There's a Kayak in My Future Present (Part 4)

Be Happy...



Ahhh... if that's not a picture of happiness I don't know what is. No sooner did I bolt the unpainted rack to the trailer did Clif and I hit Banner Marsh after work. We put in about 5 PM. I brought both fly and spinning tackle. Clif went solely on fly. I started the evening with a plastic worm on the spinner but quickly lost interest. There's something about casting line that tickles my fishing fancy.

Clif was first to hook a nice largemouth. I raced over to snap a couple of pics. After he weighed in we decided to do a fly-by. I started the sprint with an easy peddle to avoid cavitaion. After I reached a good speed I turned it up to 11 about 30 ft from the frame. If you listen closely you can hear the fins slapping the bottom of the kayak. I'll have to work on that in the future to avoid scaring the fish. Don't blink!



(Note: The next day at work we ran some calculations, as engineers tend to do, and estimated a top speed of 3 1/2 mph.)

About an hour later on the water I hooked the specimen in the first pic on a chartreuse popper. I doubt it reached 3 lbs, maybe 2 1/2, but it still put up quite a fight on my 6 wt. Clif paddled over to capture the moment. And what a moment. First fish in the kayak on the first time out and on the fly. Thanks Clif! It was the only fish of the night for me. It didn't mater. I was just happy to be out there in the new toy.

There's a Kayak in My Future (Part 3)

Buy Kayak...



There she is in Ivory Dune as received from St. Louis Sailing Center via the UPS stork, although much dryer than the day received. Included are: standard Mirage Drive peddles, two piece adjustable paddle, high back deluxe seat with lumbar support, dry bag, one liter water bottle, bungee cord for rear deck storage (not shown), and an 8 inch drop in tackle tray with cover. Other items integral to the kayak are two 8 inch round sealed mid and rear storage ports, large sealed front hatch, two mesh pockets, two scupper plugs to keep the rear deck dry, two molded-in rod holders, flip-up rudder, and something the boys at Honda forgot to include in their S2000 two seat'r sports car offering... a molded-in cup holder. She's 13 ft 5 in long, 28.5 in wide, weighs 58 lbs empty, and costs the full 1,749 US dollars (oak leaf not included). You can search the world over and never find a cheaper price for a new Revolution. Believe me, I've tried.

Clif was on site during the delivery. I thought he was going to faint but he stayed tough. My wife arrived from work a few minutes later and just rolled her eyes at the two kids with a brand new toy.

Happiness is just around the corner.

There's a Kayak in My Future (Part 2)

Buy Car Rack Trailer...



Okay, So, it's not really a flat bed but it was inexpensive and it has everything I need for the purposes noted in the previous post. It's a 4x6 with 12 inch wheels. The first thing that was apparent was the trailer is designed for landscaping so the suspension was very stiff, easily remedied.



(Before I go any further I have to admit I've pulled the kayak on the trailer with the stiff suspension (Thanks to Clif). But for the sake of the blog we'll pretend that hasn't happened yet.)

The first thing I did was remove the middle springs and flip the lower springs. This had a significant and positive affect on ride. I also reduced the tire pressure from 90 psi to 15 psi. I'm not concerned about over stressing the springs or the tires. The trailer and tires are rated for 2000 lbs. I won't get close 200 hauling the kayak and all that goes with it. The next thing I did was build a rack out of 2x4's, painted it black, then added soft plastic threshold beading to the tops to protect the kayak hull. Because the trailer is for landscape work I had to remove the tilt pin and add a bolt to eliminate all the rattling during roading. Here's the final result.



Part three coming up. And this time I won't make you wait 4 weeks for an update. I promise!