Paddling a heavily laden Canoe on the Caldon Canal with the sound of the Old West!
Hello Folks To make up for the fact that I have been a bit quiet on the blog front lately this is a long one! Last weekend I met up with some of my Cwav friends for a camping/paddling weekend on the Caldon Canal.We met at Froghall wharf and I arrived first which was a good job as I had lots of kit to organise and pack into my canoe.First order of the day was to put everything from my car into the canoe and then relax and have a cuppa whilst I worked how I would fit it all in.
New Trolley wheels to test and a Boni /Youka Paddle to try out on the Nene.
Hello Folks Yesterday I decided to change the wheels on my portage trolley. The old ones were great but they are a bit heavy and I kept on having tyre problems with them. You may remember I was about to go out the other weekend when I had one burst and spent the weekend carrying everything around the locks on my trip to Fotheringhay. I got these wheels from a bankrupt sales place so unfortunately there don't appear to be more of them available but they are light weight and th
Cornwall trip Day 2: Scraped knees and a Rocky landing from the Sea.
Hello Folks Its been a while since I have posted and I have been doing some more recent trips but I think this one stands out because a bit of sea paddling was involved and this is something I rarely do. Back in June you may remember we had a particularly dry spell of weather and we began the second day of our cornwall excursion with a little swimming in a lovely but rather rocky cove that Andrew new of. It is a fabulous bit of coastline with awesome views like these. We made
Paddling In Cornwall a chance not to be missed!
A while ago my friend Andrew mentioned to me that he had a cottage in Cornwall and that it might be free sometime this summer. As it turned out it was available from the 18th-22nd of June and he invited me to stay so we could both go paddling with the proviso that we did a bit of maintenance on the place whilst there in preparation for his next guests. Our first outing was to be on the Helford river and we began at Port Navas. The village is very pretty and whilst getting rea
Felix's Canoe Sealing the second stem.
Hello Folks Following on from paddling Felix's canoe at Beale Park Boat show. I left her to dry for a couple of weeks. At the show she leaked a little which seemed to be concentrated around the stem that I didn't pour varnish around! After a day of paddling the leaking did stop and I put this down to swelling of the timber but as she is a canoe that won't spend all its time in the water I Want to cure this altogether by hopefully sealing her further with varnish. With that in
Beale Park Boat Show Day 3.Looks like a Sunnyside Cruiser?
Hello Folks Day three began with a dewy start. Pic 1 I went for a quick spin around the lake before the gates opened but as you can see it was a little choppy as the wind got up. We had a good selection of wooden canoes on the WCHA stand. With Sam's Wide board canoe named June. Nicks Chestnut soon to be turned upright for passing admirers. Sam's Old Town hw. A lovely big boat with fine sweeping lines and Al's UFO (in red) that at some point during the weekend we set to and al
Felix's Canoe floats without leaks at Beale Park Boat Show Day 2.
Day 2 began on the cloudy side and some of us headed out for an early morning paddle before the gates opened. Felix's canoe was leak free probably as a result of the dampness in the air and the rain in the night and I paddled around to take a picture of these rather fine tugs. Ian had put up a sign by the waters edge that was a little worrying. Charles had a canoe well heeled over There was also a rather fine painted canoe on the water. Later in the day there was a demonstra
Felix's Canoe takes to the Water at Beale Park Boatshow Day 1.
Hello Folks After spending a long weekend at Hay on Wye for the OCA Canoefest ( more on that later) I returned to the workshop to pick up Felix's Canoe to take her on her first official outing. This was to be with my WCHA friends and other wooden canoes at Beale Park Boat Show. I was able to fit both the Dabchick and Felix's Canoe on my roof rack with the aid of some extension bars I had made from Iroko. The drive down had dampened the hull and after a few test runs any leaki
Felix's Canoe. She Floats!
Hello Folks As the weather forecast for yesterday was good I decided it would be an opportune moment to have a test launch of Felix's Canoe. I hatched a plan which was to put her in the water for a few hours to see what happened whilst I went for a short paddle in Peterborough 1 had my lunch and returned. If on my return she hadn't leaked then I would go for a paddle in Felix's Canoe. I began by slipping Felix's Canoe into the water. There was no immediate leakage. So I tied
Felix's Canoe, New thwart tags, a distressing experience!
Felix's Canoe, New thwart tags, a distressing experience! Hi Folks I have given her a few good doses of varnish and she has been drying out for a week or so maybe two but in the meantime I have been playing with new thwart tags and have taken delivery of an engraved plate that documents a little of her history and which I will put on the deck covering ugly holes where a plate (possibly a Thames conservancy one) was before, that is now long gone. The tags that were on her were
