Kayaks and Airstreams

[doorgunner]

Thats what I'ld call real "gutty" paddling attire!
starting on a wood SOT, strictly for crabbing.
Wadefish 2.0 by JEM Watercraft. It'll have a few mods of my own built in.

[nilesrob]

Gotta say, love my new Hullavator. Chattahoochee River.

[FC7039]

I came across this Oru Kayak: the origami folding boat. Interesting.

[nilesrob]

I am looking at a Necky Chatham 16 (polymer). Does anyone have any comments good or bad, particularly for someone 6 feet tall and maybe 195 pounds?

[Sky]

I hear Necky makes nice boats, although I have never paddled one. Here are some people that have though. Sorry if you already read these. My boat has 22" beam also. I'm 5'11" 205lbs. The boat fits me like a glove, I love it.

Chatham 16 Kayak by Necky Kayaks - Product Reviews
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[BaroloRed]

I've paddled a Necky Eliza (fiberglass) for several years and love it. Several of my paddle buddies have 16 and/or 17' Chathams-glass or plastic. We go to the San Juan islands and sometimes the WA or OR coast. We are usually in one of the eastern WA rivers. All those Necky boats handle great and have ample storage. We all have skegs. A plastic boat would be nice to have in rocky conditions. I've done gel coat repair a few times.

[nilesrob]

Thanks all!

Maiden voyage today (sorry, no champagne across the bow) of my new Necky Chatham 16. Decided to go with a plastic boat, largely due to cost compared to glass or other materials. Kayaks, like many things, are a compromise.

So far, love it!! Just spent a couple of hours lake paddling, although I will say a good part of the time was against 15-25 mph winds. Is there a rule that the wind is ALWAYS in your face? Dropped the skeg and it felt like the boat was on a rail. Can't wait to further test, but so far just an awesome boat!

[Sky]

Sweet Brad, nice boat.

I just found out I'm a co-star in this past summer's roll session video. I'm the "How NOT to roll" guy lol.

2012 - Roll Class video by Columbus_Outdoor_Pursuits | Photobucket

[Taylormade]

Cool thread! Over Thanksgiving, we had a great spot, right on Tampa Bay, for a week and I was able to do a LOT of fishing! I'm enjoying my Wilderness Systems Pamlico 160T

[nilesrob]

Originally Posted by Taylormade

Cool thread! Over Thanksgiving, we had a great spot, right on Tampa Bay, for a week and I was able to do a LOT of fishing! I'm enjoying my Wilderness Systems Pamlico 160T

Cool pics! First shot kind of looks like Fort DeSoto, but the campsite does not. Looks great wherever it is!

I know there were some references previously to Lake Tahoe in here but have struggled to find again. Reason is my bride and I will be celebrating our 25th this year and we are going to head to Lake Tahoe in Sept/Oct to celebrate. Any suggestions or pointing to any previous threads/posts welcomed!

[doorgunner]

only 81 days on the water in 2012. bummer, missed the 100 mark again.

[Zeppelinium]

Originally Posted by doorgunner

only 81 days on the water in 2012. bummer, missed the 100 mark again.

I'd say this compares favorably to my 11 days. But two of them I was paddling your fast kayaks. Ha!
Z

[Harpo]

Finally we were able to take the kayaks with us camping. Loading and unloading was easy with our EB. We put a tarp down first and then once they were in we wrapped the tarp around them and secured them in place with tie downs. All in all -- pretty pleased. Now if we could just catch some fish.

[bolerama]

Originally Posted by Harpo

Finally we were able to take the kayaks with us camping. Loading and unloading was easy with our EB. We put a tarp down first and then once they were in we wrapped the tarp around them and secured them in place with tie downs. All in all -- pretty pleased. Now if we could just catch some fish.

Attachment 176418

Excellent, Harpo! It's so nice to see the EB being used this way. I'm jealous!
Lisa

[doorgunner]

Well, it started already. Saturday was out first club race, 33 F. at the start, slight breeze. on Lake Natomas. I stunk up the short (5.5 mile) course pretty bad.lol I'll do better next month. Looks like I may be entering the "California 100" mile paddle race from Redding to Chico.bee a long day in the kayak for sure. Hopefully the date will not conflict with Linda Lu's planning of our vacation. That has a paddle involved with it also. Napali Coast. hopefully I can get lucky and make them both!
Starting off to be a good year.
anyone else winter paddling?

[nilesrob]

A couple of us put in recently at the Canopener rally at Topsail in Santa Rosa Beach, FL (is that considered winter kayaking??). Put in at the very eastern end of Hogtown Bayou in the Choctawatchee Bay, maybe went about 8 miles - guess. Great place to put in if you are down in the Destin/Panama City area.

[Zeppelinium]

See the story here. The true story - Thomas P. Peschak

[warbler5]

Originally Posted by Harpo

Finally we were able to take the kayaks with us camping. Loading and unloading was easy with our EB. We put a tarp down first and then once they were in we wrapped the tarp around them and secured them in place with tie downs. All in all -- pretty pleased. Now if we could just catch some fish.

Attachment 176418

This is such a nice feature on the EB!!! Do you have any pics of the kayaks mounted inside? Are they just strapped down somehow? Also, how long is your EB Airstream? Gotta go take a look at the EB floor plans....

[Harpo]

Originally Posted by warbler5

This is such a nice feature on the EB!!! Do you have any pics of the kayaks mounted inside? Are they just strapped down somehow? Also, how long is your EB Airstream? Gotta go take a look at the EB floor plans....

No sorry. I forgot to take pictures while they were inside. I believe our Malibu kayaks are 10 and 12 ft in length. Our trailer is 25 ft. We put the longest kayak in first over a tarp and then the small kayak on top of it. Both were right side up. Doing it this way did not require that we fold up the bench sits. Finally we used the tie downs on the floor of the trailer to secure the kayaks while in transit. Another nice feature of the EB is the tie downs on the outside of the trailer. We use them to chain the kayaks to the trailer while we are out running around.

[doorgunner]

Originally Posted by Zeppelinium

I'd say this compares favorably to my 11 days. But two of them I was paddling your fast kayaks. Ha!
Z

Just returned from 4 days of crabbing at Bodega Bay,Ca. add 6 other days since the beginning of the month and I'm up to 10, TEN , already. one shy of Zeps total for last year!!. lol
anyway 3 of the 4 days were under a single red flag, Coastie speak for small craft warnings. made for some very interesting paddling. I teamed up with my good friend Donnie for the event. We put in Friday afternoon and dropped 6 traps pretty far out. We only got 4 Dungies and a few rocks in the short time we were out.Saturday blew in steady 21 knots with a 6 foot tide going out, wind from the shore. We spent 3 1/2 hours on the water , every time we checked a trap we were blown out to sea 1/4 mile. This was real work for sure. We got 4 more good size Dungies and 5 big rocks. The Coast Guard rescued 4 kayakers that were swept out to sea and could not make it back. One guy lost his kayak in the process. Rookies with NO respect for the sea. No safety plan, no partners, no brains.Any way we made it back in after repositioning our traps about 1/2 mile offshore. Got back to the campsite and steamed up the 9 and devoured them right out of the steamer with a few friends.
Sunday morning we headed out, Dons traps had disappeared! They were very close to my 4. We looked for a long time, nothing. I limited out (10) in 3 hours.More big wind and waves and tide going in the wrong direction. None of my keepers were close to the Derby winner of 7 1/2 ". Se we had anothe small gathering for dinner Sunday nite. Over 100 kayakers were entered in the Derby. Linda Lu won a real nice deck bag for her kayak. She was thrilled!
This morning we paddled out at 8am, it was just starting to whitecap but the tide was coming in. Our mission was just to retrieve my 4 traps and patrol for Don's missing 2. We noticed 2 bouys that were similar to his and suspected there was a mix up, like his traps were taken by mistake. Any way I got 6 more good size keepers. We paddled back in as a few others were just getting out at 9:30. The wind was picking up.We loaded up and headed back to camp to cook the new catch and get the Excella ready for the ride home.
Even thow it was blowing like snot the trailer was parked in full sunshine and was 78 F. during the day, outside low 50's. At night if dropped into the low 40's, lotsa wind and we were able to keep the trailer at a comfortable 62 F all night using my Dickinson direct vent yacht heater on low setting.Just propane, no electric needed.
So the Airstream did it's job once again. It's a great place to drink wine after a work out on the ocean. We'll be in that area crabbing again in April.
I used my New Wadefish plans built kayak. Sit on top , 15 foot 48 lbs. Great yak for crabbing.
Paddle , paddle paddle.