Leaving my kayak exposed to the elements on top of my vehicle for days at a time I am considering having a cover made for the kayak for UV protection. I have two questions. Does anyone know of a source that makes custom kayak covers? I may go the route of having a local tailor sew a cover together, which leads to my next question. What would be the best material to use for a exterior cover? Thanks, Arthur Hebert Louisiana *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
The most durable material would be the fabric used for boat covers. It's super UV proof and the boat cover people should be able to make your required configuration. It will be relatively heavy but bullet proof and will last forever. The material is called sunshade or something similar. The wrong fabric would disintegrate in a few months in the southern sun. *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
November is probably my least favorite month of the year. It's usually cold and dark and damp and gray, the leaves are down, and there's no doubt that summer is gone and the cold, hard months of winter lie ahead. But not every November day is nasty; sometimes, it's warmish, and the sky is a clear blue jewel. When you get a day like that, it's valuable for those inevitable chores of buttoning up for winter. That's what I was doing this Saturday afternoon -- I was up at the storage shed, clearing away space so I could get the trailer and one of the sea kayaks in for the winter. My daughter and her college room mate had decided to stash their bikes in the storage shed for the winter, and I had to do something with them, since they would block the space the trailer used. I'd gone up there to see if I could figure a way out of it, but, being a paddler, I was agonizing over the missed opportunity; a day not on the water this time of the year is a day gone forever. I opened the door of the storage shed, and there sat the Tornado, sitting lonely on the floor. I bought the battered whitewater boat last winter cheaply, mostly for the occasional time that I might want to do a small river or a carry-in pond that was too much of a hassle for an 18-foot sea kayak. The guy I'd bought it from had used it as a creek boat and had boofed it a lot, so it has scratches in places you wouldn't normally expect a kayak to be scratched. I really haven't used it much, and it had gathered a lot of cobwebs over the summer. I looked at it and realized I ought to get out in it at least once before winter set in, and I had what seemed to be the perfect solution. Down the hill from my house is a swampy pond that's mostly brush and duckweed in the summer, but the colder weather and fall rains had raised it up, and the leaves were off the brush. It'd be easy enough to go and throw the Tornado in the pond and mess around for a half hour. It wouldn't blow the afternoon away, but at least I'd be out on the water a little. I had some tiedown straps in the van with me, and it was only the work of minutes to have the blue Prijon on top and be heading down the road. I stopped in at the garage to grab a paddle, and looked down the hill toward the swamp, now with a closer look. It looked pretty gunky and muddy back up in it a ways, and I began to wonder if it was more trouble than it was worth. Since I was already loaded up, I got a better idea. Down near Lake Hudson, my favorite paddling area, there's another little lake I had never been on before. There aren't many lakes around here that have some form of public access that I've missed, but I've always driven past this one on the way to the bigger lake. In fact, you have to know where it is to see it at all from any of the park roads. I'd often thought I ought to take the Tornado and carry it down to this isolated little pond, just to explore it a little. This was the perfect opportunity. I parked the van next to the faint path that leads down to the lake. I'd only walked down it once before, but remembered that there was a pretty good spot to put in a stubby little plastic boat like the Tornado, although it would probably be nearly unusable for the bigger boats. The little whitewater boat seemed light and easy to carry as I carried it down the hundred yards or so of the path, paddle and PFD rattling around inside. I stood on the shore and looked around the lake. To my eye, it was perhaps ten acres, perhaps a little more. A marshy, brushy island sat over in one corner. The fresh fall breeze ruffled the surface. Unlike the familiar shores of Lake Hudson, only a few hundred yards off, this place seemed strange and new, different somehow, less visited and more pristine. I got in the boat and pushed off from the little shoreline spot where the path ended. The boat felt strange -- I hadn't paddled it in months, and the seat isn't very good. I took a stroke, not thinking about it very much, and the boat spun perhaps a quarter turn. Oh, yes, this was a whitewater boat, after all. I suppose that many months and miles in the easier tracking sea kayak had made me a little sloppy about the basics -- I was just used to taking a big stroke and letting the boat worry about going straight ahead. That kind of nonsense wouldn't be tolerated in this boat. I could see that I was going to have to think about what I was doing, but it was a good training exercise, in any sense. Besides, I soon remembered that as soon as you get up any sort of speed, the blunt bow pushes up a noisy, irritating wall of water, so it's happier taking it easy. Paddling gingerly, I started down the shoreline, not very far out. This boat isn't rigged for a paddle float recovery, and I didn't have the gear with me, anyway., so just to be on the safe side I decided to stay within walking distance and depth of shore -- no big trick, since the pond didn't appear to have much depth to it, anyway, and my paddle frequently struck bottom that seemed harder than I had expected. Once I got the feel of the boat a little, I could look around. The leaves were all down on the trees around, except for one oak that held onto it's dark brown remnants of summer glory. There was a row of pines along one shore, lending a touch of green to the prevailing drab brown of winter. There weren't a lot of birds out there this afternoon; the place seemed empty, nearly untouched, and the breeze muffled the sound of the occasional car passing on the nearby road. I reflected that there probably aren't often boats on this lake. There are a couple paths down here that are occasionally used by shore fishermen, but otherwise it seemed untouched. As I got down the pond a little, the breeze started to bite at the boat a little. The little blue kayak doesn't handle well in wind, and it was a chore to fight the weathercocking that the wind induced. Running this close in to shore, I had to stay alert for things in the water. Not far ahead, I saw a thin, weathered stake sticking vertically out of the water, wondering why it was there, but the nimbleness of the little boat paid off; it was only a matter of a couple minor adjustments to my stroke to maneuver around it. Not much further ahead, there was a nubbin of a snag sticking from the water, and a log laying pointed toward it on the shore. Figuring that the two were attached, I debated whether to go around the outside, or just slow down to a crawl and see if I could go over the top. Just barely dipping the paddle to keep the boat under control, I went over the top of where the log had to lay, but felt nothing. Paddling onward brought me to the end of the little bay at the downwind end of the lake. I turned into the wind to follow the shore, and the boat proved it was happier heading into the wind and across it. I went around a small point, where another enigmatic stake poked from the water, and had to buck the crosswind to the back of the bay. Fortunately, coming back out of the bay was in a windshadowed area, and I kept the boat close in, just poking along, enjoying the day. A fish jumped -- not big, and no telling what it was. Past dried brown marsh grasses and the naked brush of late fall, past an empty, solitary duck blind, I came to the upwind side of the lake, and turned to look back across the expanse -- perhaps a quarter mile. At the speed I was going, it seemed like a long way away. In one of the big sea kayaks, I could paddle to the far end and back in minutes, but would have failed to gain the intimacy of the shore I had seen. As I paddled back the last couple of hundred yards to the little landing hidden along the shore, I realized that I'd forgotten the joys of a simple, slow pond paddle. I'd gotten used to hopping in the big boat and digging big holes in the water, putting on miles at speed, but missing many of the delightful details. I made a mental note that the Tornado and I were going to have to get out more next year, on some of the quiet little ponds and backwaters I know about around here, but only visit rarely. They have their secrets and their joys, and reward the rare visitor that drifts around their edges, taking their time and discovering their mystery. -- Wes --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wes Boyd's Kayak Place http://www2.dmci.net/wesboyd/kayak.htm Kayaks for Big Guys (And Gals) | Trip Reports | Places To Go | Boats & Gear --------------------------------------------------------------------------- *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Arthur Hebert wrote: >Leaving my kayak exposed to the elements on top of my vehicle for days at a >time I am considering having a cover made for the kayak for UV protection. I >have two questions. Does anyone know of a source that makes custom kayak >covers? I may go the route of having a local tailor sew a cover together, >which leads to my next question. What would be the best material to use for a >exterior cover? > > >Thanks, > > > Arthur Hebert > > > Louisiana > > Hi Arthur. Check out the following site, they make custom covers. If they don't already have a pattern for your kayak you can send them the dimensions and they will make one up. I've seen them at the L. L. Bean symposium, the quality looks pretty good. http://www.kayakcovers.com/ Mike -- Paddling along through fog so thick that only one's thoughts are visible, your reverie is abruptly shattered by the ancient cry of a great blue heron as she lifts uncertainly from the brilliant blue of a mussel-shell beach witnessed only by the brooding, wet spruce....your passage home seems as much back through time as it does through space. Mark H Hunt *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
At 05:33 AM 11/3/01 -0600, you wrote: >Leaving my kayak exposed to the elements on top of my vehicle for days at a >time I am considering having a cover made for the kayak for UV protection. I >have two questions. Does anyone know of a source that makes custom kayak >covers? I may go the route of having a local tailor sew a cover together, >which leads to my next question. What would be the best material to use for a >exterior cover? I've got a couple of canoe bags from "the bag lady" http://www.wworks-canoe.com/the_bag_lady.htm I just emailed to get pricing for a new bag, for a canoe. I've been quite happy with the bag lady bags. They are a stretchy synthetic material that has held up well to regular car topping. They go on easily and don't have any material that flaps while driving. I picked up a surfski cover on ebay a couple of weeks ago that was made by Dakine. The bag is similar to a stretchy towel material. I don't know how well it will hold up to sun light. The bag is snug, on my fairly narrow surf ski. It would be a waste of money to buy one and try to fit it on a regular sea kayak. If you are handy what you could make, from something like sunbrella, is probably better than some of the kayak bags that I've seen for sale. They don't look much fancier than a tarp with some straps attached to it. kirk *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
From: "kirk olsen" <kolsen_at_imaginelan.com> > If you are handy what you could make, from something like sunbrella, is > probably better than some of the kayak bags that I've seen for sale. Sunbrella is about C$33.00 per meter or about US$20.00 per yard. That would make the cover about US$120.00 just for the materials. I'd be inclined to go with something cheaper, preferably polyester (better UV resistance than nylon). For example, http://www.owfinc.com/Fabrics/Nylon%20Woven/PackclothOxford.asp#Polyester Oxford (the " Oxford" is part of the URL) has a 200 denier oxford cloth that would be heavy enough for a cover and is much cheaper. Also take a look at http://www.seattlefabrics.com/marine_frameset.html for alternative marine cover materials. Some people make inexpensive covers out of Tyvek. They won't last forever, but you can make quite a few for the price of one Sunbrella cover. I can't find a source for the stretchy material that Kirk points to. Mike *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Anyone have a used Gortex drysuit for sale in good condition in a large size for a 6' tall male? Gvoisey_at_nyc.rr.com *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Gordon, I would put a post of Boatertalk under gear. Most of the boats and gear are white water but things like drysuits go both ways. I put posts up for most of the gear I buy and do quite well. Lots of outfitters use the list as well so you may find you can get a good deal on a new suit. happy hunting JFF >Anyone have a used Gortex drysuit for sale in good condition in a large size >for a 6' tall male? > >Gvoisey_at_nyc.rr.com > > > >*************************************************************************** >PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed >here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire >responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. >Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net >Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net >Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ >*************************************************************************** -- *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
From the Boston Globe, 12 Nov. 2001 p. B2 Canoe tragedy claims Brockton man A Saturday night canoe ride with friends ended in tragedy when police yesterday pulled the body of a 23-year-old Brockton man from Whitmans Pond. Thom Madjerec drowned after the canoe he was riding in with two friends at about 9 PM capsized. [Friends rescued, survived.]... ... overturned about 50 feet offshore ... none was wearing a life jacket, a violation of state law ... water about 10 feet deep ... air temperature was 44 degrees and the water temperature was probably around 30 degrees ... hypothermia might have been a factor ... second [death] in six months at Whitmans Pond. ... The owner of the canoe will be cited for a misdemeanor violation. "Had they worn life jackets, this probably wouldn't have been fatal."... This happens far too often here in New England. -Gerald Hawkins. *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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