Resurrection Day Paddle

Today we celebrated Jesus resurrection from the dead. We began on the top of Garrett Mt. for the sunrise at 6:05am with a Sunrise Service with 10 different churches. We continued with breakfast afterward and then had our two morning resurrection celebrations. It was a great time of worship and I preached on meeting the risen Jesus. After a rest at home and with no other responsibilities for the day I figured this was a good day to raise my kayak out of the basement on to the water. It was 75 degrees, sunny and warm with thunderstorms on the way. I wanted to launch it the first time in my home paddling water of the Passaic River. Even though the Passaic is running high where I was going was rather deep and wide and only running fast under the bridges of Rt. 80, 46 and the Garden State Parkway. I had a beautiful paddle south to Dundee Lake with the current and then back north against it but with the wind. The Spring Run performed well in the current and tracked well in the wind. As I was going under the last railroad tressel there was a serious current coming off the pillar and as I hit it it slid me sideways and rolled me over. It all happened to quick for me to react and the next thing I knew I was on my side in the water and then under water rather shocked from the cold. I pulled the skirt off and slid out feeling quite surprised but floating in my lifevest and hanging on to the kayak. I paddled to shore, warmed up, pumped out and finished my paddle. I know I will need to practice managing whitecaps and waves in a different way than I did in the Pungo. All in all I was pleased with the performance of the Spring Run and thrilled to finally test it in the water. I look forward to many more paddling stories.Here is the completed Spring run standing up in my backyard ready for its first paddle.

Finishing Touches

This afternoon I spent trying to finish the deck rigging and other details on the "Spring Run" anxious to get paddling since we had a spring day in the 80's. It all took a lot longer than I thought it would and I'm still not done. Below is the stern handle with the bow the same. This is a "Double Fishermans' Knot" actually triple on one side. Its just long enough that it can swing over the bow or stern for tying down to the car but be up and out of the water when paddling. I used a 5/16" marine rope but would go to 1/4" next time.I completed the hatch cover seal and bungies. The seal is a closed cell foam weatherstripping 3/8" high by 1/2" wide. The bungies hold the hatch tight but I'm not sure its still watertight. I made an error by epoxying the hatch hold downs on to the hatch before I had attached the deck to the hull. There was some slight variation between when the hatches were cut out and what the hole was after the two were attached. We'll see how this all works out. I may still need some exterior straps.

This is my rear bungie behind the cockpit. I attempted to do a "knotless bungie" connection recommended by Redfish Kayaks. It seemed to work but after I readjusted it under the corner soft padeye it pulled apart. You can see it if you look close. We'll see what the final solution is here as well.

Here are the 4 front soft padeyes. They cutouts (below) went well. I used a Dremmel with a 3/32" bit and it was perfect. I sealed them with Exoxy, used the padeyes supplied and made some more using Redfish instructions. They are sealed from the inside with some 3M Marine sealant 5200 I had left from installing the bulkheads. Its messy to work with ( I must have used a dozen pair of gloves) but they will never pull out.

Here is the slot cut for the soft padeye.

Finally done Varnishing

It has been quite a process doing the finish varnishing and I have learned alot. First of all I learned to have NO ventalation for at least 1 hour after the varnish is set. This was a bit problamatic since I was doing this in the basement but I drafted the upstairs through the other side of the basement which I had cut off from the "varnish room" with plastic. After 1 hour I then ventalated the room from a window on one side out of my shop window with an exhaust fan. This reduced much of the dust but not all. I also learned about varnish techniques from the CLC post and from the One Ocean Kayaks. What I found key was to first unload the brush vertically and then brush down horozontally and then spread it. This helped eliminate the drips, runs, sags and "holidays"(skipped spots).

Below is my friend Lou who followed me around on the last coat watching for any drips, runs or holidays. However even with his help I was not pleased with the final finish of the deck and ended up sanding it once again with a wet 400 grit and doing a 6th coat. This has come out well as you can see above but there are still some dust specks in it. This is frustrating but I found comfort in the fact that it took GM years to eliminate dust from their final clear coats.

Below is the seat from Redfish Kayak. I've tried it and with a few adjusting cuts it fits perfect. I will actually be sitting less than one inch above the water on this closed cell foam.

I'm anxious now to finish and will be installing the soft padeyes, bungies, paddle park bungie, next, bow and stern ropes and seat. My goal is to do my test paddle in one week.