Recent content by sailsman63

Not canoeing, but took a bit of a relaxed hike. Not sure if the photos do it justice, but the sunlight coming through the haze was lovely. Very nice spot to be contemplative for a bit.

Maybe also check if there are any visible fasteners in that herringbone weave - are there ends of clinched over tacks on the inside?

Not going to try to recommend a specific brand or model, but make sure that you try on a multitude of styles. Some things to consider: Are you likely to be a 100% wear-time user, or are you someone who will have it on and off? I personally ended up with a "Class V" that doesn't open at all -...

In addition to the above, is there any sapwood on any of the pieces? (Perhaps the white bit in the center of the pictured plank?) Also, how's the color reproduction in the picture? Some (most) cameras do some automatic white-balance adjustment, so colors get skewed. My first thought was...

So, Some stuff went crazy. I had to rush to get the bent blade into an interim "testable" finished state: Please forgive the nasty (temporary) t-handle. I ran out of time to get a proper one shaped, and this worked for the moment. The rush was due to a family fishing trip. Mostly boat...

I think the fish was live/this was a real catch. The fish did give a flop in the net in the last half second or so of the clip, in a fashion that I think would be hard to fake/incite with just the net. (It looks like a tired fish at this point - see #4) That line looks to be some really heavy...

Thanks for the discussion! I'm not quite convinced that a carbon paddle is for me - and it's outside the budget ATM anyway - but I do appreciate the feedback. @gumpus Good point about length and balance affecting the rotational inertia. What balance point do you prefer? I personally (so far)...

Now if your particular gunwale has the flex space to do it this way, That would be an even better suggestion.

Interesting thing about those ZRE paddles: They list blade sizes as 8.5" X 19" or close, but if you look at the images, it's pretty obvious that they are counting the narrow waist/angled ferule part. The actual working face is roughly 8" X 9" with all of the corners taken off fairly...

Thanks for the feedback so far! Hmm... I wonder if this comes down to a difference in seating arrangement? My seat is a mid-rise, 8"-9" off canoe bottom. If i kneel and sit all the way back on my heels, I might be an inch lower. Mostly, when I kneel my upper leg is pretty much vertical -...

This is what I see: I've tested in Firefox on linux mint, Brave on same, and mobile chrome on android. Same on all three. I've swapped between light and dark modes on the browser level to make sure that isn't affecting things. No change. @Tryin' Your screenshot appears to be the default theme...

I'm not sure if this is new - possibly related to the recent site update - or if it's baked into the theme. (Frankly, I didn't realize that there were selectable themes until the site changed the default one under me.) If you insert a link using the "Insert Link" function in the editor and...

I took a little test paddle Thursday to check some of my outfitting before taking a canoe-camp trip. One of the things that became apparent is that I need at least one more paddle - my current paddles are good when seated and moving at a moderate pace. They are not so useful when kneeling and...

I'm kind of looking at this area as well. My challenge is that the info that I have found so far doesn't have a lot of info on waterflow speed. I'm almost exclusively solo, so I can't do one-way trips - I have to be able to do out-and-back. One resource that might be worth a look, if you...

Inwales. The gunwale assembly is a sacrificial wear part, the hull isn't.