How'd it go today?

[Raj]

I don't always climb with spurs SRT, when I do, I do what you do. Happens today I found some aluminum plate in the shop and I was in Bolt and Nut, got some longer screws for the gaff, and figured what the hell, why not.

 

[Jed]

Sweet!

Stephen: How old's Levi?

 

[CurSedVoyce]

He is 9 Jed.

 

[Jed]

He'll be like all of us then, "Yeah... I started working out in the woods when I was nine..."

 

[CurSedVoyce]

I have pictures somewhere of Lilly laying in a car seat watching me prune a tree when she was not even 6 months old.
I hope they have good memories from all this.

 

[squisher]

Of course they will Stephen.

 

[Jed]

Bump what Justin said.

Mess of a Saturday. Started with a Bald Faced Hornet infested Red Cedar.



Then did a PIG of a School Marm Deodar.



Done by 10:00 a.m. and thought that we had had a super easy day until.... Lightning blasted out a Grand Fir onto a roof up in Mukilteo. The Last shot is of Jason Earp, great-great-grand-nephew of the notorious Wyatt Earp, coming up to give me a hand, and giving the camera the mandatory tree-guy hang-loose sign. Why do all tree guys make the "hang-loose," sign? Do we inwardly want to be Hawaiian Surfers instead? We only had to get it off the roof. Gotta buck the rest of it down Monday.

 

[Raj]

Hot weather up here too. Removing some branches overhanging a pool tiki bar.

 

[woodworkingboy]

Pool tiki bar! Was it a porno set?

 

[Spellfeller]

5-10 minutes, today, shooting for 15-20'. When you get good at that, go a bit higher. Technique. Like free-throws. Sure, if you get an hour, go for it.
Work at home, so it you get it stuck, you can leave it until you have time to get it down.

Great advice. Will do.

On the paddling front, I had a Nigel Dennis Romany (LINK) before the kids were born.

West Greenland design, laid-up by hand in Holyhead, Anglesey, Wales. Found a great deal on a gently used one. Selling it was one of the dumber things I've done!

 

[Raj]

Pool tiki bar! Was it a porno set?

Nope...... but there were a few young women hangin' round.

 

[Bermy]

Oooohhh...pretty kayak!!!

I once had the great fortune to be coached by Nigel Matthews, one of four Brits who paddled around Cape Horn, this was a good few years ago!
My present kayak is sitting in the shed, only place to paddle nowadays is on the river here, I need some wheels for the back end so I can trundle it down the street to the river, the days of carrying it on my shoulder are over.

 

[Fiddler]

Well, now I know that is a "hang loose" sign...

 

[pantheraba]

Speller...that kayak is exquisite! I can't imaging getting rid of something so sleek. I've never seen one quite like that.

 

[MasterBlaster]

Where do you put your legs???

 

[Spellfeller]

Oooohhh...pretty kayak!!!

I once had the great fortune to be coached by Nigel Matthews, one of four Brits who paddled around Cape Horn, this was a good few years ago!
My present kayak is sitting in the shed, only place to paddle nowadays is on the river here, I need some wheels for the back end so I can trundle it down the street to the river, the days of carrying it on my shoulder are over.

It's all in making the time, Bermy! So many competing interests!

Where do you put your legs???

There's more space in there than it looks, Butch!

 

[Spellfeller]

Speller...that kayak is exquisite! I can't imaging getting rid of something so sleek. I've never seen one quite like that.

Gary, what's so neat about these boats is that the design was essentially perfected a few thousand years ago by Greenland seal hunters. They originally built the boats of skin over a delicate wood frame. Then modern builders started to build the same designs in rotomolded plastic, fiberglass, and carbon fiber/kevlar layups. And of course, wood.

They are fast AND maneuverable, which is a tough combination to achieve. Great in big water and easy to roll.

That picture is not my actual boat. Mine was a red hull over white (not as good looking as the black!) but I didn't have any pix handy. That black boat is for sale in Maine at one of the biggest NDK dealers in the country. LINK

Here are a few pictures of a stitch-and-glue Greenland boat my dad built a few years ago. The "puzzle piece" look is pretty cool!

Dad getting ready to go on Newfound Lake near his home in NH...

Heading out

Full hull shot

Yours truly, practicing a mild low brace/carved turn

In terms of selling the Romany, it was sitting under a tarp and not getting the use it deserved. I hated to let it go, but a coworker was getting into paddling and thought he'd won the lottery when I sold it to him!

Thankfully, Dad's boat is still in the family and will never be sold. He's 73 in the pictures and just celebrated his 80th birthday. Thank heaven, still going strong!

Link to manufacturer HERE

 

[squisher]

So cool! I am just eating up kayak knowledge, honestly can't get enough of it. I spent yesterday afternoon rigging my truck bed out to haul two yaks and a paddle board and today we are off to the river!

I've just been scratching the surface of techniques. I'm pretty green still.

Bermy, I've already got a little wheeled cart. They are readily available or simple to make too.

 

[cory]

I went 5 hours yesterday SUP'g, insanely cool to be way out there.

 

[Spellfeller]

I went 5 hours yesterday...

That's a good paddle no matter what you're in/on!

 

[Peter]

I love kayaks, but the seating position is torture to me. I went out on a night trip in Ireland, we were only out for about three hours but I could barely move afterwards, my lower back just doesn't like it.

 

[stig]

It has lately become popular here to build Greenland kayaks the oldfashioned way.
You know, kill two harbour seal, skin them..........etc.

Actually, seal skin being difficult to obtain, most are covered in something else.

Quite a project and I'm sure lots are never finished, but it must be a nice way to pass those long winter nights.

 

[Merle Nelson]

Peter you may find the sit on top Hobbies more comfortable, they are for me as I can slouch down a bit/angle the seat back. Also they employ the "Mirage Drive" insert, so you're using leg power most of the time.

 

[cory]

Spellfeller, it was a lot of fun, fo sho. I was a bit fried today but did a lil more to beat the today's heat. You ever try SUP?

Merle, I just learned about Mirage drive, have watched it on vid, looks pretty clever and apparently hugely effective, have you tried it?

 

[treebilly]

Pulled the tranny out of the f550 today to put in a new clutch. It was not the most enjoyable experience for a Sunday. Many many stubborn bolts and no room to turn them. Got it out and almost lost it when I could read plain as day "CHINA" on the old clutch. Guy that I bought the truck from told me he had all the work done at the dealership. The thing was all floppy and well it was just a piece of garbage. I checked the tranny shaft and it was all chewed up from the pilot bearing being trashed. Now I have to wait till another part comes in to put it back together. I'm hoping the local clutch shop has one or can get it quickly. Having the front driveshaft rebuilt while I got things apart also.
To keep in a good mood I just keep thinking of a Treestuff box that should be appearing tomorrow.