Grajan

We are going to be moving out of our rental by the end of March and our (great) landlord is starting to look for new tenants so anyone interested in moving to the Portsmouth NH area and to a place with a 24hr launch site at the end of the garden should get in touch. It really is a spectacular spot for kayaking. It is right on the main river channel but there is a superb eddy that provides a pool to paddle at any tide. There are enough eddies to get back to the house from the ocean even in the biggest tide. We will really miss that aspect of the place - unless we get one of you lot to move in.... . Here are some photos of a paddle from the house. There are some pictures of the garden at the end. For what it is the rent is pretty reasonable. Anyway, if you or anyone you know might be interested get in touch. It would be sad to let it go to a landlubber. Graham

Doug, We are 'on the water' but not much of a launch site I'm afraid. Just a struggle through the salt grass two hours each side of high tide. Guess we will be back to trucking.... That does remind me though - must offer our current rental to the group. That REALLY is a great launch site and we would love a kayaker to follow us here. Graham

We joined NSPN last summer, met some great people and went on a couple of fine trips. We then entirely disappeared. It was not personal! Here is the recipe: 1. Buy a house 2. Decide to remodel "a little" 3. Decide to be your own general contractor 4. Let scope creep get entirely out of control to a complete strip out / rebuild. Thus ended life as we knew it, kayaking exchanged for 200 decisions a day, tracking down AWOL contractors and getting on first name terms in every home improvement store in the region. We are now thoroughly unfit (stress is NOT slimming.....) and have not paddled for months but we are back and determined to get rolling again - in more ways than one. Pictures here for the bored. As part of our return I will post an interesting pool session with Cheri Perry and Turner Wilson in the events page. We are looking forward to getting back in the water and reacquainted. All the best Graham & Janaki

Thank you all for the hard work. That was a really excellent evening and we learnt a lot. Bill thanks for the great brew coffee. You are a sophisticated bunch - for paddlers Graham

We are coming Graham (and Janaki)

Neil, My guess is the Aquaseal is pretty much the same stuff as 303 but I left too much of it on for too long. That being said there are plenty of references for 303 so it might be a good investment. I've been meaning to talk to Portsmouth Scuba about my diving gear anyway so I will ask them. Thanks Graham

Thanks Suz, We are VERY careful with our suits and only use water based sunscreen when paddling so I'm pretty sure it was incorrect application of Aquaseal Seal Saver. Graham

That is a good idea. I will drop them a line. Thanks Graham

If it just affected the turkey without the PFD I would agree but it has a real impact on all of us. Our 'wonderful' press never reports death by extreme stupidity they report death by kayaking, normally embellished by some sensationalist (and completely inaccurate) comment like "kayaker dragged down by undertow". The result of all this is that it creates a largely false impression with the public that kayaking is unmanageably dangerous. This in turn results in putting people off starting kayaking, pressure from spouses and family to "pick a safer hobby" and a knee jerk reaction from politicians to regulate it. So - I have a problem with these idiots for entirely selfish reasons. Otherwise Darwinian selection is fine by me. Anyone notice that this appears to be an entirely male way of killing oneself? Maybe the problem is not comfort or cost but plain old machismo...... Graham

I think there is a 'lesson learned' here once I am sure of the cause. A couple of weeks ago our drysuit seals - Kokatat latex type - were looking a bit gray and dry, although there was no sign of perishing, so I decided to treat them with Aquaseal Seal Saver. Yesterday I look at them and in two weeks they have aged ten years. They all have patchy perished areas and surface roughness and one has already torn - on a drysuit that is only one year old. I'm pretty sure it is associated with the use of the Seal Saver and it may be due to inappopriate application. The directions very clearly requre you to buff off excess liquid after application. I got distracted by another job and did not do this immediately and then thought leaving a film on would not do any harm. What I now hypothesize is that the SealSaver is actually a solvent that seals up micro-tears in the surface of the rubber to prevent perishing. By leaving the thicker film on I allowed it to just eat away at the seals. Does this make ANY sense? Or is the product high risk (interestingly it no longer appears on the Aquaseal website)? Or am I barking up the completely wrong tree? Input welcome (as well as somewhere to get all our Kokatat drysuit seals replaced near Portsmouth....). Thanks Graham

Here is another one today. Father (no PFD) dies, daughters (with PFD's) survive - with no dad, and that is just on the river. We are living on the Piscataqua River opposite the southern end of the Naval Shipyard where the current is strongest and we have been amazed by the number of kayakers and canoists going by in T shirts and without PFD's (or with them tied to the deck which I believe actually meets legal requirements). Graham

Thanks DJ, We just woke up real late so I guess we will join you another day. Graham

Having just got in from tonight's paddle at midnight I suspect we will be absent tomorrow. Just in case - what frequency will you be on? Graham

Janaki and I will probably be there - depends how long Saturday night goes.... Graham

Rob, Having taken a better look at the skeg box issue, I don't think goop is going to do the trick. The tubing is too short and very tight through the middle of the stowage space. The result is that whenever I pack the boat it is going to get pulled out of the skeg box fitting again. I don't think even Lexel is going to prevent that. I have posted a couple more pictures here. Time to talk to Wilderness I think. Graham

I'm OK with 'crazy' G

That's valid, I certainly would not have it in front but I don't have a deck mounted tow rig (yet) so it lives quite happily just behind me with the hose running down the side of the cockpit. There is certainly no entanglement issue. In fact, I have so much clut on my person that I would be loath to add to it.... I guess it is fine for now. I might change if I ever get round to the deck tow system. Graham

I just googled it and it looks like great stuff, not just for this but as a regular part of an emergency repair kit. Thanks

Yep, That may well be it. There is a sleeve over the entry point that is now sliding on the cable so I guess it got dragged off when I was pulling gear out. I will goop it up and see how that goes. Never heard of Lexel - I will Google it. Thanks Graham

Bob, Why is a deck mounted hydrator crazy? What am I missing? Graham

Bill, I did not notice, you also offered to help out this week. Thanks a lot. I will talk to Wilderness about the skeg box. It had to be repaired a week after I bought it. I should have replaced it then but a two month wait to get one to Newfoundland persuaded me. Graham

Thanks a lot Roger, Peter took a look at it over the weekend and it is down to the glass but there is no softness at all so I (we) think you are right. I will call you when you get back. Hope you are having a good time up there. We just got back from a night paddle down the river that was a complete delight - starry sky and no wind. Less light pollution where you are I suspect. Graham

Rob, I will get in touch with Carl. Brian, Neither impact point is at all soft. The round one is a grazing blow from a rock and is mainly scraped but the glass looks largely OK. The long dark one was caused by being dropped onto the road. It looks like resin that was put over the glass to shape the bow has sheared off down to the first glass layer. Still no softness so I think I will stay afloat.... Might just use duct tape for the weekend to prevent doing more damage with a temp repair. To be honest the worst leak on the boat is still the skeg box due to lousy build quality. Graham

Thanks to all for the advice. Rob, That is a kind offer and seems like a good idea. I was hoping to get it turned round quickly locally but I'm a bit leary about going to a boatyard that does not have a track record with Kayaks and hoping for the best. The problem I have is that I'm off on a paddling trip next weekend so I am inclined to patch the damage now and get the keel strip later (to cover up my probably ugly repair.....). The damage appears to be more cosmetic than structural. Here are some pictures. How often do you go down there and where from? How long do you think they will need it for? I paddle nearly every day so I might wait until I am going away for work in July. Graham

Thanks guys, Tim's number is out of service so I guess he is out of play. Anyone had any experience (good or bad) with standard boat repair shops? There are plenty of them around here. Graham