Is spite of pretty heavy winds, I trekked on down to GISP this morning. Driving through downtown Houston is getting to be nearly impossible at rush hour on weekdays, so I used the Beltway all of the way around.
Launched at Waterman's after paying them $10.00 OUCH! Wind was whipping from the North East but it was cooler than any time this summer, and I knew I wasn't going very far. I don't think I would have launched my yak in the same winds...not that the yak wouldn't have been perfectly safe to paddle..just that this old geezer doesn't like powering through the waves to get to my locations.
There were two paddlers out there, however. One in a kind of turquoise yak, and the other in an aluminum canoe. I suspect that the canoeist came from one of the local houses.
The 9.8 Nissan powered right up on one pull, which I have come to expect with this motor. That gave the boat plenty of power to push across Lake Como, all at no-wake speed, of course. Entering the flat, the wind was blowing me every which way. Over the next hour or so, I tried all of the gadgets that I had with me, which was the primary purpose of the trip.
I quickly learned that my stick type anchor was too short. That will be easily fixed by adding another section of a golf driver shaft onto the present three sticks.
My anchor device soon showed that the idea, that I read about someplace, of using a dog leash contraption...failed miserably. The anchor held well, on my newly added anchor trolley, but the wind-up recapture device wouldn't pull the cord back in. That is an easy fix. Throw the d#$%^ thing out and use a rope the next time!
I had previously tried putting the trolling motor on a side bracket near the stern. That very short outing resulted in water filling up the stern of the craft. The trolling motor was kicking water into the stern... anytime I had the outboard motor running forward.
For today, I moved the trolling motor bracket to a point forward of a-mid-ships. At first, I didn't think I could reach it to use it very well. After a half hour of getting my sea legs, I found that I could kneel, or sit on a cooler, and use the side-mount trolling motor just fine. Just took some experimenting to find out what system works best. It still causes some over-spray due to its weight. I think that I will flip the bracket over to the port side. That should help balance the boat, since my big butt is canted to the starboard side when I am using the big motor.
The 'Noe went as shallow as I drove her, however the tides had brought some much water into the GISP flats that my normal flat areas were under a couple of feet of water. I found some five or six inch deep areas, and used the trolling motor or the kayak paddle to maneuver around.
The 240 cm paddle moved the boat fine, but, given the hull's 120 lbs, and the motor's added 55 lbs or so, plus myself and my gear, paddling wouldn't be what I'd want to do in any kind of a wind. It is, however, a great feeling to know that you can paddle your way out of almost anything if you have to.
I added a PVC pole to hang onto and needed it for the first 15 minutes or so. After I found that, by flexing my knees, I could stand, fish and even paddle while standing at full height, I really didn't need the support pole much anymore It is on a folding bracket, so I will keep it to help me get into and out of the boat at the dock, but I doubt that it will be needed too much after that.
Here is a picture...please note and expect that a number of additional changes will be made to the rigging as time goes on. Like any boat, you have "make it your own".
regards, Rich
