually paddled under an ancient volcano as the Ossipee Range that is the closet range on the north side of the lake and visually seen from most parts of the lake is an old ring dike volcano and it is showing in the pictures posted by all three of us. http://www.nhgeology.org/jurassic.htm The other lake that a number of us have probably paddled on that is also next to an ancient volcano it Pawtuckaway Lake in the Raymond -Nottingham N.H. area and a satellite image of that area (Google Earth) will also show a perfect ring shape made by the remnants of that volcano. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Pawtuckaway-topo.jpg "Got my paddle a running" More useless trivia for the next edition of Kayak Jeopardy ~Scott

Six of us launched from Weirs Beach, meandering between a number of islands, stopping at the outer most one before you only had open water (The Broads) for paddling turf to continue in that direction. The day was cloudy, blustery and a bit cool. It sure felt like one of the shoulder weather days that separates fall from winter. The little beach, string of rocks that connects two private islands was a little more under water this year compared to last year requiring some creativity to secure boats and find a seat to eat from. Most of us found we had to at least keep the feet in the water. On the return run we had a couple of crossings that produced wind waves that were big enough to make their way onto the decks on occasion. Every now and then the sun would find a hole in the clouds to give a some dramatic lighting and a little burst of warmth. After the paddle several of us followed Doug to his beloved Dairy Queen for a soft swirl so we could all believe summer was still on. Pictures --- https://picasaweb.google.com/111328304688886244913/WinnipesaukeeLakePaddle101611 ~Scott

Sounds like a plan.

Your just jealous you don't know how to dance like a bear !! :1:

Reposting the link for my pictures. Hopefully this corrects the problem. https://picasaweb.google.com/111328304688886244913/NubbleLighthousePaddleCapeNeddick10811

Picture #61 ... Looks like The Dancing Bears of Clark's Trading Post in the White Mountains got loose on some beach??

Once again, thanks to Doug Mogill for putting another fine trip together.

Eight of us launched from York Harbor and paddled up the coast past Long Sands, Nubble Lighthouse and to Short Sands before reversing it all. The sea was flat, but the day was beautiful with exceptional lighting. Found some small surf to play in at Long Sands. Overall just a great way to spend a Fall day with a good bunch of people. Pictures in link below. http://tinyurl.com/3ha4vf7

Sounds good to me plus always like paddling something I haven't paddled before.

Glen ... We blew it, we should have just thrown some of that nice split oak into our hatches and had a nice warm campfire on the island at lunch time .