Thinking About Another Kayak Part 3

Although in anything but a hurry, I’ve spoken with the owner of another Seavivor for sale.  This kayak’s in need of a repair and I have not yet seen photos.  I was able to get some longerons made for the Pionier I owned a few years back, and successfully dealt with tears on my Pouch solo’s deck closure arrangement.

Normandy Lake 7/18/10

Josh H. and I, after church and after lunch Sunday, loaded the E68 and 450S and drove out first to Ovoca Lake to see if that would be at all interesting to paddle (it was not, it is a largish pond of probably no more than 10 acres covered in sludgy-looking lily plants).  We drove on, then, to Normandy Lake and put in at Barton Springs boat ramp.  Crowded parking lot filled with trucks that’d trailered in pontoon-boat party barges, jet-skiis, run-down bass boats, and every variety of lesser motorized waterborne conveyance.  The drivers and passengers of these small craft seemed a little boozed-up and under-dressed for the occasion.  Because we got to the water fairly late in the afternoon, we didn’t spend long on the water – paddled out to the bridge, then crossed to Negro Hill and around to the other side of the public camping area there, and then back.  Way better than no time on the water.  I tried out round-tipped canoe paddle with the Pionier, and it worked pretty well.  It was easy to stash in the cockpit and may reasonably be expected to serve in the event of some emergency.

Sunday 27 June Estill Springs Slough

I am still trying to figure out how to get multiple photos to appear in some kind of sensible order.  Probably the solution involves inserting a table and inserting the photos into the cells, then adding captions.  I’ll try that next time.

Gongle (or Gongol) my 1962 Pionier 450 S kayak up a shallow creek that empties in to the Elk River upstream from the ruined footbridge above Beth Page Rd.

Starboard (right?) rear three-quarter view showing waterline, rudder, steering yoke.

State of the art comfort seating of 1962. My butt didn’t hurt until about the third hour on the water. The curved seat provided adequate thigh support, and seatback supported my lower back to a much greater degree than either of the modern Pouch folding kayaks I own.

Heading back downstream toward the bridge above Beth Page Rd. Don’t usually manage to make this far upstream on the Elk; helped by recent rains.

Eric paddling Campsis Radicans, my Pouch E68, at Beth Page Rd. bridge. Note the high water.

A blanket of green water plants (dunno what they’re called) near that second bridge.

That’s me looking a little Spock-like under the hat and smirking while at rest in the cockpit of 450 S.

Eric paddling upstream toward that second bridge. Note the waterline. I liked the reflection, which is why I took the picture.

Eric & Campsis Radicans up that shallow creek.

A snapshot of the E68 underway. Eric was using a Werner Skagit paddle he’d purchased a couple of weeks ago to use with the plastic rec-boat he bought. At 230 cm, the paddle is too long for the E68.

Eric snapped about six shots of me getting out of and back in to the 450 S hoping to capture something similar to his concrete-roll portrait the day before at Boat Day in Murfreesboro. Here I’m getting in to the boat. The paddle’s about 223 cm. Dunno what that is in inches.

A not terribly secure lock on our lunchtime mooring in the shade of the bridge at Beth Page Rd. The Pionier came without any deck rigging or perimeter line; I improvised.

A couple sight-seeing in their 20′ pontoon boat

We rafted up for lunch and ate the remains of a large chicken alfredo pizza.

I love this stretch of the Elk River above the ruined bridge. Even in extreme heat, this section is cool from the cold river water, and the smell of spring-water seeping and flowering leafy plants at the rock overhang is pleasant. As a bonus, bird sounds and the sound of wind in the trees makes this place worth the price of admission.

The shallow creek maze where we rested a couple of minutes before proceeding to the next bridge upstream. Usually passage upstream from here necessitates wading and pulling the boat behind not much past this place on the map. The river is to the photographer’s back.

Winchester has a number of these stony piers that don’t seem to have much to do with anything currently visible either here or behind the city’s housing projects.

Some of the stone facing is missing this year. Previously I’d always thought these were Civil War old, but the concrete underneath makes me wonder if they were’nt part of some WPA flood control project before the river was ever dammed.

Strange marker at that second bridge. The map shows a gauging station here.

Swallow nests under that second bridge.

Thursday awaits us at the take-out, an “unimproved” dirt ramp at Estill Springs City Park in Franklin County, Tennessee.

Trumpet creeper, or campsis radicans, in bloom.

Just paddling – note improvised deck rigging.

Keelstrip Project Pionier 450-S

Friday was the day I got around to starting the keelstrip project.  In order to keep from having to buy a new skin for my new boat, I bought a keelstrip kit from Longhaul Folding Kayaks.  Spoke on the phone with the company’s owner, Mark Eckhart, who not only manufactures folding kayaks, but has a keen interest in superannuated folders long out of production.  For a very reasonable price, he sent me a 17’ keelstrip, neoprene cement, a brush, 50 grit sandpaper, rags (for the application of toluene), protective gloves, and printed instructions.

Abrasion of the fabric along the keel is such that I will have to debride some of the loose strings.  I also marked the guidelines wrong and will have to re-center and tape the strip, then re-mark the hull.  Additionally, because the floor of my garage is not particle-free, I’m going to to have to find another place to clean off the strip’s application surface.  Which means that aside from the hull-sanding, I’ll have to start over.  Means I’m going to get another toluene headache, although I’m sure working in the open air helped lessen the toxic effects of the fumes on my neurobiological substrate.

Some pictures:

  

Some Pionier 450 S Frame Photos

I’ve already posted most of these in a Facebook Album, and may also put them in an album at Folding Kayaks website.

As you look at some of these photos, you’ll see what appears to be a powdery residue on the keel. Either the hullskin is turning to powder, or talcum powder was used when the boat was last assembled in order make eventual disassembly easier.

My blog stats show that two people have already downloaded the assembly instructions for this boat – happy to know there are some others interested in assembling a Pionier 450 S.

Here are both bow and stern assemblies next to one another. Yes, the garage needs order imposed upon it, and when my shoulder has sufficiently healed, I’ll see to it.

This is how the cross-braces attach at the keel inboard frame Nos. 1 and 7.

Note the pronounced keel on this boat. My two Pouch folding kayaks have a sort of double flat keel Note also how the bottom of the frames accommodate the keel. The powdery residue may be from talcum powder used when the boat was last assembled.

Stern assembling, looking astern

Completed stern assembly

This shows how the cross-brace members attach at the gunwales – permanently fixed thereto with a brass screw. They are part of bow and stern assemblies.

Interesting features of the Pionier 450 S frame are cross-braces running diagonally from keel at stem and stern up to gunwales fore and aft the cockpit

Completed bow assembly

Bow assembly seen from the side

Stem or bow of the Pionier 450 S – truly beautiful

Pionier 450 S Assembly Instructions

Pionier 450 S Instruction Sheets In German and English:

Pionier 450 S Instruction Sheets