: She's painted. I threaded two short sections of rope through the
: bow & stern, then tied monkey fists in both. Nice and
: simple. I took the pic below before I put in the stern loop.
: Deck rigging will follow, but I'm more anxious to get her in the
: water for the first time. I thought I'd use brass screws and
: finishing washers to attach looped strips of webbing, then run
: the rigging through them. Simple and effective, even if it
: "contaminates" the kayak with metal fasteners. The
: foot rests are plastic... in for a penny, in for a pound *grin*.

: I wasn't sure about the blue Rustoleum paint, but it's growing on
: me. It was on clearance at Wal-Mart, cheap. There's no water in
: Upstate NY that I know of that's anywhere near that shade, so I
: should be relatively safe visibility-wise. Even the Atlantic
: doesn't get that color, at least the parts I've seen. I liked
: the grey for the hull.

: I ordered a NRS Chinook fishing PFD this afternoon... should be a
: few business days getting here via USPS. I saw no reason to pick
: up a less expensive PFD, knowing I was going to want the extra
: pockets and storage for fishing purposes. Simple PFDs weren't
: much less expensive to make it worth buying two. Once I've got
: it, I'll be set to maiden. NY State law requires the PFD while
: kayaking, period, and I'm not one to tempt it. I haven't picked
: up any float bags yet, but the nearby man-made lake I plan on
: using to maiden her has an average depth of four feet. If she
: sinks, I can stand up in the water (with my PFD on, no less),
: and carry the kayak to shore. I'll hold off on paddling deeper
: waters until I pick up some decent float bags. I am tempted to
: simply inflate a pair of tractor sized inner tubes inside either
: end of the 'yak, though *grin*.

: Gotta pick up a spray skirt before I start rolling, too... and a
: wet suit for when the water gets colder... and a dry suit for
: when it gets really cold... and the rest of the safety gear I'll
: want for hitting the bigger waters. Nobody tell the wife how
: expensive this is getting, ok? It's still cheaper than the
: iPhone 4 that she keeps hinting about...

Looks nice Noel :)

Years ago I had a Prijon kayak that color, stood out on the water very well.

Bill H.