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Time for a new boat....?

ca Offline Grant Lamontagne

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Re: Time for a new boat....?
Reply #30 on: August 04, 2012, 01:50:31 AM
Someone posted that on my Facebook wall last week and I had a great laugh at it!   :D

I think that guys has WAY too much time on his hands!   :ahhh

Def
Leave the dents as they are- let your belongings show their scars as proudly as you do yours.


ca Offline Grant Lamontagne

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Re: Time for a new boat....?
Reply #31 on: August 04, 2012, 02:04:06 AM
For those who may be having trouble picturing what I am talking about with pedals, here is a pic of what they look like.  The black set is the more advanced one that came with the boat.  You adjust them by rotating the blue handle, sliding the pedal to where you want it then rotating the blue handle back into position to lock the pedal in place.  Then it rotates kind of like a gas pedal in a car.  Press on the right one and the boat turns right.  Press on the left one and the boat goes left.

The lower system is ancient technology- the L shaped aluminum pedal is bolted to a sliding unit that runs back and forth in a track.  With this type the whole pedal moves which means you don't have much to brace against when you want to tighten yourself in the boat for an oncoming wave or other issue.  The up shot is that it's a lot easier to move the rudder since it's a simple back and forth motion.

Def
2012-08-03_15-23-03_896.jpg
* 2012-08-03_15-23-03_896.jpg (Filesize: 271.73 KB)
Leave the dents as they are- let your belongings show their scars as proudly as you do yours.


scotland Offline Gareth

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Re: Time for a new boat....?
Reply #32 on: August 04, 2012, 10:46:54 AM
I can see why you'd want the old system mate, sounds much more intuitive to me. :)
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nl Offline Waterlander

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Re: Time for a new boat....?
Reply #33 on: August 04, 2012, 12:00:11 PM
Pedals you say? If it also had wheels it would be perfect! :D

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hydrobike.jpg

« Last Edit: August 04, 2012, 12:02:06 PM by Waterlander »


ca Offline Grant Lamontagne

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Re: Time for a new boat....?
Reply #34 on: August 04, 2012, 12:46:29 PM
That might be kind of fun Frank, but it wouldn't go lots of places I generally go!  As is it I have to duck to get under some bridges already.   :ahhh

Plus I don't think a higher center of gravity would be a good thing in ocean waves.

Def
Leave the dents as they are- let your belongings show their scars as proudly as you do yours.


nl Offline Waterlander

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Re: Time for a new boat....?
Reply #35 on: August 04, 2012, 01:54:39 PM
Nice vid. I can see why you love doing this. :tu:
I was just kidding Grant. Many canoes and seakayaks around here as well.
Very low bridges, that too!


nl Offline Waterlander

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Re: Time for a new boat....?
Reply #36 on: August 04, 2012, 02:12:36 PM
You know what's funny, if I wanted to I could go to the pub on my street bike, or I could take a canoe and dock in front of that same bar. The waiter even hands over your beer! (being serious this time) Pedaling straight home would be a challenge though! lol
« Last Edit: August 04, 2012, 02:23:52 PM by Waterlander »


scotland Offline Gareth

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Re: Time for a new boat....?
Reply #37 on: August 04, 2012, 02:29:20 PM
How about one of these?

 :D
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ca Offline Grant Lamontagne

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Re: Time for a new boat....?
Reply #38 on: August 04, 2012, 11:03:11 PM
Where we were today Gareth, that would have far too much of a draft!  In fact, my new boat had too much of a draft at times and I had to force myself over a few sandbars.

I did have a bit of an accident today with my rudder.  Here's what a rudder looks like close up:



This isn't my rudder, but it's close enough that you get the idea.  When I brought it home the rudder was disconnected and I had to attach it.  The cables (not metal cable on this one) were tied in loops and I wondered if there was supposed to be some clip to get them into the holes on the rudder- otherwise, why did they tie such nice loops on the cables if I was just meant to untie them and tie it on to the rudder?  Plus, the quick release function of the rudder loses something if I have to untie the cables.

So, I bought some small carabiners that I used to clip the loop to the rudder- I didn't bother with anything heavy since it's just a rudder, right?  Bad idea.  I stretched out one of the small carabiners pretty badly today.   :ahhh  With the new slider pedal system I have, I only have a hard step to put pressure against when I am applying the same pressure on the opposite pedal, and if you follow the cables around, you see that while my feet are next to eachother, from a mechanical standpoint the rudder is actually between them (left foot on left pedal which is connected to cable which runs the length of the boat to the rudder which is connected to the right cable which runs the length of the boat to the right pedal which has my right foot on it).  Because of this, bracing against the pedals puts a fair bit of pressure on the whole system, and one of these small carabiners suffered as a result.

Guess I'll need stronger carabiners now...  :-[

Def
Leave the dents as they are- let your belongings show their scars as proudly as you do yours.


ca Offline Grant Lamontagne

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Re: Time for a new boat....?
Reply #39 on: August 05, 2012, 02:42:09 PM
Here's the map showing our run yesterday. 

https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=217411607297343799323.0004c678c9e3fd4e8ec58&msa=0&ll=44.667188,-63.352833&spn=0.053779,0.111494

It was only a little over ten kilometers but it was challenging in it's own right because the tide was coming in and pushed us along as we went inland which kept trying to turn us sideways.  The water in many parts was only a few inches deep, which means that if you aren't in a kayak, you aren't going through here.  Because of thet we didn't have to deal with any other boat traffic.

Luckily the tide shifted as we were coming home and it pulled us back to where the car was parked.  However, the whole reason we went to this particular spot to paddle was because I wanted to try mu new boat in the ocena waves, so I paddled out to the open ocean (sort of) and rode a few waves.  I had a great time doing it until I realized that the rip tide this area is famous for was keeping me from coming back in!  I made excellent time paddling out because millions of gallons of seawater were going that way too, but paddling against it was another story entirely.  I was paddling as hard as I could and making up only an inch or two at a time and I had about a kilometer to go to get back to the car.   :ahhh

It was actually so bad that I'd gotten out of the boat and walked it a ways along the beach, but I only covered about a hundred meters before I ran out of beach and had to get back in the boat and fight the current.  Getting under the road was the hardest part, and the water passing through there had to be doing at least 10-12 kilometers per hour, which is at the top end of what I can do in my big boat, which is much faster than my new boat.  I ws giving it all I had and I didn't think I was making any headway when I decided to try the water which seemed a little lighter on the opposite bank.  Keeping my bow into the current I adjusted my rudder which allowed me to paddle virtually sideways (I'll bet from above it looked like the kayak version of the old Spy Hunter game!  :D) while not losing me any ground.  I wasn't ready for what happened next though- as I transitioned (sideways of course) from the high speed current I was paddling in to the virtually stopped water in a small cove on the opposite side it felt like I'd hit a rock- which is very bad as kayaks roll sideways.  If I'd have gone in the drink I'd at least have lost too much ground to try and start over or I'd have lost either my boat or my life as that current is way too strong.  By the time anyone was able to react I'd have been out to sea.

I did finally manage it though- once I got into the small cove I was able to build up some momentum, and now that I was ready for the hard bump in the transitional water I was ready for it and I paddled harder than I ever have for the thirty or so feet it took to get under the bridge.  It felt like an eternity, but it was probably only about 5 minutes to actually get under the bridge, but you can imagine how slow going it was to take 5 whole minutes to cover thirty feet!

Once I was under the bridge and on the opposite side I used my rudder to guide me back out of the current and up to shore.  Both Frank and I were so spent that we could barely lift the boats onto my VW Golf.... thankfully I didn't bring the Jeep as that is just too darned high up!   :ahhh

It was a hard run, but as much fun and challenge as you can have in a kayak!  And, for those keeping track, this was the same place that I shot this video last year:

Can't Talk now, trying not to die

Def
Leave the dents as they are- let your belongings show their scars as proudly as you do yours.


 

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