Kayak Shopping

After a recent kayaking trip I began shopping around to find the perfect kayak for local paddling. This isn't a new fascination for me. I've liked kayaks ever since my Scout Troop build little kayaks when I was a kid.

The kayaking event I remember most is when we took the kayaks to the city pool to learn how to use them. We even tried turning them over and then recovering to an upright position. That was not as easy as the guys on TV made it look. I think my lack of hunger for the remainder of the day could be related to the amount of pool water I drank that day.

In early August, my family went on a little kayaking trip in Dungeness Bay, in the Strait of Juan de Fuca. The day was beautiful. The water was smooth. We had a little coaching, made some adjustments in the kayaks and got going. At first they felt a little tippy. We were in tandem kayaks that were roto-molded plastic. They felt heavy out of the water but in the water they glided nicely.

The most important thing I learned about the journey was that the foot pegs, along with working the rudder, were important to position correctly so that my legs could snug into the sides and top of the boat. I knew this was important before I got in but I didn't know how to get it done. I made the mistake of thinking that my legs should be able to fully stretch out.

The problem with stretching out is that my huge gut isn't used to keeping me in a sitting position. So, while paddling with all my might, I was sinking down in the seat and my paddle stroke was ghastly. I soon learned that pulling my food pegs closer would help me use my upper body in my stroke. The improvement in my paddle stroke due to being able to push my butt back in the seat and get my knees into the sides of the kayak was a huge relief.

Uh, my left leg is going numb. I had no idea that sitting on a relatively comfortable kayak seat would have the ability to make my leg go numb all the way from my butt to my toes. That can't be good. I still don't know exactly how to solve this problem but I know that the seat and my position in it are important.

So, the trip went well. I got the best upper body workout of my life. The beauty and wildlife was awesome. I was distracted by the views so much that I didn't really think about my leg problem or my fatigue. The outcome of this trip is still to be determined but my kayak research has yielded a few choice bits.

First, plastic is heavy and difficult to repair. Second, fiberglass is lighter and, allegedly, easier to repair. However, composites come at a price. Perhaps the most expensive of these are carbon fiber and Kevlar. Yes, some kayaks are made with Kevlar. The price range from plastic to Kevlar in the touring kayaks is about $900 to about $5,000. That's enough to make one think carefully before purchasing. I'm clearly more of a $900 kind of guy.

Having made my financial position clear, I can't deny that there are a couple of kayaks that make my glasses steam up. Feathercraft Kayaks make an amazing kayak that folds into a large suit case or backpack. This brand looks like an aluminum frame with a waterproof fabric shell. It's amazing. But, it has an amazing price at $3,400. This is the $2,400 price of coolness, lightness and portability.

A few of contenders for my purposes are the Dagger Alchemy 14, Perception Carolina, Perception Tribute (for smaller folks like my wife). These are all traditional touring kayaks made out of plastic or fiberglass. The new trend in kayaks appears to be the Sit On Top kayak. Of these, the Malibu Kayak X-Factor and Stealth 14 are pretty appealing (also plastic). These are all available in about 14 foot lengths.

Most of these boats range between 48 and 60 lbs. I've chosen a shorter length that should provide a good balance of maneuverability and speed. Typically, longer/narrower boats are faster but less stable. The SOT kayaks are the widest of the bunch at 33 inches. More stability will be nice for their stated purpose as a fishing and diving platform. Big guys with long legs should like being out of the confines of a traditional kayak. And, just so you don't worry about the lack of kayak to body connection, the SOT kayaks often come with knee straps.

The last bit of this long post is about kayaks you can build. Pygmy Boats (http://www.pygmyboats.com/) make a bunch of boat kits that get great reviews. These boats are plywood that is stitched together, glassed, and epoxied. They look beautiful when finished right. They are probably the lightest of the affordable boats. The combination of fiberglass and wood means less fiberglass and epoxy than a pure fiberglass boat. The relative strength is comparable with Kevlar. The price is right around $1,000 for their Arctic Tern 14. This boat weighs 32 lbs. But, it will cost me in terms of hours of labor, space in the garage and then the inevitable ballerina-shoes period where I won't want anything to scratch or touch it.

So, there you go. Of course, there is much more to talk about regarding wetsuits, Personal Floatation Devices, paddles, and stuff. These are the odd bits that drive me crazy. I hate collecting tons of stuff. But, I love researching it all. Fortunately, most of these boats can be rented.

GF

Cash for Clunkers or When Socialism Makes Everything Better

700k in new car sales result from the cash for clunkers program. You'd think that car makers might get the idea that in order to sell more cars they should consider dropping prices and controlling costs. Hmmmm, nah, dumb idea. Let's just wait until we're drowning in debt and unprofitable. Then, we'll beg the government for help and they'll hand us taxpayer money since the tax payers won't do it on their own.

Ahhh, socialism. Where have you been all these years?

Running With Knives (a follow up)

I recently purchased a few of the mid-length folding knives from Opinel. I can't wait to see them. Funny thing is that I thought I'd get a more competitive price by hunting around online rather than going straight to Opinel. Wrong. After digging around, I found the US distribution channel by looking at the Export section of the Opinel website. They have the best prices available online.

Now, I'm in that anxious limbo between having spent the money and actually seeing the product. In the meantime I'm eyeing a few items from flexcut and, more specifically, some short-bladed knives that are particularly for chip carving. I'll share more when I find what I want.

I'll also snag a few thumb guards and basswood pieces (including eggs), to start playing with.

GF

Knife Manufacturer Marketing Runs with Open Blade

Pocket knives are a strange indicator of market and manufacturer not seeing eye to eye. I recently went looking for a couple good knives for carving. It seems odd that so many modern knives are so focused on what looks cool that the poor Boy Scout or average guy can't get what they really want without pouring over info to try to self educate.

The biggest issue I can think of is metal selection. Many manufacturers and vendors will share that their blade is made of Stainless Steel (SS) but won't tell you much more. The different types of SS make for very different blades. I'm noticing that kids who buy knives are almost always sucked into an SS blade without knowing of different options. And, different types of SS make for different sharpening, edge quality, and edge retention properties. The fact is that SS is a real pain to get a good edge on. No wonder kids don't end up liking carving.

Where, oh where, are the old-school high-carbon-steel blades? They are so easy to sharpen. And, when sharp, a good knife can make carving such a pleasure. If you get agressive about searching for carbon-steel blades online you'll begin to find bits and pieces of information. CASE XX, Opinel, Gerber, Schrade and a few others still make carbon-steel blades. As with SS blades, there are many different qualities and types of carbon-steel. I can't begin to pretend to know all that stuff but I can tell you that it can make a big difference in your carving experience. Also, the metal should completely influence your decisions regarding sharpening methods and materials.

Keep in mind that I'm searching for carving knives. It is not typical to find pocket knives that are for this purpose. Usually, serious carvers are focused on a set of fixed-blade specialty tools (gouges, knives, files, etc) that have short blades and large handles. There are very few great folding-blade options for carvers.

So, what did I find? First, Opinel makes a very inexpensive line of locking, carbon-steel, knives. Second, Oar Carver makes a pocket knife that is more standard but has blades that are shorter and shaped specifically for carving. There are a couple more cool ones out there specifically for carving but they are over $100. And, CASE XX makes a bunch of pocket knives that have carbon-steel blades (even locking blades) that can be used for carving.

Here's all the must haves I considered: price, carbon steel blade, locking blade, folding blade, short enough blade to be reasonable for carving. With all the options out there, it's tough to beat the Opinel for cost/benefit. By the way, I found some cool safety gear including a glove for the non-knife hand and a thumb guard for carving blade to thumb. There are some good things out there.

I wonder when manufacturers will start thinking about practicality and most common use? If I was a knife manufacturer, I'd make a knife with 1 or 2 blades, shortened for carving, with blades that fold, lock and are made of carbon-steel. I'd include a thumb guard, an appropriate sharpening tool for the blade type, and a few chunks of bass wood. Can it be that simple? Uh, yeah.

Tiny

I've been looking around at tiny house designs for more than ten years. I'm absolutely fascinated with them. The blog link (on the right) gives me so many great ideas. I'm determined to redesign the typical home. I want something cheaper, sturdier, and easy for anyone to own and use.

I'm not a fan of using storage space for living space or the other way around. I particularly don't like bedrooms. All that room for storing a pad and clothes during the day and then storing sleeping bodies during the night. It just seems odd. The trend in the housing industry seems to be toward complexity; more corners equals more joy. I'm not a fan.

The inside needs help as well. I like to think about furniture like Alton Brown thinks about kitchen gadgets. If it doesn't serve more than one purpose it probably isn't worth owning.

So many people have bathroom, kitchen and water-heater disasters. Why not change house design to stop such unnecessary problems?

GF

Alton's Carbide Cannon

Hey, here's a neat project Alton did for Independence Day. (Not to mention that it is environmentally friendly- the only byproducts are water and lime.)

Military Disaster Proves Genius of Simplicity

Introducing COH
For those of you who don't know, Conflict of Heroes (COH) i s THE best of the new-school military strategy boardgames. It is easy to play. It has a limited number of rules. And, with all its simplicity, it can be a real brain-buster when it comes to strategic decision-making.

For Starters
COH has about five starter scenarios that help illustrate game rules, strategies and methods. A and I have worked our way through four of five starter scenarios. I think the fourth scenario took us about 4 hours to play.

NKOTB
Summer is here. We've got a tent set up in the back yard. The boys are enjoying some of their free time by playing COH in the tent. This is the first time the two younger boys have tried COH. So, they are learning the ropes. It's always a concern when the younger kids learn new games. It can be frustrating for them. And, guaranteed, it's frustrating for me. Everyone hates losing and it's obvious that someone will. And, with a complicated military game, you have good odds betting on who will suffer the disgrace of losing.

Not So Fast
The starter scenarios generally take a few hours to play. They usually require lots of unit movement, some terrain strategy and a chunk of resource management. It's easy to get very involved in thinking through all the possible issues. So, imagine my surprise, when my oldest is defeated in the first few minutes of a larger starter scenario. My youngest moved a mortar up on a hill, got line of site on one of two houses that might house the enemy general and opened fire. Once he got a dice roll that represented a hit, the General had to reveal himself. Then, J opened up and used all his resources to try for a second hit so he could get the kill. On his last resources for his mortar unit - he got the kill which won the game. He took a four-plus hour scenario and boiled it down to one squad moving about 4 clicks and using all its resources to take out the objective without any other engagement. All this took no more than a few minutes after a lengthy and painstaking setup.

Overkill
By the way, that's the third game my youngest has won against A and myself in the last three days. It got me thinking that my tendency to over-analyze is not good. Between us, A and I have played ultra-defensive, ultra-offensive, and a good mix. And, in every condition, we've been thoroughly trounced. Not bad for an 11 year old.

To the Victor go the Spoils
For a kid who takes great pleasure in teasing, gloating over small and large wins and providing play by play for anyone who misses the action, J is being relatively reserved about kicking our butts. I think he might realize for the first time that he is capable of beating absolutely anyone. And I think my oldest is just realizing, after a lifetime of easily beating his little brothers, that he's defeatable. The genius of victory isn't always in out-thinking your opponent. Somethimes it's about getting to the salient point of the scenario and getting efficient about getting it done.
It's the lot of little brothers to get beaten by older brothers because they grow up together on parallel tracks but with staggered starts. The danger of consistent winning is, perhaps, just as impactful as the danger of consistent losing. And, the sting of defeat can be healthy sometimes.
This is a good life lesson. Good job J.


GF