Bigger Rudder is better? We'll see.

 

New Rudder above, Old Rudder below

 

I put the Hobie Adventure Island Sailing rudder on my Cobra Expedition.  This is the boat's fourth rudder. Two were the standard rudder that Cobra provides.  Both of those broke in the surf so I made my own from a piece of plastic cutting board.  This flat plate rudder was very strong but I could hear it gurgle every time I pushed it into a hard turn.  When you hear a flat plate rudder gurgling it is acting more as a brake than as a rudder.  The Hobie Sailing Rudder has a nice foiled shape, so it should not stall as easily.  I may not turn better, but at least it will slow me down as much. 

In years gone by, I got an expensive foiled rudder for my Hunter 235 sailboat in a size for a 26 foot Hunter.  It made the boat turn much better, and also allowed me to sail closer to the wind.  At first the local racing authority let it slide. The thought was, a bigger rudder would be more drag and a disadvantage.  Over time they realized it did give me an advantage and adjusted my rating a bit.

I hope to have the same experience with this rudder upgrade.

 



 

Roof Rack Redo Number Two

I think I have used this roof rack on several cars so,

 I have the feeling that the Yakima stuff is pretty long lasting. 

First it was on the Buick Road Master

 

 Then on the Ford Focus

 

 



At least if you wash the salt off,

it stands a good chance of out lasting your car,

 or maybe a few of your cars. 

Original Set up on this car.

 



This iteration was more about making the rack more useful as the basic rack has been on this car for a few months.  This car is not our " Paddling Car"  as I use it to take customers to lunch.  So it cannot smell like a dog even if it is summer.  So the boats live on another car most of the time. However this car is god for long trips and rougher roads and dirt roads so I am setting it up more as a shuttle vehicle.

One advantage of these racks is that they disengage from the "Landing Pads" on the tracks very quickly so they can be removed from the car to make it "work ready" in a couple minutes.

I offset the stacker to one side so it is still easy to carry four kayaks but I can now carry one kayak and one canoe. 

Raleigh Greenway is great for bikes and walkers but they hurt the paddlers with this change

 

 

The old Poole road canoe launch is still labeled the canoe launch on it's sign but it has become far less usable.  Now the parking lot is much bigger and it is paved so it is nicer for newer cars, but the wood ramp/steps where you launch are now quite a long walk from the lot, so you better bring a cart.  In addition the landscapers planted tree in just the right place to make it impossible to use the canoe metal racks that were a great help for getting the canoe on or off of your shoulders.  So they have made it farther to carry and harder to lift the boats up.

I guess we should be grateful that they did not put up a sign that said " No launching of boats here."

So far this is very similar to what has happened at the
Buffalo Road canoe Launch as well.

A tip for paddlers wishing to park.  I go ahead and unload and get all my gear set up even when there is no parking because walkers and bikers do not park for the whole day.  In the time it takes to get all the boats ready to launch a space usually opens up.  I have yet to get a parking ticket here, but if I do, then I will consider it a reasonable ramp fee.

Check out the Tsunami Rangers Site

The Tsunami Rangers site keeps on going in spite of a slow period after Eric Soares passing away.  The new articles are as fresh as ever, and there are many older articles that I keep going back to re read.  I really like this site and in spite of  my plans to give up paddling and take up rowing I hope you will check it out at:

http://tsunamirangers.com/

Check Out - In the Boat Shed

Mostly I use this blog for myself as a place to find my recreational reading.  I like the fact that the blogs on the right are in order of the most recent post so I am prompted to check out the new writing.

On the left I have added a link to http://intheboatshed.net/ ; I like going there and reading the blogs and looking at all the plans.  Check it out; you might like it too!

Soon to be a rowing rig

I plan to go  back to rowing a canoe like I started doing when I first moved to North Carolina. This is my first aluminum canoe, but the first canoes I paddled were aluminum so I am going back to what I used to do in two ways.

Two Generation Canoe

Jim's old canoe needed a refit years ago and I patched it up and then his friend Walter patched it some more and painted it.  Now it is time for another patch and paint refit, so Mike helped me load it on the car and I took it to Daniel.

I saw this picture shortly after he got it.  It looks like he went directly to using it in spite of its condition. In the past I have done a similar thing with this very boat.  It wore layers of duct tape for about 2 years before I patched it.  It looks like Daniel is carrying on the tradition of using boats a lot and working on them as little as needed.