I think I mentioned this before: I'm pretty close to finished with my 20-4 Bartender, now dubbed "Surf Scoter," which will be our mother ship for transporting ourselves and a pair of folding kayaks to sheltered bays and inlets in Canada. We have enough joint issues that multiday self-supported paddling trips are a real strain, so this boat is our way of continuing to explore the places we love. Photos of initial sea trial begin here: http://i.pbase.com/o4/62/812762/1/92098082.53ro065i.P1230003.JPG Here is the full report (Craig made me do this): Had a sunny, fine day down here, so we tested Surf Scoter at a local lake. Now that it has gotten wet, I think it can be known by its given name. Christening comes later ... kind of a chick thing at my house. We had a lot of fun, running up and down the lake, playing with high and low speed turns, fine-tuning all the stuff on a new boat that needs adjusting. Every time I ride in a Bartender, I am stunned anew at how smooth and solid it is in turns. Feels just like a quality sports car, with no sliding out, skittering, or skipping. The Westerbeke 70GA performed well; its 65 horses are ample power for this size boat. We ran it loaded (three 200-lb guys, all sitting just forward of the engine box) and got 20 knots at 1800 rpm indicated, and 14.5 knots at 1400 rpm indicated. [Have not calibrated the tach yet; these rpm figures may change.] Got up on plane smoothly, almost unnoticed, perhaps around 11-12 knots. This engine needs a little throttle on startup to keep it going, but is an easy restart when warm. We had some surging and a couple shutdowns at 1800 rpm, later chased down to a loose fitting at the fuel pump. The only other glitch was an overly tight shaft log packing, which overheated badly. Now removing my error ... painfully. We set up the 10-foot oars and each took a turn rowing and turning the boat with these monsters, managing a knot and a half or so with some effort. I can see these oars are going to be really handy for positioning during anchoring, and entering tricky slips. Photos courtesy of longtime buddy Gary; the ones at the link above are smaller format. When he gets the originals to me, I'll post some more on the PBase site. Gary also got a little video footage. Thanks to Gary, Stan Johnson (of Beertender fame), Jim Coughlin (Orcinus; the 22 ft aluminum Bartender down here) and Lifeboat Tim (working on restoration of a really nice 26 footer) for coming out today. Tim and Jim had to split to go earn a living, so I owe each of them a shot at running this boat. The remaining three of us were all grinning ear to ear as we took turns at the helm. It was a hell of a day! -- Dave Kruger Astoria, OR *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
On Jan 25, 2008 3:27 AM, Dave Kruger <kdruger_at_pacifier.com> wrote: > <http://i.pbase.com/o4/62/812762/1/92098082.53ro065i.P1230003.JPG> > > Here is the full report (Craig made me do this): Heh, heh, heh. :) Once again, Kruger leads the way forward for us ol' guys. I'm just following him, as usual. There is a 22-foot Fiberform (owner spells it "Fibreform if you search for it) with a flying bridge and inside steering for $2,000 on the Portland, OR craigslist. With a trailer. m sure it's at least sort of a project but it looks like a perfect mothership to me. I'If I didn't already have mine I'd go buy that one. In fact, my wife had to physically restrain me from buying it anyway. :P Craig Jungers Moses Lake, WA *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
Dave Kruger wrote: > I think I mentioned this before: I'm pretty close to finished with my > 20-4 Bartender, now dubbed "Surf Scoter," which will be our mother ship > for transporting ourselves and a pair of folding kayaks to sheltered > bays and inlets in Canada. [snip] Kinda drecky here, today for any paddling. Some grainy Youtube video of the launch day, right here: http://tinyurl.com/26lmgg Gonna try it again maybe Thursday, since I fixed that loose fuel connection. Should be able to push it above 1800 rpm, now. -- Dave Kruger Astoria, OR *************************************************************************** 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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