In the Field Plastic Welding

"So what we're going to do is, we're going to take some sticks.... and light them on fire."

And that we did, though not in exactly the way I had initially conceived.  But I'm getting ahead of myself...

Crack!

Just recently, the Spice and I were on a 5 day Salt river trip in Arizona when, on day one, I hit a not very large rock in not very fast current which punched a fist sized hole through the hull just where my heels rest. I've seen plenty of straight line cracks, but this is a full half moon shape that literally flaps open.  If a kayak could be said to have a serious avulsion, this would be it.

"I have some terrible news..."

Fortunately, the only other person on the trip, my better half (let me tell you, a great way to spend 5 days on the water) was rowing a 14 foot gear boat, so my broken kayak and I had a ride... But, it was day one and I still had yet to run the big fun rapids that lasted for the next two days!

Elisha going to town!

Cue the flaming sticks!  Going off some vague notion that to me had always been some kind of kayaker's urban legend, we set about to patch my boat at camp.  To forage for plastic bits, Elisha and I cut strips off of the inside of the cockpit rim.  She proved much more adept at this task than I... personally, I think Elisha (an admitted lifetime rafter) found some joy in hacking away at a plastic boat... but I digress.

About an hour later we had a small pile of plastic cork-screws and a few larger candlesticks.  To our amazement, the plastic sticks could be lit on fire and drip like ptex.  After applying a good layer to both the inside and outside, I let the thing cool and went back to enjoying my beer and the multitudes of brilliant starts over our heads.

A plastic candle

Fantastically, the patched boat did not sink right away the next day.  I was thrilled to be able to paddle my own boat down my first time in the Salt River canyon!

However, even though I was being a gentle with her as I could, the inevitable little rock bounces and stresses on the plastic from just negotiating wave trains eventually began to reopen the wound.  By lunch, I was slowly sinking again.  Fortunately, we were taking 4 nights to go 50 miles and so could stop relatively early for the next camp.

At Camp Two, this process was repeated.  The next day saw the same results, but with more whitewater, I began sinking quite a bit earlier in the day.  For days 4 and 5, I was happy to take the oars for a while and spend more time on the raft with my best friend, and my camera.

All and all, this made for a rather fun project at camp and only added to the wonderful experience that was the Salt River of 2013.  I did learn some things though:  next time, I would try harder to heat the area around the crack so the area would be more pliable and could form a more integrated weld.

So yes, it can be done!  I'm sure that if this crack had been a normal little straight-line crack, this patch would have been much more effective.  But hey... she got me through.

In the Springtime of our Stress

Spring time is a stressful time in the mountains of Colorado.

We wait all winter, just skiing to pass the time, then we wait a bit more for the waters to start flowing.  Then everything runs... several all at once.

I have spent hours upon hours studying gauges and books, stressing myself out.  Obsessing over every cfs fluctuation, imagining rivulets of melting snow flowing together, getting held up behind some fallen wood until rushing forth once again.  I feel I'm almost willing it to flow to where we can float in the new waters.

Then there is the coordinating.  Calling, texting, messaging via any of half a dozen social media sites.  Waiting to hear back.  Trying to rally a crew that's scattered over many hundreds of miles of Colorado.  What to paddle?  When? Who with?  Who has what kind of a car for a shuttle?  Do I need to have the dogs looked after while I go camp for a weekend, or can they come with me?

We all know it won't last for long once it starts.  Even sooner, at least for me, work will start up in earnest once the commercial rafting starts up on the Ark and I won't have the luxury of taking off any three of the best days.

Yesterday I was hiking low water laps on the Pine Creek rapid, now today it's snowing.

Spring is stressful in the mountains Colorado....

More Thoughts on Paddle Wrap

Never happy with most factory specks, I am forever playing with additions and small modifications to my kayaking gear.  My latest obsession has been paddle grips and wraps.

Last year I wrote about my experiment using bike handlebar wrap on my AT2 paddle.  Since then I have been very happy with how that has performed; it has proven to be more robust than I had first expected and it hasn't gotten slicker or degraded with oils from my hands.  The complaints that I have with it is that it's the more expensive option (though only at about $15) and that I ended up adding too much bulk to the grip.  There are some slimmer handlebar tapes that I found out there, but they are much more of an open weave (a lot like medical tape) and so would absorb and retain water.  At any rate, this wrap is still on my AT2 and going strong and I plan on leaving it on until it needs to be replaced.

Electrical tape looks nice.

In the meantime, I just got myself a shiny new paddle!  I had entirely too much free time over the winter to day dream about paddles and ended up wanting something longer for creeking and river running than the 188 I have been using for years.  So... I jumped with both feet (hands?) into a Werner Sho-Gun, straight shaft, 197.  I have used it only a couple of times, so I'll write a review of my feelings on transitioning from years with a bent shaft to the longer straight shaft after I take it down a few more runs.  Even still, with it all new, I felt like experimenting with some kind of grip wrap. 

Electrical tape wrap

The hard, cold carbon just didn't feel right in my hands.  First I tried using just electrical tape.  While I thought that looked really nice and clean, and it did give me a little bit of added texture,  it just didn't give me as much of a substantive change as I was looking for.  It was still hard and cold and not particularly "grippy."

Tennis racket wrap

Pondering on sports tape, I finally landed on tennis racket tape.  I found this to actually be pretty neat stuff.  It's not as bulky or squishy as the bike handlebar wrap, and it is actually tackier than I had expected to find.  I would say the texture has that "sticky rubber" feel.  It's not sticky on the inside, but when you wrap it tight and overlap the tape it kind of sticks to itself.  The only end I had to tape down was the tale end as I could overlap the start.  I used standard duct tape and wasn't really able to get it to lay flat from the tape to the shaft, but that's not a huge issue.  My only worry is that it isn't cut as long as I had hoped and so it didn't span very much distance on the paddle shaft... about the length of t a tennis racket handle... go figure.

One advantage to this option is that it will be easy to take off if I change my mind and it only cost about $4 after tax for a packet of three.

Happy experimenting!