Tower Hamlets Canoe Club

Here is the first results of the sea kayak review we did at the weekend. To me it looks like we have 6 decent plastic boats that are either good to be used or with a little attention would be great. I'll be putting a more polished version of the list on the site soon.

 

 

 

Valley nordkapp – red

Skeg: Needs fixing – skeg wire is twisted and needs replacing

Hatches: Skeg bolt has sheered off in rear compartment and either this is causing a leak or perhaps a bulkhead is not too sealed

Footrests: ok

 

Red valley – no name (older avocet?)  (1 or 2 food shorter than the norkapp – with slightly more uplifted nose and tail)

Skeg: wire bent

Footrests: fine

Hatches/bulkhead: Might be some leakage through the bulkheads or through the lids

 

Red Valley Ovocet – long boat

Hatches: rear lid replacement

Skeg: wire needs fixing

May need bulkheads sealing

 

Blue Wilderness systems tempest

Hatches: day hatch lid needs replacing, others feel loose

Skeg: fine

Left thigh pad missing

 

Yellow Valley Aquanaught

Skeg: good

Hatches: dry (no day hatch)

Footests: good

 

Purple Valley Aquanaut:

Hatches: dry (no day hatch)

Footests: good

Skeg: needs replacing (sarah has skeg itself)

 

 

Yellow Prijon – basin boat – 2 boats?

No bulkheads

Hatch ropes knotted to prevent access

Neoprene hatch covers have holes

NOT SUITIBLE FOR TRIPS

 

Blue Perception Carolina – wide slow boat

Lot of deck lines missing

Hatches ok

Skeg: none

Buildheads need resealing

Not sea worthy

 

Piranha Orca

Hatches: none

Footrests: OK

Skeg: none fitted

No bulkheads

requires airbags

Not sea worthy

Very limited deck lines

Not sea worthy

 

Green piranha

Hatches: none

Footrests: OK

Requires airbags

Missing rear carry handle

Very limited deck lines

Skeg: no

Not sea worthy

 

Orange Piranha Pilot (2 boats)

Bulkhead seals completely gone

Thigh braces broken and removed – bolts remain

Foot rest loose and needs bolts on one boat leaving holes

One has straps missing on back rest, other needs thigh braces for back rest to work

Neither SUITIBLE FOR TRIPS

 

Thanks a lot for good work! 

Looks like it is realistic to make the blue carolina seaworthy with a bit of work as well.

There are two little details that you wouldnt notice till paddling a bit long in each of them:

Nordkapp: Unless someone has fixed it, the left footrest does not work for long legs. It slips out when you put any pressure on it. Fine for short legs only.

Yellow Valley: The thing that locks the skeg rope cuts fingers really badly - and it's in a place you're bound to hit when you tire and hands start dropping a bit. I still have very visible skars from 2 mths ago, and I've seen two other people with bloody hands.

 Anne

Thanks Anne, I'll note the thing about the norcap and we can take a look when we have a repair session.

 Regarding the Yellow Valley, I've had the same problem, though i think i have thick skin as it didn't manage to cut me fully - hurts though.

The only fix i can think of is to perhaps put some tape over it that can eb removed if ee need the skeg. Do you have any thoughts on how to make it better - seems like a design fault to me...

Ideally, we should try to find a thing to hold the rope that doesnt cut - or at least move it to a spot less likely to be hit.

It's a new boat, no? Valley must've had complaints about this from other people and maybe they have thought out ways to fix it?

Did we buy it from Valley so we can ask them to sort it out or did we buy second hand??

Hi Sarah,

Many thanks for documenting what state the boats are in, and thanks to you and Dan taking the time to help out to do this as well. 

What we could use from information we gathered on the sea kayaks is a shopping list of what needs to be bought to repair the boats. Then we need to ask people with a bit more sea kayak knowledge as to where and exactly what to buy and either I will purchase the stuff or someone can volunteer. The repair budget has been agreed so it time to use it.

Larry

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I once read that alcohol is very bad for your health, so I gave it up.

Reading that is.

Many thanks to Dan and Sarah for doing this very useful inventory list.

 I volunteer to try to find pictures on the web for each boat so that people can associate names with boats as seen on the basin.

Mattias is there a template? How can I do this and make it easy for you to upload the images and associated specs (the same way you have done for the two Valleys)

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Dimitris

Dimitris:

Many thanks to Dan and Sarah for doing this very useful inventory list.

 I volunteer to try to find pictures on the web for each boat so that people can associate names with boats as seen on the basin.

Mattias is there a template? How can I do this and make it easy for you to upload the images and associated specs (the same way you have done for the two Valleys)

I agree; Dan and Sarah has done a great job, this list was long over due and it will now be much easier to plan trips and training sessions. Thanks guys!

 

I have made you system administrator (use these new powers wisely my young friend… :) and you should now be able to edit the page I created (look for the Edit link at the top-left corner).

 

Any problems just shout!

 

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´¯`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸ ><((((º>

Mattias Altin:

 

I have made you system administrator (use these new powers wisely my young friend… :)

 OK I will...(change passwords, block people I don't like, tranfer money from the club's account to mine etc etc)

Just kidding, I will have a go

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Dimitris

Its annoying that we have so many kinked skeg cables, even on the newest boats. Cable operated skegs are delicate and need much better care. Perhaps we should tape up the skegs and sliders for normal river use and only use them on trips? A bit of education about how to care for them would help too.

There is a useful discussion thread on UKSKGB about fixing skeg cables and it seems that what we need is lots of 3mm seven stranded standing rigging cable from a chandler.

Deck lines would usually be 5mm cord (10-12 m per boat) and deck bungees use 5mm shockcord (3-5 m per boat). This is also available from chandlers or from Knoydart. Hatch covers are about £15 from Knoydart. It would be well worth having a spares inventory of some of this stuff in addition to what is needed now for repairs. 

Leaking plastic bulkheads are not easily fixed as I think you need to weld them.

The orange Pilots were made by Pyranha whose sea kayak business was taken over by P&H. The Pilot is now an obsolete design but P&H is probably the best place to start looking for replacement fittings.
 

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Club Secretary

Weld plastic bulkheads? Sounds very difficult.

What about my favourite glue, called Liquisole, designed to glue all kinds of shoe soles, therefore sticking to both plastic and rubber and staying a bit flexible and bendable, with some fibers/course woven plastic for strength (dont know what you call it here - do you have a word like fiber glass burlap or plastic burlap?)

Or if it's in a spot that doesnt need to be flexible, there must be two-component adhesive/sealants out there designed specifically for soft plastic in salt water... ?

Taping up skegs sounds like a great idea if we get them back in working condition.

Anne

Hi all,

I updated the sea kayak inventory list according to Sarah & Dan's list and populated specs and photos.

Please have a look and see if you think I got anything wrong. http://towerhamletscanoeclub.co.uk/content/InventorySeaKayaks.aspx  (I have to use photos of boats as they appear on the manufacturer's website and hence the colours do not match the colour of the boat that the club holds - there is a colour field though)

I am happy to do the same for the river runners but I would need a list of boat names first. 

Mattias if I am not wrong these inventories lists are hidden links. Should we put them somewhere obvious on the website so that people become aware that these lists exist?

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Dimitris

Nice work Dimitris, I made two minor edits: corrected the spelling of Nordkapp (from Nordcap) and confirmed your guess that the older red Valley boat is also an Avocet. One other minor factual point is that (I think) the older purple Aquanaut is a full spec rather than 'Club' spec boat (main difference is that it has a day hatch).

It's great to have pictures and a detailed spec for the boats we have but it might improve usability if we had a simple listing of the numbers and types of boats where the boat names are hyperlinks to a single detail page describing each. Just a thought for Mattias.

Luke 

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Club Secretary

Cheers Dimitris,

I have a simple list of all the boats we have. I just need to put numbers inside a few more sea kayaks and it will be finished.

I want to make a simple system so that when a boat needs repair instead of guessing what boat it is, whomever reports the problem just notes if it is a sea kayak or river runner/play boat and then the number on the inside of the boat then the list corresponds to the boat and it is plain to see which boat it is.

Nearly there.

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I once read that alcohol is very bad for your health, so I gave it up.

Reading that is.

Larry,

 if you send me the ww boat list I will get started on putting together photos and specs. Once you have the numbers I will add a field to indicate the number of each boat

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Dimitris

luke:

One other minor factual point is that (I think) the older purple Aquanaut is a full spec rather than 'Club' spec boat (main difference is that it has a day hatch).

Luke,

 I replaced the photo and specs with the Aquanaut HV. Not sure if this is the right model (there also a LV one) but this one has a day hatch. Please have a look and let me know if this is the boat we have.

Cheers

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Dimitris