A busy week for kayaking.. my third time out in 5 days, if you count the pool session.
It was raining Sunday morning so I didn't bring the camera. We crossed to the New York side for the first time in several months. Took a lunch break near Split Rock and headed south along the shore.
A south wind came up with the potential to shove miles of ice between us and Vermont, so there was a quick change of course back to our side of the lake.
THere was some sloshing going on in back; for the last couple of miles I could hear the rear carry toggle continuously dragging in the water, and the paddling got noticeably harder. At the end I pulled the rear hatch and the compartment was filled to the brim (which comes to about 150 extra pounds of water). A leak! I'd guess something around the skeg box. Dave says "Call Bob," former owner of the local shop and his regular repair guy. It says something that Dave HAS a regular repair guy. When I was a kid I had a regular orthopedist.
Back at home I take a look and the skeg cable housing has torn loose, leaving a hole in the skeg box. I did some googling that hit on the BBS of a paddle club in Boston where someone had the same problem. The advise to her was "Take it to Bob in Burlington VT" OK OK, I can take a hint!
Bob is trying to retire, and is in the middle of moving, but he said he could at least take a look. I took the kayak over. We pulled out the skeg and cable, and epoxied the cable housing back in place. He'll put on some sealing goop today, and by the weekend everything should be cured and hard enough to use. Yay!
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A log of what I'm up to, esp kayaking year round, plus random stuff that catches my attention.
1 comment:
Hello Don,
Our group will be in your neck of the woods next month, and we are looking forward to it very much. We do most of our paddling on the Hudson, but to get a jump start on the Quadricentennial, we tried Lake Champlain last year. We've finished Whitehall to Westport, and in May we plan on covering Westport to Essex.
If you have any tips you might give us on that area, we would love to have them. Since our mottos include "we don't claim to know what we're doing" and "undaunted by our lack of judgment", it's fair to say that we paddle by, and on, the seat of our pants. Maybe we'll bump into you on that great lake of yours.
Ol' P
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