Retirement, canoes, kayaks, toy boxes, etc.

Tom · November 05, 2003, 06:16:09 AM

I have a customer on the other side of town that like a lot. We have a lot of things in common and he can do a lot of things that I can't so I admire him a lot. His Dad is retired Navy and I love to talk to him. I have to write off the whole day if I go over there.

Last night he called, we hadn't talked in almost a year, and the subject turned to boats. Funny how Florida guys always end up talking about boats at one point in a conversation or another.

Fred Retired a couple of years ago and has been busier than a one armed paper hanger. He went fishing in the north end of the Indian River, a long, salt water, lagoon that goes down the east coast of Florida, and for the first time in his life used a kayak. It belonged to a friend of his wife's and was one of those plastic/fiberglass ones.

He was fishing with a fly rod when a 30 lb, or so, Red Bass (also called a Channel Bass) took his fly. It was him and that fish. The fish was pulling him all around and finally ran under the boat. Fred was trying to save his $1200 fly rod and couldn't get the kayak turned so he ended up rolling it over. There he was, lost the fish, head stuck in the mud and trying to hold his expensive rod out of the salt water and hoping he didn't break it. Finally he got back up and everything was ok. He decided that he would have to build him one of those kayaks if he was going to fish out of one again. He didn't fit that plastic one.

So, when he got home he researched them and ended up building a "strip" kayak that was partially made from door skins and fiberglass. It weighed 35 pounds and looked real good. "I got in it and paddled twice and had gone a hundred yards. That's what I wanted."

Well he was working on a dock for someone a while back and had his kayak on the ladder rack of his truck because he was using it under the dock sometimes. A Young fellow saw it, stopped his car and after a little conversation asked him if he would sell it.

"Sure", said Fred, "make me an offer".

"Well", the fellow said thoughtfully, "the best I think I could do would be $3000".

Fred said that it looked like the fellow was waiting to see if he would bite so he said "I'll give you my homemade paddle too".

It turns out that this guy has kayaking friends and Fred has made three kayaks for between $3000 and $3500 for them this year and there are orders in the wings.

His neice needed a toy box for her kids, so they made one. It was just a box but a friend of hers saw it and wanted it and gave her $200. They had to make another one. Now he and his neice are making Toy Boxes. Some look like fire trucks and some like dump trucks, etc. The kids can play on them and store toys in them too.

"I wasn't so busy before I retired", he says. "By the way, I have some cedar, pine and pecan that I need to have cut. How 'bout putting me on your list", says Fred.

He needs it fairly quickly but not in too big a hurry. His wife is wanting him to take her back to Colorado and then to Oregon this winter in their camper bus. That was a project he undertook a couple of years ago. He's not anxious to go in the winter and is trying to put her off. She is in Denver now and can't get home because of some recent snow. Sounds like an excuse to me. :D

dail_h · November 05, 2003, 09:09:39 AM

Kayaks is kinda like sawmills,if you ever git in one you're hooked.I tried one several years ago at the beach,cheap plastic rental thing,I loved it,gotta have one but a mill comes first

Gus · November 05, 2003, 10:27:52 AM

I've never been in a kayak but have always had a canoe. Right now I have a Mad River canoe made of kevlar with wicker seats. This is one of the sleekest canoes I've ever been in. It's fast and quiet.
A few years ago I was up at Rainey Lake on the border of Canada in May, doing some early season small mouth bass fishing. Well to make a long story short; I tipped it over. I'd a like to froze to death before I got back to shore and got a fire going. The water is soooo cold that time of year in those parts.

When I lived in Minnesota every couple of years or so I would have a bush pilot tie that canoe on the floats of his plane and fly me to a little lake in Canada by myself. I'd spend a week there and never see anyone til he picked me up. Ahhhh those were the days. 8)
Hafta do it again sometime.
Thanks for jogging my memory Tom.

Gus

Scott · November 05, 2003, 01:01:18 PM

We went on a canoe trip once with a guy we know who built his own cedar strip canoe, he also made custome curved padles. He said he worked on it in his spare time for 2 years. Real nice looking boat. Try www.necky.com for some really nice kayaks.

Don P · November 05, 2003, 07:17:58 PM

My neighbors son has my strip canoe building book that I bought probably a quarter century ago, complete with full plans, hope he gets the round tuits.

Tom's story jogged a memory of a story I heard that I think is true. When firearms were introduced to the eskimos they started carrying them out on their kayaks, seal hunting. You would have to set your paddle down to shoot and as long as you shot forward everything was fine. The recoil from firing broadside in these narrow long craft could easily flip you, and these guys were basically stitched in...with paddle now out of reach. The problem was that these guys hunted alone and no one came back to tell anyone else about the way the accident was occuring so more than a few lives were lost.

I've always enjoyed small boats, there's nothing like being the first boat out and seeing all the wildlife on the banks in the morning. The last two times we've taken friends down the river, its been on Sunday mornings. Both times recently they've been having a baptism at the takeout...sure makes you tiptoe through right quick :D.

This is a picture of Michelle's Dad (in the bow) during the mid 30's. He built several boats throughout his life. He, Peter, the fellow in the stern, and their buddies in the Dutch underground smuggled downed RAF pilots back out in their kayaks during the war.

Bro. Noble · November 05, 2003, 08:30:03 PM

My favorite time to canoe is just after a fresh snow. It's beautiful then and not real crowded :D

Don,

That's a neat story about the eskimos, with a little embellishment it would fit in with the history lesson being conducted on the ' tree and plant ID' forum. :D I shouldn't be surprised if it does appear there since Texas history is being covered and the eskimos living just SW of Texas (according to the official FF members map) ;)