idea for OC's

Martyn · Post by **Martyn** » Mon Dec 05, 2005 2:16 pm

Hey Grinner,

If you have access to the Skeeter, keep paddling it. It is pretty easy to roll, and while some people don't like it, I have always found it to be a really good boat. It doesn't feel as stable as the Spanish Fly as I think it is narrower and rounder. But I don't think it is as narrow or as round as a Prelude. I suspect it is marginally slower than the Prelude and as it doesn't have as much volume in the ends, will behave differently in holes. If the boat has the bulkhead outfitting, you may need to change it around a bit so it fits you. I think Craig Smerda has some ideas for how to do this somewhere on this site.

Good luck with the paddling.

Craig Smerda · Post by **Craig Smerda** » Mon Dec 05, 2005 2:37 pm

Closed my web pages but the info can still be found at http://kayakoutfitting.com/tips/wwcanoe/index.html

Huge deck plates on OC's may work ok for river running but not playboating or creeking imo. Deckplates also make dumping the majority of the water out overly difficult on the first try. When you flip or roll leaving these areas open allows the water a chance to get out. Unless you have completely sealed bulkhead ends it's not necessary.

grinner · Post by **grinner** » Mon Dec 05, 2005 3:07 pm

Hi all
At the moment the skeeter has the outfitting like the spanish fly comes with, but its much tighter on me because it feels like i dont have to sit all the way faward to get controlle.I have seen your site before and my bro is hopefully going to let me have some old pool floats he has got so i can outfit it more.

I dont mind beeing to tight in the boat but i dont like beeing strapped in. So is there anything i can put in the skeeter to make me tighter init. I have seen one boat that had a big chunk of foam at the side that helped. It kept me un upside down but when i put pressure on the paddle i came straight out. My idea with the skeeter is to put some foam on the top of the knee things because there a bit small and when there all the way down theres a gap between the wooden 'thwart' and the foam. Also another idea is to put some foam by my legs and some near my hips so i can get better contact with the boat.

What do you think??

Martyn · Post by **Martyn** » Tue Dec 06, 2005 6:51 pm

Hey Grinner,

I stick in my boats through a combination of foot-pegs and the console or bulkhead in the outfitting. If you can set things up so the foot pegs are pushing you into the console, that "should" hold you in pretty well even while upside down but should allow you to get out pretty easily. I set my Skeeter up so the console was tight all around my legs, I think not flopping around in the boat really helps with staying in it.

Can you post any pictures of how the boat is set up?

Martyn

grinner · Post by **grinner** » Wed Dec 07, 2005 3:27 pm

Yeh sure. I'm gonna' have to take some but will post them up later.
Thanks
Joe

Remoteproductions · Post by **Remoteproductions** » Wed Dec 07, 2005 6:17 pm

I paddle a Spanish Fly and Phantom. Can roll the Phantom 90% of the time and the Fly about 50%. I find the Skeeter/Fly/etc. much more difficult to roll. Taught myself how to roll 2 years ago and it's a bit funky. I'd suggest learning from someone that knows how to teach it right and use a non "X-Boat" Keep it up. OC is coming back strong!!!!!

NZMatt · Post by **NZMatt** » Thu Dec 08, 2005 11:53 am

Hi Grinner,

I know what you mean about crowded pools - I got a bit of trouble here recently when I showed up at the local pool session with my Detonator and my Master Cut Acrobat (the Detonator was for someone else to try). Now I've left a WheelBoy there for the winter...they seem to think that's a more appropriate size.

If you ever get over to Switzerland, drop me a line

Cheers,
NZMatt

grinner · Post by **grinner** » Thu Dec 08, 2005 3:18 pm

Hi all
yeh will do NZMatt.

I need to put them on a website before i post the pics.
Sadly no-one has a C1 or small OC1 boat they could bring to the poo so not very lucky.

Thanks all

Joe

grinner · Post by **grinner** » Fri Dec 09, 2005 3:33 pm

I've got the pics.

and i've got them on a website and when i've put them on they come out huuuugggeeee on here.
so there on here:
http://www.freewebs.com/grinnerman/index.htm

made it in a rush so sorry for what ever is on there

If anyone else wants to put any more pics up if u pm me i'll sort it out.

grinner · Post by **grinner** » Mon Dec 12, 2005 2:49 pm

If someone could give me a place to put more padding then that would be great.

Thanks

Martyn · Post by **Martyn** » Mon Dec 12, 2005 6:36 pm

Hey Grinner,

Your Skeeter outfitting looks pretty much the same as mine. I found that I stayed in the boat better if I moved the foot pegs up closer to the bow of the boat. The way it seemed to work best was to have them so far forwards that if I jammed thighs in as far under the bulkhead as they would go and jammed my feet in so I was as tight as possible, I was able to stay in. Stying in upside down meant keeping my lower body tensed, if I relax, I come out of the outfitting, which is kind of what I was looking for.

Martyn

grinner · Post by **grinner** » Tue Dec 13, 2005 3:31 pm

The only problem with putting the foot pegs most of the way farward is all the weight is at the front, something people have said to me lots of time and how bad it is if your gonna' go into flow.
I dont weigh that much and i'm a bit small. I was thinking of puttin some more foam at the top of saddle near the top of my legs and the bottom. I did turn the knee bits around but i needed to be closer.and it feel real horrible because i dont feel as tight. I was also thinking about putting more foam on the top of the knee's and on the front of it.

Would this be good or not.

chriscanoes · Post by **chriscanoes** » Wed Jan 04, 2006 2:28 am

I was looking at the pics and it appears that the knee blocks are in the wrong position. I like to have my knees as far apart, seems to help with control so try switching the knee blocks around so the thickest part of the foam is towards the middle of the boat, not the sides.

Just a thought.

Craig Smerda · Post by **Craig Smerda** » Wed Jan 04, 2006 2:06 pm

Yup! Those knee blocks are put in bass

ackwards. Moving your knees as close to the hull sides is way more stable, and makes using the actual edges of the boat easier. (I can't even count how many boats I've seen like set up like this....?

) Think of it this way... if you where doing greco-roman wrestling and wanted to keep your oponent from cutting your legs out from underneath
would you want your knees close together so he could flip you easily or spread out wider to stabilze you (think tripod) with a lower center of gravity? Keep the knees as close to the side of the hull as possible. It's also going to make staying in those footpegs easier too.

Good luck!

grinner · Post by **grinner** » Thu Jan 05, 2006 6:06 pm

Hi
i have tried that but i have found it real uncomfortable as i am on the short side and moving my footpegs forward means that i am too bow heavy. However i have grown since then so i will try it next time i am paddling. The boats knee blocks came like that and on the spanish fly i used to paddle it was the same.

Thanks for the help

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