Seat Lowering V2

I wanted to put blocks inside the boat between the seat and the deck where I had only a bolt and lockniys before, just to relieve any strain on the deck.
Something very stiff was needed but with a tiny bit of flex, something that wouldn't corrode. Blocks of wood were considered and high density foam but these didn't quite fit the bill, metal was right out.
Then it came to me, plastic pipe. I found a length in the shed and it was a perfect fit.



I had toyed with the idea of fitting a longer piece so that I could add mat to make thigh pads but it would have been a job getting enough padding on and being able to fit it between the pipe and the side of the boat.



I'm going to get thinner pipe, make up some hip pads then slide it into the pipe I have fitted, make adjustments then glue or screw into place.
I also added a foam block behind the seat for more stability.



And for good measure a big one under the front of the seat.



Now if that isn't stable I'm going to have to weld in a metal one !

Black Isle Stability Check

Today I was able to have a wee paddle over to the Black Isle.
I set off from the slip, my usual departure site for trips in the firth.



I noticed the difference from lowering the seat immediately, much better stability. I was quite surprised how much better the boat felt.

Paddled under the 'smelter pier'.

This used to have a conveyer belt running from the end right into the Aluminium Smelter. Now wagons roll up and down to load and unload various other cargoes.


I then headed towards the end of the Admiralty pier to make the crossing.


Near the other side I manged to get some shots of the other stuff in the firth, it's usually rigs in for repairs.


Here's the view back to the Admiralty Pier.


On the Black Isle I stopped for a coffee.




Then headed back. On the way into the tide and a wee breeze the GPS reported 6.6 - 6.9 kph. It was now telling me 7.5kph this is similar to what I was getting before the seat lowering. The twitchiness I felt last week seems to have disappeared too. I got some pics on the way back.


You can see Ben Wyvis behind this rig.


I also spotted the object that I hit last week when it was submerged, a big bloody tyre !


And that was it, I am happy with the seat lowering results. No, I am very happy. There seemed to be no movement, the seat is quite frimly pinned hard to the hull against the additional foam. I may still put blocks between the seat and the deck just to be on the safe side.
A nice paddle.

Lowering The Seat On P&H Sirius

After reading Douglas Wilcox' writings about improving stability on the P&H boats fitted with a plastic seat, I decided to give it a go.

The first problem was removing the seat. After removing the securing bolts I was able to slide the seat about so it was not glued to the hull but I simply could not get the thing out. I wonder how P&H ever got the thing in there, maybe it's heated up to make it more pliable ?

Drastic measures were needed, I cut it in half !





I then removed the excess foam from underneath. I bought some more M8 bolts, nylock nuts and washers. The seat was replaced and taped back together.



I then added more foam to the front to stabilise the seat, 'glueing' it to the seat with silicon sealant. I think the front part of the seat is close to what it was originally.



The bolts were put in and in the absence of nylon washers I used PTFE tape to make a seal. I screwed nylocks and washers on the inside to fasten the bolts and then another nylock and washer before passing the bolt through the seat, this was to keep the seat pushed down.If this proves too unstable I may add small blocks of foam or wood.



You can see the gap between the seat and the deck in the above pic. There used to be no gap here with the seat bolted hard up against it.

I fitted one more set of nylocks and washers to the underside of the seat.

A small piece of foam was needed at the back.



Everything was tightened up and the seat pad replaced to hide the tape. My butt now sits 40mm nearer the bottom of the boat.

From Seat Lowering

I couln't get out to see the difference today as the weather is crap again.

Found Some More Winter Ones

Ach, I couldn't resist when I found these in another directory on the PC.

Now do you know that gash you often see on pictures of Ben Alligin well here's my mate Spike standing next to it.

From Winter Walking

OK here's one of me but I wasn't going to include it because I seem to have developed buck teeth and a strangely shaped head especially for the photo.

From Winter Walking

Here's another of Spike that I think is quite good, the name of the hill escapes me but I could take you there if you're interested :-)

From Winter Walking

There's nobody in the next one but there's a feature you may have heard about.
The pic is taken from Ben Wyvis and down below you may be able to see the dam and Loch Glascarnoch bending around to the left. Hidden behind the hill at the west end of the Loch is the met office weather station for Loch Glascarnoch.

From Winter Walking

Lollypop Stick

I decided to have a go at making an Inuit paddle following the general intructions found here

I have to say that I ain't no joiner and I was a bit, no a lot rough. I chewed a lump out of the end with the circular saw then over egged the depth of cut in several places with the wood saw :-)

It all started with a piece of scaffoling board. First cuts were made witha circular saw then not very tidied up with a wood saw, surplane, spokeshave and sandpaper.

The result was something like this.

From Inuit

The sandpaper for the loom is still attached.
As I said the thing is ruff ruff, I forgot to mention the attacks I made on it with a chisel and an axe !!

From Inuit

Anyway here she is after a few coats of Danish Oil.

From Inuit

I don't think I will be trying it out until I have paddled the new boat a wee bit longer.

C. C. C. Cold

Went for another wee paddle today. Bloody cold. Nearly tipped the boat too when I hit something beneath the water, think it was some old wooden posts.
Managed to get into a nice rhythm on the way back, efforlessly gliding through the water.

Highland Weather Today.

Oh yes did I say it was cold ? A nasty northerly wind was blowing, despite this I thought I might try a roll. When my brother appeared by the slipway I went for it. DOH, I didn't come up right and instead of having another go I pulled the ejector cord !

Now I don't mind. In the back of my mind I was maybe thinking, this deck is on way tighter than the deck on my last boat, hope I can get it off OK if I have to. So now I know, there's no excuse for not rolling up next time.

Did I say it was cold ? I swam less then 20 metres to the shore and my hands were pretty numb by the time I got there. Imagine if I was out farther and had to deploy the old paddle float. I think I will be heading to enclosed waters during the holidays to practice.

Oh, thanks for lifting the boat for me bro' :-)

Oh aye, it was bloody cold today.

On The Second Day

It was less windy.
Wind from the northeast so less wavy too. Not a normal wind for us. Very nippy though.

Set off with an easy beach launch today, after yesterdays debacle it was welcome. The first thing I had to do was get my pogies from the day hatch, I managed to get around enough to tackle the hatch but my hands were so cold it was a struggle getting the hatch off. Got it sorted and oh my what a great product the Suzy 40 belows are, hands were toasty in no time.

suzy

Set off again and checked the GPS, over 6kph not quite into the wind. Found myself edging a wee bit here and there and twitching a bit more.

From On The Second...

Had a couple of wee rain showers but I didn't really notice, having too much fun paddling.

From On The Second...

I paddled to the harbour then turned and paddled back. A quick look at the GPS and I was doing over 7KPH now, I can live with that for normal paddling.

From On The Second...

Well that's it until the weekend, maybe I'll do some bracing and rolling then !

From On The Second...

She Arrived Today

Well I went and picked her up today.

From Boat Arrives

I took her out in the wee window I had before having to go get the kids from school. I shouldn't have bothered. The tide had just turned but was still lapping up onto the sea walls. I had to walk down the slip into thigh deep water then lift the boat down. I tried hopping in but the wind was throwing waves across the boat an it filled with water.

Got it back on terra firma and pumped it out. Had another go on the other side but she kept hitting the rocks that were beginning to appear in the ebbing tide. I think I scraped the poor wee thing.

From Boat Arrives

I finally got her going but it really was quite windy and the waves were rebounding off the wall and were pretty confused, so was I !! It was twitching about and was like someone shaking the back of the boat, quite scary at times but still fun.

I paddled into the wind and it was great going through the chop,I noticed that the bow cut through the waves instead of going over like my last boat, I managed to turn her about and it was OK with waves hitting from the side although a few went over the cockpit looks like this is going to get wetter than my previous one.

From Boat Arrives

I hope the forecast is a bit better for tomorrow as I should get a few hours in her before the nightshift.

From Boat Arrives

It's Getting Chilly. Blast From The Past

Well boys and girls it's getting cold again and it's time for all you winter walkers to dust off the ica axe and crampons. I enjoy the odd winter walk myself and have been looking out some of my old snaps with a winter theme.

This is a nice one, REALLY freezing but crisp and clear. This was the cold winter when lots of people suffered burst pipes. I think it was 1996 ?

From Winter Walking

This was that very same day.

From Winter Walking

From Winter Walking

Now a nice day in the Fannichs

From Winter Walking

Ben Alligin

From Winter Walking

Now for some nastier weather

This was on A Chralaig,

From Winter Walking

And this is shortly before we turned back due to poor vis and several more pinnacles !

From Winter Walking

And now the 'What the hell are we doing out in this' photo's.

It's cold...

From Winter Walking

Too bloody right it's cold.

From Winter Walking

So have fun and be safe out there. Don't be afraid to turn back or even not to start out on a hill, use your loaf and live to walk another day.

New Boat

Should be getting it at the start of December.

P&H Sirius

Surf Fun

Rolling.

I joined the local Kayak club in September 2005 and completed the BCU 2 star course. During the winter the club holds pool sessions so you can work on various techniques in the warm pool waters. I think it's fair to say that most people practice or attempt rolling.
I think I managed about 5 sessions but couldn't quite get the hang of rolling despite the advice and encouragement of three different coaches.

Readers of the blog will note that before three star training began I decided to get my own river boat. I also watched EJ's rolling and bracing video ! During three star training we had two pool sessions where I managed not to roll yet again, it was beginning to bug me.

I don't think it was one particular thing, my brain was having problems multitasking the paddle the boat and the body positions.

Well we done our three star assesment and I tried a roll and failed :-( no cert for me.

From Three Star

I was told that when I could roll I should contact the assesor to get the three star signed off.

The following week I went into the firth beside my house and started practising, I think I had about ten goes, slowing down and thinking about each bit. It appeared that there were several faults to work on. Paddle not far enough up left arm not tucked in, trying to lift head too quickly. The only thing I had was the hip flick. More thought and a few more attempts later then BINGO.

I rolled. Thinking it was a fluke I rolled again, then again. Six times in a row. I then came down to the water the very next day and did six more ! It wasn't a fluke I was rolling !

From In The Firth

I phoned Dave the assesor and arranged to meet him in Inverness, Dave didn't even have to get in his boat I went in and rolled no problem. Yee Ha.



Well now I'm trying to roll on the opposite side, but computer says no. My brain only want's to roll on my strong side.
Back to the pool sessions !!

LongPaddle

Extra Support By Holding The Paddle 'Long'

Been And Done It

Well kids, I've done it. The other day I picked up a whitewater kayak. I got a second hand Pyranha I 3. Sorted out the footrest settings by adding some old sleeping mat foam and went paddling yesterday. A.T. stood on the beach as I attempted some of the moves I learn't in two star.
A.T. shouted out encouragement and corrections with a yeah or nay for various moves and strokes. He missed out though by not bringing his camera as I ended up tipping the thing.
I was attempting to carve then switched sides, I got hit by a small wave and over I went.
No brace and no attempt to roll were made, I was just shocked at going over !
Well now I know I can get out of the thing, LOL.
Need to find the nearest flat water for more practice, not the bouncy salty stuff.