It Don't Have To Be Fun To Be Fun - Part II

... had an individual or two inquire about that busted Jeep KJ upper control arm/ball joint...

... replaced both sides with a set of 'JBA Offroad' A-arms - pictured above alongside one of the (unbroken) stock A-arms - a mandatory modification if you're going to install any type of lift on those vehicles (2" in our case) - wasn't aware of that and learned the hard way ( = experience - the best way to learn anything)... 

... highly recommend the use of one of these 'Bolt Buster' heat induction tools if ya' have access to one...

... we sure as heck wouldn't have wanted to have snapped one of those fastener bolts if seized - each accessed thru the engine bay - particularly the drivers side rear bolt... luckily for us seized bolts weren't an issue and each bolt slid right out after removing the bit rusted nuts...

... the 'Bolt Buster' in action - a borrowed tool that we've used a lot - in our opinion mandatory for any under carriage work...

... was workin' alone and having' a bit of a hard time aligning the new A-arms with the bolt holes while jumping' back and forth between the wheel wells and engine bay - fabricated this drift pin (brilliant) and subsequently slid each bolt right in...

... replacement arm installed and torqued - wasn't as bad of a job as anticipated...

... and back on the road to nowhere...

Against the Flow

... back to simpler times...

... all ya' need is your boat, paddle and river shorts (also a life jacket - it's in the boat - don't wanna' get a fine - think it's $80)...

... for a change of pace, we dug a few old open boats out of the mothballs last weekend...

(Google Earth photo)

 ... and paddled upriver to an old play spot to run some laps, rock hop, hole surf and hang out in the sun along the shoreline boulders...

... boy - it sure is a pleasure workin' with individuals who you only have to show once and they run with it... by the time we paddled the half-mile upriver, while demonstrating some requisite paddle strokes along the way, these guys were forward strokin', J-strokin', drawin', sweepin' and pryin' like no tomorrow... nothin' serious, but still, a bit swift current and choppy water, with a few small playholes and eddys to catch...

... very good for their first exposure to (old school) whitewater canoes...

... a few old Royalex boats - (L-R) Nova Craft Ocoee, Mad River Outrage X and (beat up but still in good shape) Dagger Impulse...

... we posted this before, but will post it here again...

(You Tube Video)

... lest we forget Noll's simple philosophy...

Riverboat Rigging Part III

... finally got the 'Firefly' out on the water last weekend...

... great tracking and stability... responsiveness and speed suits our expectations... plenty of room for gear if needed even with the 60" airbags - and we can always trim it down to as small as 32" bags or remove 'em completely... nice boat...

... we like that drop angle seat performance-wise but man is it tight when entering/exiting the boat wearing water shoes/boots - we wound up paddling barefoot... we're probably gonna' replace it with a traditional seat but before we do that we wanna' take it out and perform some wet exit testing - didn't feel like doing that last week - we'll hold out for a nice and sunny 80º - 90º day - have gotten a bit lazy these days...