Friday 7 June 2013

Hello again
We haven't been on the water since the last time but I have been very busy MacGyvering stuff for the kayaks.  One of the "things" was this...
Its a rod holder made with an old milk crate, zap straps and cut PVC pipe.  It straps on the front deck of the kayak and as you can see, it hold rods, a net and tackle on the inside. Can't wait to go fishing in the kayak!

Another thing we had to do was figure out was where to keep the kayaks.  We figured the only place that would work was the ceiling in the garage.
We thought about using pulleys to hoist them up but that turned out to be way too complicated.  The system we came up with after researching on the interweb, was much easier. It uses 4 straps and 8 hooks in the ceiling.
In order to lower the kayaks I added a little 90deg bracket with some string attached to it.
you pull on the white string and lower the boat.
Here is a close up of the bracket...
  The bracket pushes on the clamp and releases the strap.

The last thing we needed to make was a way to rinse the saltwater off of the  boats.
This is what I ended up building...
I don't think that two boards are the same length but its amazing how more screws can hold a project together. 
Call me cheap but I like to build stuff if I can rather than buy it outright... Plus, its fun to see my girls cringe when I play with power tools and sharp objects.  I'm pleased to announce that I still have all my digits.  There was however a little bloodshed though, I scraped my knee on the driveway while I was building the stands.

Until next time, Take care of yourselves.

Tuesday 4 June 2013

Angie and I went for our first paddle in our new Kayaks.  We bought 2 Necky Looksha 17.
We launched just a little south of the boat ramp at Point Holmes.  Not the best place to launch a kayak as it is very rocky.  We were careful not the scratch the new boats.
We dropped off a crab trap in about 50' of water and paddled south to the Goose Spit.

We really liked how the kayaks handled themselves.  They are very smooth and really cut nicely through the water. The seats are VERY comfy and we managed to paddle just shy of 6 Kms. The Seals put on a pretty good show for us with lots of tail and flipper slaps.

 On the way back we pulled up the trap but there was nothing in it.  Brought them home, rinsed them off and hung back up in their slings in the garage.