What’S UP?
Although yesterday was a Sunday and we had no real work scheduled, we still had a fairly busy morning. We first tackled the reinstallation of the remaining two 1/2″ bolts which hold the big Yamaha onto our tender’s transom. These two bolts reside right at the waterline and thus, when we first took them out, we filled the holes with epoxy to stop water from entering the dinghy. Putting them back in required lifting the dinghy a few inches out of the water using the davits and then drilling out the epoxy that we put there to seal the holes. The job went without too many kinks.
Once that was done, we conducted a bit of exploratory surgery on the boat, removing access panels to check out the available wire runs. We have several electrical projects to complete (all new navigation electronics including a new masthead wind instrument, new inverter/charger, watermaker, additional 120V and 12V receptacles, etc.) and all will require running new wires. I was happy to find that, as it is on ZTC, running wires should be relatively painless. We found multiple conduits traversing the boat, most with tracer lines, strings running adjacent to the wires used to pull new ones through. That was good news!
With this panel removed we can access all of the helm station navigational instruments.
You can also see our new EPIRB in the photo.
We need to run a new wire to the top of the mast and with this panel removed,
we can easily get the wire outside.
Of course, once we started taking things apart we saw some cleaning which could be done.
That gave us an opportunity to test out our new wet-dry vacuum.
Our research has not been limited exclusively to the technical front. We have also been investing some time into deciding exactly what toys we want to have on One Love. Water toys are apparently very important on charter boats and we want to have plenty of options available for our guests. One thing that’s very popular these days are Stand-Up Paddle boards (SUPs) and we have decided to acquire two of them. The first decision we had to make was whether to purchase the traditional hard board style or get the newer inflatable types. There are a lot of advantages for us in having the inflatables (lighter, easier for guests to move, won’t damage the boat if dropped, can be stowed away when not in use) but since we had never used one, we were unsure how good they would be. Fortunately our friends Scott and Brittany have one made by Walker Bay and since they’re here in the marina too, we asked if we could borrow it.
The board packs up nicely and inflates with a manual pump in only a few minutes. Rebecca and I both took the board for a quick spin and were impressed with its stability. We also visited our dock neighbors, Corinne and Mario as they have two boards made by Tower on their Lagoon 400. Although they were just in the process of deflating them for storage when we showed up, the boards looked pretty good too and they were quite happy with them.
Have you visited ZTC since your return – and were there any issues with storage?
Not yet but we plan to tomorrow I think. Our friend jeff has a pickup truck so we can pick up our stuff from the boat.
We have seen many paddle boards in our marina as well as 2-3 km offshore here in Toronto. It looks like they would certainly a workout.
I feel for them when they encounter the wake of the inconsiderate smudge pot operators or banchees on Seadoos, many who think it is appropriate to throttle back only once they are inside the outer markers at the harbour entrance. But then if you are on a paddleboard in open water you probably must accept the risk of going for a swim.
I suspect most of our guests will be remaining in relatively sheltered waters, close to the mother ship.
Hi Mike
Here are additional options from a company I buy from. http://www.nrs.com/category/2800/sup/paddle-boards
Tim
Thanks Tim. They are a bit more pricey, aren’t they.
We had 2 of the Bic hard SUPs and they required a bit of extra work to secure for passages. We never found the “perfect” spot for them so sold them and bought 2 of the inflatable SUPs from West Marine when they had a sale. I’m amazed at how firm the inflatables feel and we can even easily paddle around with one adult and our 75lbs dog, Kala, on them. The added bonus is the easy stowage and relatively small space required.
I think the ability to stow them is a very valuable feature.
I’m not really into stand-up paddle boards. At least on the Chesapeake, you never see them amoung cruisers. I’m certain some of it is the water temperature much of the season and that the water is hardly blue. For cruisers they also lack the utility of a kayak; not as much use in rough water, no use carrying things and no use touring the marsh (falling in the mud is just plain unapealing).
That said, I’ve paddled the NRS Earl and like it OK, though I certainly like hard boards better (zero flex). The point about water toys makes complete sense.
a. Have you paddled stand-up’s much before, or just a few times?
b. Is the time it takes to blow-up/take down worth it when you are taking care of guests? I know when I’m taking out groups they keep me running, without having to fool with more.
c. Is banging things that much of a risk. There are also soft boards; I paddled one (forget which–BIC I think) and I liked it better than the inflatable but not as well as a hard board.
d. Combination kayak/SUP seems like a neat idea for charters, where some might like to try the SUP but some would rather kayak. But don’t know of one I like.
e. What about racks outside the lifelines? The don’t work on the PDQ (foul genoar and spin sheets) but might work very well on One Love.
Just questions; I don’t have answers. Using up deck space with toys is certainly a bigger problem with charters (more people) than for cruisers.
We have NOT paddled SUPs before but we do have a hard kayak as you know. In fact, we picked it up from ZTC yesterday and brought it here onto One Love. We plan to acquire another one like it and had thought about checking into those outside the lifeline racks. We will have 6 guests on board on most charters so having only 1 water toy wouldn’t be much fun for the group, hence our plan to have 2 SUPs and 2 Kayaks. The inflatable SUP that we tested took us only 3 minutes to blow up using the supplied manual pump.
The most impressive thing about those paddle boards is the price of them.
It’s ridiculous!!!!
One tenth of the prices on those sites would be more reasonable, and not cheap at that!
Mike
And how would that be any different than most every other boat-related item?
If you get an inflatable, make sure it is at least 11′ long and, most importantly, the newer 6″ thick ones. The thicker ones are much firmer. Removable fins are good too. A high pressure electric pump (like Bravo) will make your life much easier since I am sure you will be the one pumping them up. On our boat, we use it for the SUP, dinghy and kites.
Good suggestions. Thanks.