Re: [Paddlewise] Fw: Assembled our Long Haul Double...

>  No pullys, tools, belts or pins. Goes together like a dream.

Yeah... there are pins, actually; many of them (not loaded with any stress -
just retaining pins); they need both hands to lock or unlock, but, the word
is, they are more reliable than aluminum locks used in Klepper.  Longhauls
have been making those doubles for a longer time than singles, so some
details in a single need tune-up (I've got one); but nothing serious.
Somehow they've missed out "the first thing in the morning", - I mean, in
the evening :-) - when you land somewhere and want to tie the boat to
something.  Oops, no docking line; I had to add one, similarly to the one on
Feathercrafts and some hardshells - tied to the bow and with a long loop (on
sliding hangman's knot) clipped to the D-ring near cockpit.

>  The Long Haul double will never win awards for the lightest and most
agile,

Longhaul is a good one. Wide, stabile and a bit slow. Well, I don't
complain - people say it's faster than Klepper AE.

>  I rigged a new Spirit Sail on a Long Haul deckboard and will be anxious
to
>  see how well it works.

It will work,  - just enough to make paddling easier; not enough to make a
trip wtihout paddling  (if it's a smaller Spirit, 8 sq.ft). I tried my
single Longhaul with 11 sq ft Pacific Action sail; just about the right size
for this boat.

>  This year we added a new Stolquist PFD for Janet, the Spirit Sail and and
>  Icom M-32..... which means that I have shot the wad and can't think of
>  anything else that we could possibly need except good weather.

With a high backrest of Longhaul and TAD bulky and stiff srpauskirt funnel
(compared to nylon or neoprene ones) I found difficult to pick the right
PFD. (For those who don't know this boat - its seat is something like those
Crazy Creek chairs, with backrest few inches above the cockpit rim).  So, my
back was resting on the back of the PFD, not on the backrest itself.  There
are meshback PFDs by Lotus, but for now I've just cut some foam panels out
of the back of the old canoe PFD, so that I could normally lean with my back
against the backrest (when I need this).  There is some other problem with
this high backrest in a single LH - it sometimes hits the metal tip of the
rear deckbar when I paddle and torso is pushing against the backrest.  1"
thick wooden stoppers on the top section of the rib will solve the problem.
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