Sale Boats

For Sale

Now need the storage space after a recent minor upgrade, necessitating a bit of major downgrade: 

L - R:

Nova Craft Ocoee OC1 $800

Dagger Pegasus Kayak/SOT $250 SOLD

Dagger Pegasus Kayak/SOT $250 SOLD

Liquid Logic 'Coupe' Kayak/SOT $350 SOLD

Mohawk Maxim OC1 $800

12/16: We opened up enough space by clearing out the 'SOLD' items that we retained storage space for the Ocoee and Maxim. We decided to pull them off the "market" and keep 'em. We were having second thoughts about parting with them, anyway.

Also:

NRS Adventurer SUPs (2) w/ backpacks/pumps/hoses/patch kit $150/each SOLD

NRS 'Big Earl' SUP w/ backpack/pump/hose/patch kit $50 SOLD

Misc:

BPM OC1 Float bags (set), 60", black $50

Double blade kayak paddles (2) $25/each SOLD

Nova Craft Ocoee

Rebrand of a classic Dagger OC1. Brand new condition. Royalex hull. Fully outfitted.

Mohawk Maxim

Brand new condition. An early, short length/high performance OC1 playboat. Royalex hull. Full factory outfitting. Probably not many of these out there. That hard chined/planing-style hull can be a bit squirrelly when "goin' with the flow", requiring constant attention. Fun surf boat when some swift water under it, though. Spins on a dime. That's all we've ever done with it. Best suited for a lighter paddler (maybe <180lbs) our opinion having paddled it.

Dagger 'Pegasus' Kayaks, Sit-On-Top

Excellent condition. Pretty fun. Performed well on Lower Yough runs at Class III levels (say max. 3ft OPG). Also multiple local creek runs. A good introduction boat for aspiring WW kayakers. Surfs well, too. Good boat to have when the only alternative partner for the day is a coerced, boatless, never paddled or seldom paddler. 

Liquid Logic 'Coupe' Kayak, Sit-On-Top

Brand new condition. Bought it brand new with the intent to convert to a photography boat with some alterations we had in mind. Another project that got put along the wayside and never started. Fun. Surfed it a few times at the local Class II play spot. That soft hull will hold an edge, for a sit-on-top. Has a mechanical, lever actuated "drop down" skeg that you can engage for the flats which holds a track very well.

NRS Adventurer SUP

Those two 'Adventurer' SUP's are nine years old. Both developed an air leak (maybe 1" length delamination) in the seam last season. We repaired 'em both with 'StaBond' adhesive and are as good as new. We decided to replace 'em with new boards regardless as we tend to paddle a bit remote locations with long swims involved for return with a damaged board. We've had several inflatable boats over the years (rafts, kayaks, now SUPs) and it's our experience that after around 8 to 10 years of "normal" use to expect issues with glued seams. The 'Big Earl' board had one (maybe two as we recall) minor seam leaks that required only small patches. Otherwise, no punctures nor tears in all - just the usual minor scuffs.

Those BPM float bags are far and away the best bags out there. Halkey-Roberts style air valves - no "beach ball" valves of old. We got that set a few years back from a semi-local guy who was to deliver 36" bags. Never unpackaged them to check before the two hour drive back home after meeting him half way to pick them up. Discovered 60" bags after opening the box. Figured f*k it - was a hassle dealing just to get those. Lesson learned. They're brand new and never used - just have had no current use for 'em. We later found out those bags are manufactured in Britain by 'BPM Whitewater'. We since only deal with them directly. Best float bags and great service. We also discovered that the local guy marked the bags up 2X in price.

Contact if interested. Available for pick up here at the sanctum sanctorum. If reasonable distance we can travel to meet ya' somewhere along the road. We'll (eventually) post these locally on 'Craig's List' as well.

Ocoee and Maxim Specs:

Any updates to the availability of this stuff we'll re-post herein.

MRE16 - Part II

 We added a high performance modification to the Explorer 16...

... installed a 650HP, high torque inboard

Back To Basics Part II: River Trails

Returned to an old local training route (one of several) we used to frequently paddle years back when striving to master moving water canoeing basics. Probably seventy-five percent of our paddling was upriver over low volume flows sporting usually taxing class I turbulence and class II to II+ waves, drops and holes. The prior tackled alternately head-on and through a combined series of switchback ferries and eddy hopping. The latter always and easily by-passed by tracking or lining upriver along the shoreline shoals - while being fun play spots for practicing tight eddy turns and surfing on the downriver return. Was great training for solving the geometry of an open, rockered whitewater boat. And ya' just need your shorts, shoes, boat and paddle (and mandatory PFD  now'days, which can be stowed).

A bit of fun two to three hour workout and only minutes from the front door. Out and back. No shuttle necessary. 

Upstream ≈ 1 mile. Downstream ≈ 1.7 mile. Say 2.7 miles round trip. Flatwater up to class II whitewater.

Best to tote along a sturdy old 'Carlisle' aluminum shaft/plastic blade raft paddle. Usually a bit of "paddle poling" involved on the shallow upriver. Is a useful walking stick for the tracking sections as well. Saves some wear and tear on the more expensive wooden or composite  paddles.

No fifteen foot waterfalls nor long, desperate class V drops involved. Usually just hard work. Would probably seem pretty lame to most.

No fun to be had here

MRE16

We needed another riverboat like a hole in the head. However, just happened to come a cross a somewhat rare (and local) 'Craig's List' find - a Mad River Explorer 16 (tandem) canoe. Royalex hull. Wood (ash) gunnels, thwarts, yoke, webbed seats. Was posted as a 1991 (at that time) twenty year anniversary model. There's a stamped serial number on the hull for verification. We'll take their word for it. 

Mad River Explorer 16

Took a ride up to check it out. Common to royalex canoe hulls sporting wood gunnel trim, there was one "cold crack", about eight inch length, located toward the bow end of the hull. Cold cracks occur only with wood gunnel royalex hulls, always at the screw holes, then propagating cross-section. This tendency is resultant to differential thermal contraction between the gunnel wood and hull plastic exposed to sub-freezing temperatures.  The condition is avoided by storing the boat during the winter months in a dry, heated environment (aka, above freezing). If outdoors exposed to the elements, it is recommended to loosen the wood fastening screws and store in a dry location or under cover. 

The cold crack

The seller had previously done an expert, and per spec, repair on the cold crack. We looked the boat over and (at the time) found no additional cracks. Otherwise, the boat was in what we considered excellent condition and was obviously well maintained over the years. Although not thrilled about a maintenance dependent wood trim hull, we did have a bit of space available for winter storage in a heated basement. F*k it - we slipped the guy the cash, strapped the boat to the vehicle, offered our thanks, bid farewell, and were on the road. 

First opportunity we recruited muscle girl Sarah to assist with an afternoon of test paddling to evaluate performance and "sea worthiness". Took us a few strokes to get into tandem sync - she having never paddled tandem before (but a paddler none-the-less) and as for myself it having been quite a few years back. Only required a short learning curve. With her manning the bow I think that within the half-hour we could have entered and placed in any up-river race. 

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One of the infrequent past times that we had paddled a tandem boat was on a river in Virginia with two boats and three other guys who we worked with at the time. Was a class I-II river and we were on a weekend river camping outing. Never paddled with those guys before and personally had only paddled whitewater boats. Those guys had claimed to be avid paddlers and each owned pretty nice 'Old Towne' tandems. I was bow positioned the whole trip. Couldn't get used to paddling seated so eventually switched to a kneeling position. Those guys became a bit outraged - "Why are you kneeling - that's not how you paddle!" Ta' boot, those guys did their best to totally avoid any turbulence of any sort, be it fun small waves or drops. I'd get reprimanded as well at any attempt to draw toward that "excitement". The few drops that we did run were done with a bit of trepidation on their part. One guy would constantly rest his paddle and grab the rails. Luckily that first evening there was a small set of class II waves with a small drop along an outside bend and channel just downriver from our camp. The inside bend was pretty shoal so it wasn't difficult to walk a boat back upriver. After they had loosened up over a few after dinner beers, I talked them into taking one of the boats, now relieved of all gear and provisions, out to paddle the narrow channel. I explained the benefits of kneeling, of not being afraid to lean the boat, and demonstrated draw strokes and stern prys. It wasn't long before I was settin' along the shoreline watchin' those guys have a heck of a lot of fun preoccupied runnin' the channel over and over with me drinking beers two to their one. The remainder of the trip they were now aiming for even the slightest turbulence. They couldn't have had more fun than if we were floating the Colorado.

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(Sarah Zagorce Image)

Paddled pretty good solo while kneeling "amidship". May add a foam kneeling pad. We also understand that, considering a symmetrical hull, the preferred way to paddle the boat solo/seated is positioned bow and facing stern, or, "backwards". Weight back solo in the stern seat position created heavy bow lift as in the above image

  Later on, back at the sanctum, we masked off the gunnels and re-finished 'em using two coats of recommended 'Watco Exterior Wood Finish'. That should do it...

"Hey, let's go paddlin'!" 

... well, hold on a minute. We thought that was it - until our boy Howie dropped by and under his (usual) close inspection spied two addition small cold cracks near the nose of the bow. One each both sides...

"Sh*t!" 

... well, no big deal - but now just more work. The above image shows one of the cracks. That's the upper factory screw hole, with a lower stopper hole newly drilled by us partial to the repair. That apparent extension of the crack below the stopper hole is in reality an exterior scratch inadvertently cause by us by the drill bit when the drill slipped from our grasp after drilling the stopper. 

We only had to loosen the bow-end rails just enough to access the cracks

A regular 1/16" drill bit functioned perfectly as a side-cut drill in the soft plastic and worked great for following the diagonal crack

Both cracks prepped for sealing with G/flex epoxy adhesive

Epoxied and clamped for 24hr curing

A typical finished repair - looks OK

While we had things apart we figured that we might as well apply a few coats of wood finish to the inside surface of the rails. A two stage process in our case - first the front half of the boat then the back half

Got everything back together then drilled/installed the deck plates

Like the look of those cracks and scuffed/scratched hull - we like used stuff...

... always admired those dueling scars - real tattoos

Now it's ready to paddle

Back To Basics

Fractured a kneecap five years back. Spent a frustrating six months incapacitated. Even after sufficient recovery and release from the doctor's oversight, things just didn't feel quite right for an extended period afterward. Recommencing normal activities, which included a lot of hiking and biking, was sufficient extended therapy as far as we were concerned. It was maybe a full year after the injury that the knee felt fully functional. We still employed a bit of caution to certain activities, however, being wary of re-injury. "Pain don't hurt", but the ensuing weeks to months of debilitation is unbearable. 

One activity that we avoided was canoeing. With predilection for moving water, we'd only ever owned specialized boats rigged for whitewater paddling. Those boats by form are only paddled in a kneeling position. One oddity to 'em that we've always experienced - paddle successive sets of formidable rapids and throughout your knees are perfectly fine. Float the next one-half to one mile of in between flatwater to the next set of rapids and we usually can barely stand to get out of the thing. We had guessed that years of paddling those boats, even though not consistently, contributed to the knee injury. Heck, happened while out fishing. All we did was high-step up onto a steep creek bank rock ledge (albeit a bit of strain on the joint) when we felt, and heard, the knee crack.

To compound the matter, we had not long prior purchased a somewhat more "all around" (as advertised) solo boat - a Silverbirch Firefly 14. Described a "flatwater to grade III cruiser." We really like that boat. Other than being a bit more of a barge compared to what we were used to, to us it paddles quite similar to any (old school) whitewater boat that we've owned. Excellent secondary stability and paddles best heeled over. Moderate rocker. We've to date paddled it only up to class II which includes surfing small, but swift, holes and waves. Lots of upstream paddling. Eddying. Ferrying. S-turns. We're figuring that it may be a bit wet in heavy class III - has a fine entry bow and could use a bit more depth. Still, paddled dry through the said conditions (taking into account our natural habit of somewhat quartering a boat as opposed to punching thru waves). Silverbirch's current website includes an upgraded version of the boat, christened the 'Highline', with added (30mm) depth for 'bigger water challenges", citing reference to the boat's recently completed "full descent of the Grand Canyon."

We posted herein at the time of some modifications we made to our boat (ref. Riverboat Rigging, April 2019). Those included adding some lacing and flotation bags along with knee pads, thigh straps, and bow/stern painter lines. The knee has been feeling so good for such a long while now that we just recently decided to finish our upgrade and get that thing back out onto the river:

We could not get used to paddling seated. And that angled bench seat, at least to us, felt an entrapment waiting to happen in the event of a wet exit with feet doubled back under while kneeling. We removed the bench seat. We had a spare ash cross-thwart lying about which we fit to the rear factory-drilled seat holes as replacement. A standard canoe saddle was purchased from NRS. We modified the saddle by drilling two lower 1" diameter thru-holes to fit 3/4" PVC pipe. After adding two daisy chain floor patches, we strapped the saddle in using 1" cam straps. We found that the saddle still sat a bit low for our now declined knee joint flexibility. We purchased a closed cell foam kneeling pad from Harbor Freight and cut/epoxied a section to fit the saddle bottom. This gave us an additional 1.5" lift. The added height was perfect. And the thwart positioned perfectly for butt-resting against, just like a kneeling thwart. Considering that the saddle can be removed, we have the best of three worlds - as alternative to the saddle, we can replace the thwart with an actual kneeling thwart. And if desired, the whole assembly can be replaced with a reinstalled bench seat.

Probably a bit overkill for the easy water we paddle these days. Regardless, all the main components (cross-bracing, seating and flotation) are completely modular and can be switched in/out as desired. And fully rigged we figure that we're now capable for an attempt at a "full descent of the Grand Canyon".

To get back into some semblance of paddling form, we've been heading out to a few local practice/play spots that we've seldom visited since first beginning paddling years back. Conveniently located three miles and less from the sanctum front door. 

A few aerial views. We grabbed these images as screen stills from a highly recommended YouTube video, CSX Sand Patch Grade, by these guys 'ACME Cinematography'. Impressive footage highlighting brilliant engineering of the CSX (aka, B&O and Chessie System) railway as it rolls thru Western Maryland and the local Allegheny Mountains of SWPA. Click on the link and check it out. Considering no issues, we want to thank those guys for the use of the images - we never asked. No financial profit on our part for their use and none intended. Hope we get 'em some views:  

Some small holes and waves just upriver of the Crawford Avenue bridge in Connellsville. Not a place we'd travel farther than the mile from home to paddle. A few small surfing waves and a pretty good workout eddy-hopping your way back upriver to paddle thru again. You can also upriver paddle a calm channel located opposite side of the large adjacent island. Best active Ohiopyle Gauge (OPG) 3' and lower.

About 1/8 mile stretch featuring some class II holes and waves just above the 'South Connellsville Beach'. The lower image is a closer view of the upper set of rapids shown in the upper image. The out of view channel opposite that large island features a decent class II surfing drop and wave at the head called 'Mojo' rapid. At low water we've eddy hopped that main river flow a few times while playing around in a sit-on-top kayak to do laps around the island. Best OPG 3' and below. 

A long stretch of class I to II turbulence just above 'Hixon Hole', in turn just above the SCRGC. A decent surfing wave or two. A fun downriver stretch to navigate on an SUP. Best OPG 3' and below.

Looking upriver from the landing at 'JB Rock'

'JB Rock'. Maybe 40ft. We've a time or two seen guys climb to the top barefoot and jump from the near point. Not recommended. Ya' occasionally set and wonder how many ancient people may have done the same thing

An old video still. For the camera, Strong Man Matt bouldering high on JB Rock (and wearing rock shoes) 

We recently dragged our boy Howie off the golf course for an afternoon. We set 'em up with an old Dagger Pelican sit-on-top kayak we dug out of the dust and cobwebs. Those were great boats to introduce new or seldom paddlers to moving water. We used to get a good end of season deal on those things from Betty and Bob at the original 'Riversport' shop up in Confluence, PA when parting out the season's rental/demo stock

Howie testing out the Firefly

Muscle Gal Sarah and upriver view from JB Rock

ZMan surfin' upriver from 'Hixon Hole'

ZMan, a touring SUP and some choppy turbulence

ZMan and whitewater SUP

Muscle Gal Sarah navigating some slight turbulence

Muscle Gal Sarah and 'Mojo' rapid

Disclaimer: Each craft is equipped with on board flotation device (aka, life jacket). Each individual is experienced and equipped for the conditions. Anything less is not recommended. Before heading out check the Gage. Above 3ft gage height that's a swift and precarious volume river for the inexperienced and/or ill-equipped.