Maiden voyage of Javier's Canoe

[jcubero]

Nothing too amazing, just a couple hours on the Wekiva River near home. The Wekiva is a fairly lazy and shallow spring-fed river in Central Florida.

However, this was the maiden voyage of our new canoe, so it was very exciting for us. I car-topped the canoe using a foam block kit, and even though I got up to 55 on one road I had no movement, so I was pretty happy about that. Without further ado, here's some pics:

Roomy enough for our son Alex to lie down in the middle!

And, Kym shot some video. If you listen closely, you can hear an owl. Which is odd because it was almost noon and that owl just kept hooting. Also, look at the water near the beginning. You can see water gently bubbling up - that's one of the many springs that feeds the river under there.
go HERE: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4548067075721039973

 

[oldsparkey]

Looks to me like you put in down near Katie's Landing and then paddled upstream to the flats area.

1...How did the canoe handle going upstream?
2...How did it handle with three people in it?
3...Why don't we have a picture of the real canoe builder, You know the one who did all of the hard work
4...My eyes are deceiving me... An aluminum and plastic paddle :shock:
5...The dumest question of all..... Are you happy ( because you are smiling in the picture ) with it or because you still want to let me have it for $20.00. Remember....... Jack , said I should not go over $15.00.

Chuck.
PS. I heard the shrill cry of a Red Tail Hawk on the video.

 

[Kayak Jack]

Chuck,

I'm thinking they have to quit feeding Alex. His legs are so long he'll be hanging hid feet out over the end of the boat mo-damned-sukoshe!

$20! You're bidding $20!! Now, I'll have to add a few bucks to my bid.

 

[jcubero]

Looks to me like you put in down near Katie's Landing and then paddled upstream to the flats area.

:shock: Nailed it! We put in at Katie's and went upstream just past the SR46 bridge. Must be blind luck

1...How did the canoe handle going upstream?
2...How did it handle with three people in it?

Like a dream. We actually started upstream because we weren't sure how she'd handle, didn't want to get downstream and have trouble getting back!
At one point Kym and I started paddling for all we were worth, just to see. We had quite a bow wake going! It picks up quite a lot of speed when you paddle hard. Tracking isn't awesome, although my lack of paddling technique isn't helping. I have to work on a long straight stroke that doesn't make the canoe veer so much. It's a fairly flat bottom, so that's to be expected. However, with two of us paddling, it handles well. Turns easily.

3...Why don't we have a picture of the real canoe builder, You know the one who did all of the hard work

What do you mean? Alex is right there in the middle I can't show a bunch of dirty old men a picture of Kym, her blinding beauty would give you geezers heart attacks and I can't be responsible for that :lol:

4...My eyes are deceiving me... An aluminum and plastic paddle :shock:

Yeah, I'm working on it! Now that the canoe is finished I'll have some time to get the paddles done. I'll be talking to you about those! I'm having trouble with the rough shaping - what tool(s) did you use for that?

5...The dumest question of all..... Are you happy ( because you are smiling in the picture ) with it or because you still want to let me have it for $20.00. Remember....... Jack , said I should not go over $15.00.

:lol: I wouldn't sell it for $2000! 8) BTW, I got several compliments out on the water from other boaters and one fisherman on the shore.

PS. I heard the shrill cry of a Red Tail Hawk on the video.

Yes, you did. That being a day bird I wasn't so surprised as I was at that owl. We actually have a red-shouldered hawk that likes to hang around our property. I went out in the back yard one day and it flew within a few feet on me. It often sits in our trees or on our fence. Once Alex sat and watched while it perched on the corner of his playhouse and calmly ate a mouse. He held still through the whole thing (very tough for a small boy!) then came in and told us about it.

 

[Kayak Jack]

... I wouldn't sell it for $2000! BTW, I got several compliments out on the water from other boaters and one fisherman on the shore.

BINGO!

 

[oldsparkey]

I spent 27 years with the Seminole County Sheriffs Office, a lot of that time was with the Range & Water Patrol.
We covered all of the rivers , lakes and bodies of water here in this county along with Orange County and up to Lake George to the North.

Before then I spent all of my free time on the rivers in all sorts of boats, from Canoes up to Inboard Cabin Cruisers and even Air Boats.
One day I was invited to ride in Miss Budweiser during some time trials on Lake Monroe. The capt was Ronald Regans , Son. He was fine tuning it so he could break the speed record on the Mississippi River later on ... Which he did. That was some BOAT.

Always have been a River Rat and it is way to late for me to change at this time.

The canoe paddle I made I roughed it our with a hand saw, cut on the dotted line, then used the belt sander and graduated over to a vibrating sander.

Chuck.

 

[hairymick]

Hi Javier,

This is bloody great. Beautiful piccies and a good read. Well done, again on your beautiful canoe and I'm real glad to see you using her.

Those piccies remind me a little of some of the fresh skinny waters down here. I would love to see a piccier of her (your boat) on the water.

 

[jcubero]

Mick,

Thanks for the compliments. I've got to get some better pics this Friday. I'm taking the day off to go canoeing, we're going to try a different spot.
Also, I got the cane seats in from JEM and got them put in. They look *great* and feel good on the backside. I've yet to take pics though, so I need to get the wife to take some. Stay tuned!