: Looks Great Roger.

: Now that you've had it in the water and played a little, how do you like the
: stepped floor for your feet? Did it work as planned? I'm just now getting
: back to mine after the Holidays and hope to get the skin on the hull next
: week. Then, I will be working on all the inside goodies, before I finish
: the deck. Still looking for a used pool for the float bags. Had two lined
: up ( not a pun ) but the bi-annual trash haul beat me to them. Looks
: like you got a good satin finish on it, so, how did the paint cover the
: cloth weave? Again, it looks real good. Congratulations!!

: Rehd

Thanks Rehd,

The stepped floor worked just fine. I actually didn't think about it much. When I pulled into Blue Lake Park, the attendant told me he was locking the gate in 45 minutes. I only got to spend 15 or 20 minutes on the water. I was in such a hurry that I left my shoes on. This small lake is down by the Columbia River in Troutdale Oregon. The wind comes out of the Columbia Gorge and blasts this community. My precarious launching method is due to the wind pulling on the kayak. When I first got in the kayak I was sitting on an insulation pad that put me up too high. Once the pad was removed, the stability greatly increased.

I never was able to kill the weave. This didn't seam to hamper the kayaks performance. Speed seemed excellent. It was hard to tell though in the strong wind. The paint I used was semi-gloss. I'm happy with its appearance. I bought an entire gallon of the white and teal so I'll be able to do touch up for years to come on the finish.

Roger

PS Let me explain the paddle. This is a white water kayak paddle from the 70's. Haven't built my sea kayak paddle yet. That'll be my next project. Even with those big surface blades the kayak didn't want to turn. I wasn't willing to put the kayak on edge today.