Category: <span>On The Water</span>

A Homebuilt Portable Kayak Work Stand
A Homebuilt Portable Kayak Work Stand

Estimated reading time: 13 minutes

If you own one or more kayaks, eventually you’ll need to do some amount of cleaning and maintenance. I’ve found it’s a lot easier to work on my kayaks if they’re at chest height. So, a work stand becomes a useful kayak accessory.

I needed a work stand specifically suited for inflatable kayaks. Most commercial stands are two-piece units which are ideal for hard shells. Inflatables, not so much, as the kayak sags in the middle without proper support. I decided to design and build my own work stand.

How-To On The Water

2010 Bayliner 175 “Sea Dragon

Estimated reading time: 22 minutes

Boats have a reputation for being expensive. However, this is not completely true. Boats are very inexpensive to maintain and operate, as long as you don’t put them into the water. Once a boat gets wet, all bets are off and “boat” does in fact become the acronym “Bust Out Another Thousand.”

A few years ago, I made a horrifying discovery that water was seeping inside the wood-cored transom of our family boat “Sea Dragon.” Water and wood do not mix, and this issue required some serious remediation work. So, I’ve spent the past several years drying and waterproofing “Sea Dragon.”

Family Stories On The Water

Inflatable kayak with light mast, floating on a lake
Kayak With Light Mast

Estimated reading time: 9 minutes

My latest kayaking hack is a simple mast made of PVC piping, used to hold a safety light for nighttime kayaking. This mast can be assembled in about one hour, once you’ve collected all the pieces, and costs less than $30. It mounts in a fishing rod holder, which are fairly common on many recreational and fishing kayaks. As added bonus, this mast can also be used to display a flag or pennant, which may be useful to increase your visibility if you paddle in open water around lots of power boats.

How-To On The Water

Sea Eagle 370 On A Beach
Sea Eagle 370 on a Beach

Estimated reading time: 6 minutes

I tend to enjoy tinkering with things, designing and building small gadgets just for the fun and challenge. With my Sea Eagle 370 inflatable kayak, I’ve slowly been coming up with minor improvements for both paddling, and for storing it between paddles.

The Sea Eagle kayaks include permanently attached skegs which help with tracking, and they are very effective if they are straight down from the bottom of the boat. However, they tend to get folded over while in storage and the “skeg guards” that Sea Eagle provides doesn’t provide much protection. I’ve designed a much improved skeg guard that can be made out of corrugated cardboard in a couple of hours times.

How-To On The Water

Bayliner 2010 BR175 Runabout Named Sea Dragon
Sea Dragon: Our Bayliner 2010 BR175 Runabout

Estimated reading time: 7 minutes

Winnie and I decided to celebrate yesterday’s Fourth of July on the water. It turned out to be a very memorable event. We had some adventure, learned new things, and an overall great day of boating. Especially after a year of pandemic lockdown, it was a very pleasant day indeed.

Family Stories On The Water

Intro

Sea Dragon At Anchor
Our Bayliner 175 “Sea Dragon” at Anchor

Estimated reading time: 8 minutes

I think most small power boat operators operate in similar patterns; run the boat out on the water for a bit, then anchor out in a quiet place for fishing or picnicking with family and guests. Safe anchoring isn’t hard, but if done incorrectly can cause problems.

Over the years of owning small power boats (18 foot runabouts), I’ve come up with a few hacks for making anchoring easy and safe. I feel these hacks apply to all recreational power boats at least under 21 feet length.

On The Water

One Use for A Sea Eagle 370 Inflatable kayak

Winnie bought me a kayak as a birthday gift in July 2010. From my first paddle outing I was completely hooked on the relaxing sport of kayaking. Of course, one can never have just one kayak, just as one can never get by with one pair of shoes.

In the years since my first kayak, which I still have, Winnie and I have added two inflatable kayaks to our fleet. The first is a Sea Eagle 370, a 12-1/2 foot tandem kayak. The second is a Sea Eagle 330 ten-foot kayak. With use, I’ve come up with some minor modifications and useful accessories. So in this post I’m going to describe my favorite mods, conveniently known as “hacks,” along with useful accessories.

How-To On The Water

I was in Las Vegas, Nevada, last week attending a Navy reunion with the crew of USS Scamp (SSN 588), the first submarine I served on during my Navy career. In addition to sitting around with old shipmates drinking, sharing sea stories, and generally catching up on 35 years of living, I chartered a kayak trip down the Colorado River. And what a trip that was!

Family Stories On The Water

I’ve really been missing not having a boat of my own these past few months.  Sure, I’ve gotten out on the water sailing several times, but being in a rented sailboat is not quite the same thing as having a boat of my own.  I’ve also been looking at doing something different for a while now, a different kind of boating.

Well, last week Friday, I took the plunge, and with Winnie’s approval bought a single-seated sporting kayak.

Family Stories On The Water

Sailboat Under Red Sun
Sailboat Under Red Sun

A few weeks ago I achieved something I’ve been wanting to do for many years. On May 8, I gained an American Sailing Association (ASA) certification on basic Keel Boat 101. Thereby announcing to the world that I in fact know jibing and tacking and boom vrangs and lots of other fancy-sounding nautical kind of words.

Family Stories On The Water