In my Pungo. Worked great and it was still warm enough to ignore the quart of water it dumped in my lap.
Thursday I’ll try it with the Tarpon. The canoe is going to be next after that.
After all the hype, it is still just another type of paddle.
No doubt that it is body friendly. My bad shoulder gives it a thumbs up.
GP drip options
The Inuit wrap cotton rags around their sticks (about where the drip rings are on standard paddles) to sop/deflect the flow (see linked photo from the Carnegie Museum’s “Polar World” exhibit.)
I’ve had some success using stretchy terrycloth headbands/wristbands wound onto the shaft. Won’t stop all of it but slows the torrent. Using a “miniskirt” blocks some of the water but I have a smaller cockpit than on your Pungo. I mostly just use a full skirt if I will be out for a while or the water is cold. On hot days when skirtless, keeping a piece of closed cell foam or a folded towel over my lap makes the constant drippage less annoying.
http://www.carnegiemuseums.org/cmp/cmag/cmag_assets/s-2012-culture-7.jpg
deip rings
– Last Updated: Aug-30-16 4:31 PM EST –
I tie a turk's head knot on the blade just below the shoulder. Then I whip the 2 ends of each line to provide a place where the water drips down.
Note in subject line
'deip' should be 'drip'
I have used some of my wife’s hair
tye backs sort of successfully.
Tried the NikWax
on my nylon skirt last week. Worked quite well - five miles with my Lumpy - no wet seat or legs. Thanks for the recommendation!
I’ll have to try the NikWax too
Glad to hear that it works. My trusty but 14 year old Feathercraft cordura skirt finally gave up the ghost on its waterproofing last week. I used it on a 5 hour outing with the GP and got thoroughly soaked – fortunately it was a warm day but I had to change my britches before driving home. Three days later I switched to a new Seals coated oxford nylon skirt (that I’d picked up for $20 in May out in Tahoe) and stayed completely dry.
Hope I can salvage the Feathercraft though – now to find a place that stocks the Nikwax. Guess I’ll have to traipse across town to REI (where there is no place to park) but at least it’s somewhat near a river launch.
Use GP with my Scupper Pro
it’s a paddle. It works. Actually, it slides much easier/quicker under my front deck lines when I need to grab my rod to haul in a fish.
sing
That paddle has a square tip!
look
closer…it has a bone tip.
Best Wishes
Roy
Red is right
– Last Updated: Sep-05-16 2:07 PM EST –
That Inuit paddle has rounded bone or ivory tips. The photo (from the Carnegie Museum of Natural History "Polar World" exhibit here in Pittsburgh) is kind of dark so they are hard to see. There are several kayaks and paddles on display as well as native arts like scrimshaw showing kayaks in use -- very cool exhibit and worth a look if you're ever passing through the city.
outrigger, ease of stowage
What I also like about my GP for touring is that it’s buoyant and makes an instant outrigger by just placing one blade over the cockpit and just bending forward to lean on it with my forearms to hold it in place, with the shaft and other blade extending outboard for stability. I have eaten many lunches at sea in this manner.
If you have strong decklines (not bungee cord) you can also just slide the paddle under the decklines at an angle, to make a very strong outrigger. In Greenland they use leather (sealskin) decklines as they don’t stretch like (wimpy) bungee cord.
I don’t know anybody who says a GPS is magical. It’s just that when you get used to a GP, a big feathered blade is kinda clumsy by comparison when trying to stow quickly on the water, or use as a outrigger, etc, and other common tasks. None of these are a big deal by themselves, but taken together, probably accounts for some of the appeal of a GP – at least for me it does.
Greg Stamer