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PostPosted: Mon Jan 23, 2017 7:36 am 
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Keith,

Thanks. So just to clarify, did you use a 1/8 drill bit and put in a #8 screw (or metric equivalent?) I don't know how that plastic will behave under the drill, so I'm being extra cautious.

Thanks,
Brian


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PostPosted: Mon Jan 23, 2017 7:56 am 
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Location: South Florida
EC Training Trip 3: Round Trip Flamingo (Ckp #3) to North Nest Key and Back


This was the third and last of 3 training trips in consideration of doing the 2017 WaterTribe Everglades Challenge. Three of us are working as a team, Debbie Turner, Rick Parks and myself. Rick was unable to make this trip, but Tom Lachner (Bonita Springs), Alex Oancea (Miami), Randy Smith (Key West), Bob Smith (Pennsylvania), and Wayne Flatt (Tennessee) joined us.

The route of the Everglades Challenge covers about 280 miles. The section we are attempting on this trip is 35 miles, but the most technically DIFFICULT of the whole Challenge. Everybody agreed that rather than make this a 1-way trip from Flamingo to Key Largo, we would do a camping trip from Flamingo to North Nest Key. This was 6 miles short of the finish, but would cover the difficult part of this leg and solve the problem of getting our cars from Flamingo to Key Largo.

Here is the Google Earth image of our planned route.

Image


This trip was a failure. We did not reach our goal—North Nest Key. Great disappointment and great learning experience. Here is how the trip played out.

We woke at 4:30 AM in the Flamingo campground. After breaking camp, we had a quick breakfast, and headed to the Flamingo marina and ramps. At 8 AM, we made our way out of the marina into the channel heading SW, everything was fine. Upon reaching the main channel, we sailed east.

This may be Buddha in disguise or the author trying to avoid another case of skin cancer.

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Bacon (Randy Smith) with Palm Island in the background.

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The problem any boater has in eastern Florida Bay is the water depth. It is a 1-2’ when the tide is in and 0-6” when the tide is out. When setting the dates for this trip, we simply picked a date that seemed convenient with no consideration of the tides. While we could have (should have) departed on a rising tide, we headed into this difficult region on a falling tide. Add to that, we had a 16-mph headwind from the east, a headwind which greatly slowed progress and blew the remaining water out of the eastern bay—literally.

As we slowly progressed into the stiff headwind, water was draining out from under us. We were forced to stick to a “narrow” channel.

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This is the channel and our track as Debbie and I headed up the channel.

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A closer look at our tortured track. Note that the channel varies from about 70-90 yards wide. We tacked up the channel. In this image, it is easy to see the channel. On the water, it is muddy and impossible to see more than a few inches deep. Even if you could see the bottom, it would be unrecognizable being the same color as the water. Consequently, it was impossible to see the edge of the channel. As navigator, you look for signs of the channel on the surface waters: flat water here, foam line there, slight waves, ripples. We strayed onto the edge of the channel once, and the wind quickly blew us up on the flat. A “flat” is the very shallow area on either side of the channel. These flats are muck. You cannot walk on them—they seem bottomless, soft mud. On the flat, your drives are useless. You try to get them out so they do not get stuck in the muck and hold you. Your paddle is worthless in the strong wind. When we strayed onto the flat, we had to let the wind blow us to deeper water. Then, of course, we retraced our track up the channel.

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Bob Smith (BobAgain) has a gasoline motor on his boat. Here he is towing our Tennessee friend, CaptBones (Wayne Flatt).

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Shortly after this picture was taken, Bob ran out of gas and cut CaptBones loose.

CaptBones with Bidgood (Tom Lachner). Notice the exposed flat about chin-high behind them. It stretches the width of the picture and far beyond. We are in the channel, which is getting more shallow by the minute.

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Bacon made it further along than the main group, but eventually, he ran out of both water and channel.

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At that point, we quit and headed back to Flamingo, tail between our legs. Everyone was tired and a lot smarter. I have no doubt we could have made it through to North Nest Key, but we likely would have had to travel at night on a rising tide.

AlexO Experience wrote:
One person of this group did make it to North Nest Key: my good friend and sea kayaker, Alex Oancea. When I got down to Flamingo and was drawing the camping permit at the Ranger Station, Alex walked in. I had the permit for 1 night at North Nest Key. He got a permit for a second night and announced, that he was leaving for NNK immediately. It was about 4 pm. When I got to the Flamingo Campground, where the group would spend the night, I said that Alex was leaving immediately. Everyone was surprised. Alex has done this leg before. He knew the situation, and he reached NNK a little after midnight in true WaterTribe fashion.

In a note from CaptBones, he described his experience as follows.
“I spent time this month in Florida Bay screaming across grass flats in 15 to 20 mph winds and through mangrove channels. From Flamingo, I have sampled the frustration of sticking the boat on a mud flat and trying to walk it off while being sucked into the primordial muck nearly to my knees. I have learned not to fight the tidal flows and attempt to avoid oyster beds. I have seen the brutality of the east wind and heard its relentless whisper saying: 'I’m going to do bad things to you.' ”

Keith

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"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex ... It takes a touch of genius and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction." A. Einstein

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Last edited by Chekika on Sat Aug 26, 2017 1:01 pm, edited 7 times in total.

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PostPosted: Mon Jan 23, 2017 8:41 am 
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Wow Keith, I am glad that I didnt come down for that trip!
Hopefully mother nature is a little kinder on our Leisure trip and during the EC!

Paul
Aero70


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PostPosted: Thu Jan 26, 2017 1:34 pm 
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Location: South Florida
kd5crs wrote:
Keith,

Thanks. So just to clarify, did you use a 1/8 drill bit and put in a #8 screw (or metric equivalent?) I don't know how that plastic will behave under the drill, so I'm being extra cautious.

Thanks,
Brian

Brian, you are much more precise than I am. I simply used a couple small SS screws I had around, drilled appropriate holes so the screw threads bite, and put them in. The rudder plastic seem fine when drilled--no obvious melting.

Keith

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2015 AI 2, 2014 Tandem

"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex ... It takes a touch of genius and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction." A. Einstein

"Less is more" Anon


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PostPosted: Thu Jan 26, 2017 2:04 pm 
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Cool, thanks Keith. I hope to get to that mod this weekend.

Brian


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PostPosted: Sun Feb 05, 2017 10:30 am 
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Hi guys

Heres video from my second bit longer trip in Finnish lapland.
Fishing, hunting and enjoying quiet of the vätsäri wilderness.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XecB-5s36 ... e=youtu.be


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PostPosted: Sun Feb 05, 2017 12:27 pm 
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Location: Forster, NSW, Australia
Wow! Now THAT is a real expedition! Mind you, I don't know if I could handle a climate here you need heating inside your tent! So that little stove (with stove pipe) went with you? Also, di you take any special precautions to protect the guns from the environment?

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2012 Tandem Island "SIC EM" with Hobie spinnaker


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PostPosted: Sun Feb 05, 2017 1:23 pm 
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Location: South Florida
Yes, that is an excellent video. I won't equivocate like Tony, I could not take that environment!

I just got home after a 9-day camping trip in temperatures from 50-78 deg Fahrenheit. I call it our "leisure" trip--good fishing, but no hunting.

Thanks for posting your video!

Keith

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2015 AI 2, 2014 Tandem

"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex ... It takes a touch of genius and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction." A. Einstein

"Less is more" Anon


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PostPosted: Sun Feb 05, 2017 2:21 pm 
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It truely was a great trip. Something we want to do again. That little stove came with us all the way. It weighs actually 20kg but thats because u can use it as a tent sauna stove :-D. It was first time we brought that with us. We had lot of gear and ofcourse not all off where essential. But boy that was great to get to hot sauna after a long day off fishing or hunting. Well worth the extra effort( at least for every Finn ;-).) And since we had two TI's with only 1 person onboard it was make possible.

There was really no problems with protecting guns from elements. All of them fits inside the hull and ours boat are quite tight. Altho my solarpanel front hatch have so problems If it submerce completely. :-) But the water isnt saltwater so its not that big deal. You can actually drink straight from the lake. Most of the time i had my rifle inside boat and shotgun next to me on the side bench waiting for any waterfowl to fly by.

I think this is what these boats are made for ;-)


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PostPosted: Wed Feb 08, 2017 8:25 pm 
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Location: South Florida
Stronger AKA brace shear pins--the simple nylon bolt

I was at the Ace Hardware today and got this picture of a 1/4" x 20 x 2.5" nylon bolt. Cost: 50 cents. It has a 1.25" straight shaft and the same length threaded section. There was also a 2" nylon bolt with 1" non-threaded section. 43 cents.

Image


I think these would make nice shear pins which are stronger than the Hobie stock shear pin.

Keith

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2015 AI 2, 2014 Tandem

"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex ... It takes a touch of genius and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction." A. Einstein

"Less is more" Anon


Last edited by Chekika on Sat Aug 26, 2017 12:47 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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PostPosted: Thu Feb 09, 2017 2:08 am 
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Location: Delnor Wiggins, Fl Peters Twp PA
ShiftyFIN wrote:
There was really no problems with protecting guns from elements. All of them fits inside the hull and ours boat are quite tight. Altho my solarpanel front hatch have so problems If it submerce completely. :-) But the water isnt saltwater so its not that big deal. You can actually drink straight from the lake. Most of the time i had my rifle inside boat and shotgun next to me on the side bench waiting for any waterfowl to fly by.

I think this is what these boats are made for ;-)


I'm new to fishing, but I don't think that Florida lets us use shotguns (for fishing), do they?? :shock: :lol:

Shifty, that is a great video. Thanks for posting it!


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PostPosted: Thu Feb 09, 2017 6:26 am 
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Grenades are probably way more effective lol (watch some old episodes of Mchales navy).
FE


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PostPosted: Sat Feb 25, 2017 6:40 pm 
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Location: Paoli Pennsylvania - East Coast USA
Chekika wrote:
Hobie Adventure Island Trailer--Double
The shipping containers need to be improved so that fasteners are not lost. The manual for assembly is fair but could be improved, especially the wiring section. My solo assembly and wiring time: ca 10-11 hrs.
I just started assembling my new SUT-450 from Austin Kayak.

Maybe Trailex heard you on the packing: I was impressed with how well mine was packed..... 4 boxes delivered via Fedex for $260 - within about 5 days.

Also I give them points for not requiring a lot of weirdass wrenches..... My Rack-and-Roll is egregious in that respect.

I give the manual a D+..... I would think that the rez on their original photos is better and the least they could do is take advantage of thaat rez by making the pix bigger...Or re-shoot the pix with a camera from the 21st century..... So when the manual says "Your stuff should look like this..." at least the user would have half a chance of seeing how it should look.

There are also a half-dozen-or-so omissions and/or conflicts. ..... A few hours work and the manual could be upgraded to C+/B- ...... And, even if they're too cheap to re-print, at least a .PDF could be made available.

I don't know what guy who estimated 2 hours assembly time was smoking, but I want to try some .... must've been some good stuff. ...... Maybe 2 hours to unpack the parts and dispose of the packing..... I'm thinking your 10-11 hours is going to be my experience too.

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PostPosted: Thu Mar 02, 2017 7:28 am 
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Sounds about right, Pete. :-)

Keith

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"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex ... It takes a touch of genius and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction." A. Einstein

"Less is more" Anon


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PostPosted: Thu Mar 02, 2017 7:29 am 
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Just want to get over to the next page...

Keith

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2015 AI 2, 2014 Tandem

"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex ... It takes a touch of genius and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction." A. Einstein

"Less is more" Anon


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