Did you notice the lifted ends and
marked rocker on that “page 83” kayak? Markedly different from the OP’s kayak, where the ends are NOT lifted and rocker is low. So in '65, they already knew how a slalom boat had to be shaped, and the '74 “OT” shows no awareness of such design principles whatsoever.
People call canoes, kayaks, and call kayaking, rafting. And a few people call ww kayaks “slalom”. A really nice, big horse gets called “thoroughbred”. It happens.
Check the year and the photo '60s
I know very well what a slalom boat looks like today. I also know what a creek boat looks like today. Recall how a creek boat used to look decades ago - nothing like today’s ones, but in their day they were used to run creeks…
Again, I don’t claim that it is today, but in its time, according to that article I quoted, it sure looks like it was…
Hard to tell…
– Last Updated: May-15-13 7:12 PM EST –
Looking from these less than ideal angles in the book and the OP's photos it is hard to compare. The OP's boat actually has decent rocker... http://s1138.photobucket.com/user/WPFickes/media/2013-05-07_16-42-29_309_zpse2e6b93b.jpg.html?sort=3&o=4
And I'm going to be the first to admit that I know next to nothing about boats of yester year, so going by what I see in these photos...
That’s a bad angle for assessing rocker.
But if that were the only photo available to me, I would never expect that kayak to have enough rocker to be used even in the cruising class of a weekend slalom race. By contrast, the “page 83” kayak clearly has lifted ends and pretty good rocker for a boat raced in 1965.
You don’t need to make excuses for the OP. He didn’t know what he had, but he’s already showed that it’s a fast boat, fast enough to race in cruising downriver events.
that’s what I’m saying
’60’s slalom boats were undoubtedly a lot less radical than they are today.
Nice.
I think you did a real nice job. There is a lot of pleasure in using something you have spent time and work on, really rewarding. Enjoy it and keep paddling.
I still…
I still don’t know what I have… lol. Regardless of what it is, it’s a fun to paddle boat, and gets the job done for me. I really enjoyed working on it, and I plan to do more to it. In a couple years I plan to try my hand at a stich and glue model, and this was a great warm up for that.
Just to clear up any confusion, when I say “creek boat” I mean a boat to use on Tonawanda Creek, across the streed from my house. It a local term used when talking about what they paddle or row on the creek.
Next weekend, I guess the turning ability will really be put to the test. I plan to paddle an estimated 12 miles of the creek. The distance “as the bird flies” is only about 7 miles, but this section winds like a snake on crack. So we shall see!
tonawanda, eh?
you could get together with Ness and her group, they’re from that area. As a matter of fact, I’m headed to N. Tonawanda in a few weeks for a concert (primus), and may be meeting up with Ness and some paddling friends of hers, just for a get together.
Interested.
I am always looking for new people to paddle with. I am a member of BOM (Buffalo Outdoors Meetup) on meetup.com, and we do alot of trips, but I have heard there are a few other paddling groups in the area. I am actually in East Amherst, a few miles north and east of Tonawanda. About a mile east of the cofluence of Tonawanda Creek and the Erie Canal.
You have a fast ww river cruiser.
A few are still made today.
You may be able to “clean up” in the cruising class of ww downriver racing events. At least you’ll have a nice boat in which to compete. Most of today’s ww kayaks are total pigs for ww downriver cruising.
When I was boat inspector, I used to have problems when a racer entered cruising class with an old, fast ww boat. The racers with newer boats would whine and say, “That’s a racing boat, not a cruising boat.” And I would say, “I’m the boat inspector, and that is not, and never was, a racing boat. If you’re in the cruising class, why do you care?”
Incidentally, if you are of relatively
normal weight and height, you can probably buy a used slalom kayak of recent vintage for, say, $600 or so.
Slalom kayaks used to be hard to paddle, but now, at least on class 1-2 water, they will make you say “This thing can do anything!” They’re surprisingly sturdy, fairly easy to repair, light (~20 pounds) and very fast accelerating. Best boat you can have for just zooming around from eddy to eddy.
Does Ness and her group
have a group name, or is it something more informal?
pretty sure it’s informal.
She’s on this site from time to time. I’m a FB friend, and will let her know you’re interested. e-mail me if you want, or if you find her on here, you could e-mail her. Mixed group it appears, yaks and canoes, looks like a fun gang. They’ve been heading into the WW direction as well. I may be paddling when I go up in a couple weeks, but will most likely hike the gorge before the show.
More on skegs, tracking, and experience
– Last Updated: May-17-13 1:15 PM EST –
Daggermatt is right. When I first learned about solo canoes and was planning to buy one, I read comments here about a canoe by Souris River that had a rudder. One old-time poster here who seemed to know a lot about canoes gave it a higher rating than any non-Kruger canoe he'd used (in retrospect, since he was so enthusiastic about Kruger canoes, perhaps he'd learned to prefer rudders to fancy paddle strokes). At that point I thought about solo paddling as being less than ideal due to the off-center power application of single-blade paddling, and realized a rudder would be more efficient than correction strokes. I almost considered getting that ruddered canoe, but once I learned "how to paddle" I was sure glad I hadn't. Sure, the rudder would have been great for open-water cruising but it would have been terrible for everything else a general-purpose canoe is supposed to be good at. I've since learned to paddle well enough that the slight inefficiency of correction strokes does NOT provide a good reason to handicap a perfectly good canoe with a rudder. One of my canoes will spin 180 degrees within a few seconds of laying down the paddle to grab a camera, but I'm perfectly happy making it go a straight line via paddle control. The original poster will not feel like there's a need for the skeg after his skills improve.
Nice work!
– Last Updated: May-17-13 1:08 PM EST –
I bet it isn't very often that an old, worn-out boat gets a new life in such grand style. Also, when it comes to kayaks, I don't believe Old Town makes anything other than basic plastic junk nowadays, so yours is unique for that reason as well. Looks like a real gem to me.
Like I mentioned above though, if you decide to learn good technique, eventually you won't want that new skeg - at least not for paddling twisty creeks.
Zoar Valley is one group NM
Soon as I get back…
I will shoot you an e-mail soon as I get back. I am busy packing for a last minute trip to MI for a Daddy/Daughter dance tomorrow. The mixed group thing sounds a lot like BOM. I wonder if she is a member, there are over 2000 members in the online group.
And like Guideboatguy said, old boats probably don’t often get refreshed much if at all. I find something peaceful about working on old items, from my old Beretta Silver Snipe to my 79 Vette, there is a special sense of accomplishment you get from completing a restoration job. Making the old, new again. Or maybe I am just crazy… lol.