@slothrop Yeah Piranha has their own factory, as does Dagger Europe, Waka comes out of the same factory as Exo in Italy Drago Rossi is Eurotank, Spade is Exo too isn't it? I thought Zet had their own plant in Czech? Lettmann definitely has their own factory & prijon has always been next level! The Bliss-Stick factory was basically home made, I did the carpentery on the old collapsed wool shed that was converted, the oven was super basic but fine for short boats, but too small for modern boats.
@slothrop Then there was the old Necky factory in Czech that used to make Waka when they first came out in Europe. The Exo oven is a really nice machine, I'm kinda surprised there are quality problems coming out of there. Kenny from Waka reckons he has only had a handful of broken boats since they moved production there. But with that much production coming out of one plant, it will be going hard and thats where problems creep in.
@ClH2OArs They reduce the water level for the lake significantly during the winter (the entire area I kayaked today will have no water), and you can see all the old tree stumps sticking up through the ice.
We have blackwater kayaking in Bavaria, some of our rivers run from swamps and the water color is a deep brown/amber. Makes for pretty tricky water when it gets shallow as you don't see the stones in it.
I went #kayaking with my friend Mari in the #sea (2,5 hours). We left Kivinokka and went round Tammisalo island. The route was 9.5 km. The weather was partly sunny, partly cloudy. The sea was time to time calm, and sometimes waves were very high. #paddling#suomimastodon#finland#melonta#paddling
When we moved to southeast #Pennsylvania from #UpstateNewYork, we were dismayed by the lack of lakes. Why the glaciers hated PA, we don't know, but they sure didn't leave many lakes behind, reservoirs for paddling are few, and flatwater stretches of river are scarce. But, we finally went up to "Lake" Nockamixon yesterday, and found a lovely stretch of #paddling.
@bryanhansel Thank you-- I'll give this a more careful read later. Very important topic. I've experimented in my wet suit (with several layers of neoprene) in local waters with temps in the 30's. Worked well. But, boating on a warm day but with cold water (such in the spring) can be very deceptive.
@bryanhansel Great article. I mostly canoe in Canada and occasionally kayak. I’ve pretty much shifted to only using a (Kokatat) drysuit even on very warm days. I layer for long immersion and if I get too hot, I just go into the water to cool off. That’s also a good way to check for leaks. I’ve not experienced a catastrophic failure, but Kokatat replace the gaskets pro-actively about once every 5-7 years.
Got one in before the atmospheric river shows up. The currents were with us and made the home stretch mooring buoy slalom super fun. Saw sea lions, harbor seals, harbor porpoise, herons, eagles, and osprey.
@jimfl@KissAnne Some of my favorite #kayaking trips were in light rain. Heavy rain, particularly thunderstorms, are not something I would recommend. Bummer about the canceled trip though @KissAnne
A wide angle would be interesting, but harder.. I don't know how you would position yourself. But this guy would look like he was in the stratosphere 😅
@dannotdaniel loved the shots with the bridge in the background too. I have some that I took with my wide angle. Haven’t finished going through the shots. Can’t wait to get out there again! This weekend back to shooting a white water event. 🌊
Did an end-to-end test. Towed the kayak with my bike 5 miles to the lake, then disassembled the cart and stowed it in the kayak. Folded up the bike and bungeed it down on the rear deck. Went kayaking around the lake for a while, then reversed everything and biked back home.
It's a lot slower than putting the kayak on the car, but... I gotta say, it felt pretty awesome to head out knowing I could go anywhere there's water or a trail. And switch between them as needed.
Ok…so after a few years of it sitting, I’m gonna pull the bag with my Kayak in it out and see how bad a shape it’s in.
And yes I said “bag and kayak”. I built a skin on frame foldable kayak back in 2013, but haven’t pulled it out in like 3 years. So…🤞it’s in ok shape. #kayaking
So far the skin seems mostly fine, and the mystery of the dime sized hole in the hull (easily patchable) was solved when I pulled out one of the float bags and it had clearly been chewed on. 😂
Frame seems in good shape.
Every piece of elastic (deck webbing and frame connectors) needs to be replaced.
