C-Forum

The GyraMax was the first boat I owned; with it I had a creeker, river runner, and play boat all in one. :D Canoe and Kayak had a review that worried that it might be too "hot" for the beginning or average boater. While it sort of deserved its nicknames of "GyraPig" or "Oil Tanker" it was better tha...

Thanks for the suggestions and advice, the pool noodle technique sounds very useful. I would wrap the Dragonskin around the curved end of a "U" shaped piece of minicell and then tape it. I'll keep an out for Dragonskin in hardware stores, if I find any I'll stock up.

Thanks again,
Don

I've always used Dragonskin for the final shaping of minicell, I tape it around a curved block of foam to make a good handle. Red Devil has stopped making it, what are people using now?

Thanks,
Don

I use small blocks of minicell glued to the bottom or the boat (and side of the pillar) with contact cement, light and simple. I reach back with a marker while in the boat to get where my toes are and glue them in a little forward of that point, it is easy to trim slices off until you get the fit yo...

I have an Atom, I've started paddling it again after my Finkenmeister was stolen. I didn't remove any of the original outfitting but did add a few things. I added foam blocks to wedge my knees further apart and to make them more secure. I like my knees to be as close to the side of the boat as posib...

Thanks to everyone for their good wishes, still no luck recovering it. It still has the Dagger saddle, the thigh straps are blue with plastic buckles and at the time it was stolen it didn't have the hip huggers installed. It also still had the "made with pride in Bavaria" sticker. I've uploaded a fe...

My yellow with blue swirls Finkenmeister C-1 was stolen from the in town takeout of the Lower Millers. This is the river left takeout on Newton St., just downstream from the iron bridge and upstream from the railroad bridge. Also stolen was a translucent drybag with a Rapidstyle drytop (just repaire...

Hi Martin,

Buffy and I are going to be staying at the Best Western during Moosefest. Our tenative plan is for me to paddle the Bottom on Saturday and then try and do a Shredder run of the Lower Sunday.

Don

I'm not with the club but have been to one of the Rendezvous. Their website http://www.benscreekcanoeclub.com/ is up and has email and phone contacts for the club officers. The site doesn't have the Stonycreek date for 2006 posted yet but you might be able to get an advance notice directly. Good luc...

A lot of people move the top anchor for their thighstraps back 1-3 inches to stay in better. The knee blocks others have mentioned make a big difference, I like my knees as far apart as possible. Toe blocks (rectangles of minicell glued in) help me stay in the straps when I tuck tightly. Like jKelly...

Hey Martin, "Look for a poorely paddled yellow FM with blue swirls ! I'll be staying at RiverRun." That includes me as well! Even to the boat color, we'll have to get a photo of them together. Our reservations are for the "pet haven" area at River Run. Three of us will be driving up Friday and stayi...

Since I was still unhappy with the original Fink outfitting after a lot of fiddling with it I decided to put in a Dagger console I had around. One of the motivations was that by moving myself so far forward in order to get more solidly into the bulkhead I had made the boat quite nose heavy. The cons...

I replaced the original bulkhead outfitting in my Fink with a Dagger console for the time being. It adds weight but makes it easier to slide gear into the boat.

Don

First, I've posted another couple of photos of the fink here: http://groups.msn.com/MiddleForkSalmon2003/finkatomandcascade.msnw The shadows do a pretty good job of making the chine and the angle of the side show up. I finally got the chance to really play around with the Fink on the Deerfield Drywa...

You've probably read it elsewhere but the "Boatbuilder's Manual" by Walbridge is a very good resource. The book itself was written in the 80's and Menasha Ridge Press doesn't carry it any more. A quick web search found several places where you can get a copy, some of the used ones are quite cheap. Don