Monthly Archives: July 2012

Paddle #2

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Just got in from a 5 minute paddle and learned a lot more.

Raising the oars 2″ made a dramatic difference. No bloody knees! Plenty of clearance and did not bang my knees once. So that was a huge improvement and one issue resolved.  I had searched and searched the web but could never find any recomendation on this height so I guessed and guessed wrong. But now I have a good starting point from now on.

As a side note I am thinking I made this boat to low. It should have been at least an inch taller and maybe even two. I don’t want to get caught out in rough water in this thing. Maybe with some experience it will OK but that leads to the other issue, stability…..

There is more to stability than just keeping a boat upright. I have no problems there, I can sit in the boat with or without oars no problem. It’s tender but I guess from paddling lower stability kayaks is why I don’t find it a big problem. Phil however struggled with the stability which sort of surprised me.

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But today, since I wasn’t focused on keeping my knees out of the way I started to confront the next issue. I keep dipping one oar in the water which could be a really bad thing at higher speed. Right now it is just a major annoyance and frustrates the heck out of me!!!! I was assuming it was just me letting one side droop and hit the water. But being able to focus on this, I realize that was not the case.

I am wobbling as I paddle, leaning the boat to one side or the other and with the lenght of the oars it doesn’t take much for an oar to dip into the water. So it is a stability issue, not turning over but rocking from side to side. That will improve with experience I am sure but since I can’t paddle worth a darn now I am going to try to lower the seating position.

I tried sitting on top of the seat frame (very uncomfortable!!) with the sliding seat all the way back but that made a big difference. It would not be very hard to add a board across the frame to use as a fixed seat. That will lower me an inch and half and that will make a marked difference. And it’s easier than making a new frame. So I will probably start with that.

Stay tuned!

To the water we go!

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I finished the boat and took it to the water. I have a small leak at the transom, no idea where but that’s fairly easy to fix (I hope). I got on the water and found the stability about what I expected. It’s definitely tender, but not as bad as I was afraid it would be. A newbie or someone who hasn’t paddled lower stability boats would not be comfortable in it.

Phil came along for the laughs I provided. He was kind enough to snap photos too. I had tried the boat with no oars and now I was headed to the boat for the first try.

First stroke trying to get away from the shore. Note to self: Turn the boat toward open water!! I really struggled to get going.

This photo is just to show I did make it on the water and actually row it a little. But it was a study in frustration! Rowing is not easy. There is a rhythm and timing between oars, arms and legs and I didn’t have it together. But I am sure that comes with time.

Another big issue was I found the outrigger were not high enough. When I lifted the oars out of the water, I kept hitting my knees. If I didn’t hit my knees I drug the oar in the water and that is a BAD thing! Part of that was my timing, I kept lifting my knees to quickly, but a large part was the oars were just too low and I have the scars on top of my leg to prove it!

So, I have rigged up some temporary blocks to raise the oars locks and clamped them in place with some clamps. I want to take it to the water to see how much difference this makes and assuming no bloody knee caps I will figure the best way to raise them up.