twopoundtest

IMHO I wouldn't go with a hook. I have never used my knife on the water, and hope I never have to. If I did it would probably be for cutting tangled ropes or straps, in which case a hook would be a good substitute. In fact on the water I think a hook knife would be much safer than a knife. If someone is tangled the rope needing to be cut would have a surface tight to their skin and a hook knife with it's guarded cutting edge can cut and not impale the person (or duck) in trouble. IMO this makes a two sided blade unsafe for the tangle cutting on the water and in conditions. But I would not go with a hook because I do use my knife in camp. Even on day trips I always stow a flashlight for the same reason I carry the knife. If I need to camp I would be way more comfortable having it. A hook knife would has very limited uses ashore. Why keep my knife in my pfd pocket? Well in theory if I were separated from the boat at least I'd have the knife... Has anyone seen that movie, "the Black Stallion"? But in reality I keep it there because it fits well in the pocket and seems to belong there.

Thanks everyone for contributing. I found the information helpful. Be well.

Hi all, I was wondering specifically if garmin blue charts were capable of being visualized on the desktop computer in addition to the gps unit itself. I currently have 2008 topo maps which I can access using "mapsource" on the desktop. I find this valuable in route planning, etc. and would not want to drop the coin without being able to view the maps off the GPS. I understand the CD can go on my computer and the SD cards can not, but going on the computer can mean many different things. If you are able to view on the desktop, does anyone print and laminate hard copies for paddling? Has anyone found that these charts replace their print on demand charts or are these more adjuctive? Happy spring.

Hi, Sounds like you already have alot of input... I figured I'd reply only because I recently replaced my hatch rims on a NDK explorer. There were spider thin cracks up from the bolts on the lateral aspects of both fore and aft (kayak sport) hatch rims. (The valley day hatch rim was fine). The problem was illuminated by shining a bright light on the inside of the rim in the dark, clear fracture lines were then visualized from the outside of the rim. After much looking I found kayak sport rims from Tom's top kayaker at a good price and had to wait a bit for the special order. The project: taking out the old rims and putting in new ones was once described on this board as a PITA job. That was no understatement. I primarily used a heat gun and mineral spirits for removal. I used 5200 for installation. -Yes I did have to bolt down the new hatch rims in the same place that caused the initial problem. Caliper clamps were not holding satisfactorily and 5200 takes days (like a week) to dry. If anyone plans to bolt these rims down you should know there is little room for error and you should purchase a counter sink drill bit to avoid splitting the rims while trying to counter sink the bolts (only millimeters away from having to order new rims again). -So far mine don't leak but ugh, never want to do that job again. I hope you have a different problem.

Hi Spider, By now you have probably already loaded the blue chart but I wanted to reply anyway. I didn't buy the blue chart from garmin due to what looked like a high expense for limited regions. Instead I went with Topo U.S. because it gives an added level of coastal detail, in land waters are also more specific, even very small islands and prominent rocks are named and represented, roadways are way better represented. I would still use nautical charts for higher level navigating etc, especially because the screen is not big enough to really see the info well on a gps. And $80 for all of the US is a good deal. I can put about a quarter of the US on a 2gb card at any one time from the CPU for the GPS, and move the maps on and off the card at will from the CPU. I am curious to know what you think of the Blue charts? Be well, safe paddling. This is a screen shot with Topo, showing tracks around lake Champlain Vermont. Ocean coast and waters look similar to this.

Hey Spider, After looking around extensively I bought a Garmin 76Csx from Amazon (at a discount) a little more than a year ago. I use it primarily for kayaking, backpacking, and occasionally in the car (on trips to places I am unfamiliar with). So far I have been nothing but pleased with this GPS. I find that it is rare that a device exceeds my expectations -in those three areas it definitely does. Though I have never owned another GPS friends of mine have requested my help in configuring or using their GPS units. One had a french name which I forget, it was very complex and not user friendly the unit did not come with a program easily access the information and transfer to a computer. The other friend had a Magellan which seemed a bit better but still not as easy to use or configure and the Garmin. After seeing these other two models I felt lucky to have gone the way I did. I should also mention I purchased a 2Gig SD car and the America Topo maps with purchase of the unit and wouldn't have gone another way. What I think is important is: -Water proof / floats (Has been saturated many times, no leaks after checking battery case) -compass with course bearing -The altimeter which also can be used as a barometer -Easy interface with my laptop, the software is very good (but not perfect) It can also send tracks to google earth to be viewed there too with a click of the button. -very cool. I can quickly call up tracks by type, find average speed, distance, dates, times, elevations. And the maps on the laptop are huge. I use a paper map outdoors and use the maps in the laptop or G-earth when I get home. Of all the pages in this hand held gps the map page is the one I use the least (it is the one that gives the least info too) -Battery life I get about 10plus hours on regular AA, I just bought Lion ones to give them a try. -Never had a problem with signal in trees or mountains as yet. -I have lost signal in caves and tunnels but that is it. -Most often, I plot a course on the huge screen of the laptop using my handy mouse and transfer it to the gps, I often don't need it and I just record my track on the water. I keep the gps out of the sun in my pfd pocket and enjoy being away from that kind of stuff. When I get home I try to impress my girl friend with where I've been all day by showing her on the CPU (of course she's not always interested and rarely impressed) . And since I am poor at keeping a journal I have a log of my paddles with more info than I'd be able to write (almost unbelievable considering the length of this post). Things I watch for: -I found out that bug spray eats away at the screen and makes it cloudy. (luckily only one small corner but good to know.) -though it might be water proof it is not heat proof and probably not vapor proof so these things concern me when it has been placed in hot sun for extended periods, or in a clear dry bag. Covered in a white cloth bag would probably be the best in the hot summer. - The compass in the 76Csx was not always reading correctly and I was relying on my deck compass or a hikers compass instead (something I will do anyway) but it was annoying. My course bearing to next waypoint was always correct but not my heading! I did some research and found out that the compass in the gps is EXTREMELY sensitive, so that calibrating it in a room with a refrigerator was probably what was throwing it off. Even holding a regular compass nest to the gps can throw off it's compass. This is my one major complaint. Unfortunately of the few things this model lacks is a compass dampener, which is really important on the water. So anyway when I do calibrate it away from everything and I don't have anything magnetic or metallic when reading it yes the compass does work well. -One last thing, sometimes the orientation of things depends on speed with the gps and the settings of those speeds can help the unit work better for what you are doing. Because most kayaking happens at a higher speed than walking but a much lower speed than driving setting the device properly can be important for making the thing work well. In short the instructions are your friend in this department. Hope what you find works for you and happy paddling.