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One thing that I find interesting is how differently we rig our kayaks. There often is a wide variety of boats, lengths, styles, method of propulsion, sit-in, sit on top, wood, plastic, exotic materials, even from time to time, sails, outriggers, and motors on the yaks our members use. With so much variety and experience in our club, I think it would be interesting to create a section in our Helpful Stuff tab to illustrate how we set up our boats. I've learned many neat tricks from club members such as Barry S's trick for securing paddles to the boat while drifting or crab walking. He uses a short bungie and a wooden bead to create a way to secure the paddle to the side of the boat. Chris A has lots of really clever ways to rig and store his boats in a small space. Ken J uses old ski poles as his "cajun toothpick" anchor. Buzz B carries his umbrella in the summer time to create shade and act as a sail when winds are in his favor.
I'd be willing to accumulate these kinds of ideas into a Power Point presentation that we could make available to new members or use as an occaisional meeting presentation. If I could get everyone to send me some of his favorite rigging tricks, along with pictures, I'd try to put it into a useable format that we could all learn from.
TKF has a huge archive of this type of info, but its time consuming and difficult to search for. I'd like to put together something for PACK Members to be able to access easily and be passed on to its new members. What do you guys think?
OK, I guess that was some kind of prompt. Here is what I use to hang 3 boats from the garage ceiling. You know me, too cheap to buy anything. It has to be shop-built. It looks a little complicated on paper, but's rather simple and functional. Contact me for a better image if this one is too blurry after downloading. Chris
Good idea Ron. How to store the Yak was a topic I struggled with when I got my boat. As you know, the experts say the Yak hulls may be damaged when stored in a hot environment, particularly on a hard surface. There are many techniques used to reduce the risk of this damage and Chris' is an example of one of those. In that regard, the amount of storage space along with the physical configuration of the available space are major controlling factors. In my case, I determined the best use of my avaliable space would be to store the Yak in the garage on its side. I did not want to put it on the floor but also did not want to hang it high on the wall as the wall space above the spot the Yak was to be stored was being used for storage. So, I bought two folding camp stools with canvas seat areas. These are the camp stools which have been around for decades. The stools were errected against the walll and the Yak placed on its side on top of the stools with the Yak leaning against the wall. This arrangement allows the Yak to rest on the canvas seat, which is not rigid, and works perfectly for me given the space I have available. Jim Richards
I thougth my SOT seat was OK until my tailbone kept getting sore after 30 minutes of sitting. I had this Thermarest Trail Seat pad hanging around, threw it in the seat, now I paddle in much more comfort. They're 12" x 18" perfect fit in most seats. New they're $20. And... I found two today in great shape at a resale shop around the corner from my office. I'll bring them to the next meeting. $2.25 each if you want one. Here's what they look like. Chris