Rube meets pontoon - tr tomorrow

Put the first of my skeeters together tonight.

I'm frigging pidgen english challenged :-) Put the back on the front, the
front on the back, figuring out how the pontoons were supposed to strap
on, where to put what, all fun, and the drawings are worse than an
exploded view of a sears lawnmower with 8pt fonts. But I finally got it.
The other should go together with ease.

A couple of observations.

1. the seat bolts have wingnuts, but no lock washers etc. I see that
being a problem on the river someday, so I'll be off to the hardware
store tomorrow to make a couple mods on that. Note to self, make a small
toolkit so they can be tightened once you're miles from the vehicle.

2. the anchor rigging may be problematic, it'll have to be tested, the
friction lock for stopping it is interesting.... Need rope, lots of rope.
Dealer recommended 50 feet per boat. Gak, where to stow it all when it's
inboard?

3. anchors - going to have to find a couple of mesh bags for backups in
case of loss but I plan on making some in the 8-10 range. thinking of
using a funnel to make a tapered anchor with cement and a large eyebolt
coming out the skinny end. Any other ideas?

4. The grips on the oars set the stop point in the oarlocks. They needed
adjustment, big time, and it's not easy.

5. The filler adaptor came with an overpressure fitting. So you just pump
until it starts hissing and you're full. Nice touch. I bought a cheapo
double action pump at wallywerld tonight (since the pump I ordered is
still in transit) and observed that you can pump a pontoon up in 3-5
mins. Ok I was skeptical.

6. I admit I've never been a fan of life jackets. Decided to get
SOSpenders, glad I did. they will be a nice touch and if I'm smart I
might even start using them wading the big waters.

Inflated the beast and tomorrow, weather permitting I'm off to try it in
the little androscoggin, in the slackwater section until I get the hang
of the thing. Hopefully it won't be the disaster my first tubing
expedition was, though it wasn't me that stepped off into bottomless
bogslime in the tube the first time, twer that other ordealmaster Ed.

Impressive little things, should be a good deal of fun, my poor man's
driftboat.

TR to follow.

Flyfish

"Flyfish" wrote in message
...
snip
2. the anchor rigging may be problematic, it'll have to be tested, the
friction lock for stopping it is interesting.... Need rope, lots of rope.
Dealer recommended 50 feet per boat. Gak, where to stow it all when it's
inboard?

3. anchors - going to have to find a couple of mesh bags for backups in
case of loss but I plan on making some in the 8-10 range. thinking of
using a funnel to make a tapered anchor with cement and a large eyebolt
coming out the skinny end. Any other ideas?
snip

Don't know what size pontoon you got, but if, as I suspect, it is the 1 man
size (8-9' tubes) - DO NOT USE AN ANCHOR in anything but still or VERY
slowly moving water. Using an anchor on a one man pontoon in any reasonably
moving current is a receipe for disaster. It is not even good practice to
have an anchor aboard in swift water, due to the risk of accidently
deploying it.
A good anchor for still or slow moving water is a 2-4' length of heavy
chain.


--
Bob Weinberger
La, Grande, OR

place a dot between bobs and stuff and remove invalid to send email

"Flyfish" wrote in message
...
Put the first of my skeeters together tonight.

I'm frigging pidgen english challenged :-) Put the back on the front, the
front on the back, figuring out how the pontoons were supposed to strap
on, where to put what, all fun, and the drawings are worse than an
exploded view of a sears lawnmower with 8pt fonts. But I finally got it.
The other should go together with ease.


snip some interesting observations

Impressive little things, should be a good deal of fun, my poor man's
driftboat.

TR to follow.

Flyfish

I took my cheapo BPS pontoon out yesterday for a test drive. No gear, just
a short run down the Shenandoah. It's much more responsive than I thought
it would be. Turns on a dime. Conversely, it doesn't track that well.
Also, it is a wetter ride then I imagined. I'm going to have to drill some
drain holes in the seat. Plus, storage is going to be an issue. It will be
a good machine for short trips. I'll stick to my canoe for longer trips.

John