Trip 2 - Alum Creek

Put in at the Boat Ramp near the Equestrian Camp at Alum Creek - on Howard Road, just off of N. Old State.  It has a great Kayak launching dock.

We paddled north up to Hogback Rd and where Salt Well Run empties into the northern end of the Reservoir.  Hubby forgot his floating strap so we MacGyver'd a floating strap using a zip tie, paracord and a piece of pool noodle.  Good thing since he dropped it in the drink and it saved the camera.  It appears to be waterproof as he was still able to take pics.  The north end of the paddle has posts in the water with nesting platforms for endangered species - think large birds.  The water was still, wildlife stunning and we got to see one of the large birds leave the nest, catch a fish and take it back.  Saw lots of heron's, ducks, etc.  No bugs.  It was a really enjoyable paddle - about 2 1/2 hours on the water.  The yak grips were awesome.  No blisters, not really any hot spots either.  Grips were solid, no slipping.  Hopefully he'll post pics on facebook that I can steal and add to this blog.

Camera

Got my better half a Nikon waterproof point and shoot digital camera for Father's Day and a floating camera strap.  We'll see how they work :)

Paddle Grips

After trip one I decided I needed either paddle grips or paddling gloves.  I tried on a few paddling gloves and don't really like them.  They'll leave a funny tan and they cover my watch.  So I read online reviews of paddling grips and despite several concerning reviews, purchased Yak Grips.
I got my Yak Grips from Amazon, this link:  https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000DZXN2Y/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Some Amazon sites reviews stated you could not tell if you were getting slide on or velcro.  My paddle is a take apart and I wanted slide on as lots of velcro reviews complained of sliding grips.  The slide on's still had reviews of the grip sliding on the paddle.  I placed rubberbands on the paddle just at/under each end of the grips to hopefully mitigate sliding.

Also, people report that the outer fabric deteriorates with use.  But, the price was right and there were enough good reviews that I decided to give them a try.  I wet the inside of the grips with water and the slid on the paddles pretty well.  So, we'll see how these hold up over time.

First trip

Sunday June 12, 2016

We took our first trip out on the Kayaks.  We started out at Richwood Lake and decided it was way too small and crowded with people fishing.  So, we drove over to the northern end of O'Shaughnessy Reservoir and put in at the boat ramp in Bellpoint (off SR 257).  We paddled north on the Scioto River for about 45-60 minutes or so, then back down to Bellpoint.

I had been concerned that paddling upstream might be too difficult, but the water was slow and paddling was pretty easy.  I had a couple of hot spots on my hands and decided I need paddle grips. My better half started with his seat in the "low" position and got his hiney wet.  He stopped and moved his seat into the "upper" position and was much better.  I just kept mine in the "upper" position.

getting started

It started with me getting my better half a kayak for his birthday.  About a month later he got me one for my birthday.  We now have a matching pair of Perception Pescador Pro 10 kayaks, purchased at REI.  This blog is intended to just keep track of equipment and paddling location information.

We are hauling them on a Honda Ridgeline.  We already had Yakima towers, so upgraded to 78 inch round bars.  Added Malone Downloader J Style carriers.  We destroyed our Yak bar end caps getting the towers off our smaller bars and Yakima was great and sent out replacements at no charge.  We also added a windshield fairing (photo pre fairing) and that really cuts down the noise.

For storage, we initially purchased COR Board Racks Paddle Board Storage slings, opened them and decided they were not "Beefy" enough and didn't like the attachments to secure to the barn framing and returned them.  We made our own out of chain, flat webbing tiedowns with camlocks, foam pipe insulation, and zip ties.

This is the current version of the hanging system.  We started with only the webbing and the kayaks had a tendency to slide, so we added foam pip insulation and zip tied those in place.  It is much easier as the foam holds the webbing open a little better and the kayaks do not slip at all.  Loving our homemade system.  We are using Riverside Cartop Carriers HD Utility Straps for the base webbing.  Each color is a different length and we own multiple sizes.  Pictured below are the green ones.  We love these straps - they are great for tying down anything in the truck.  Just a note, the one's we have have really heavy duty beefy rubber plastic behind the camlock.  The last time we stopped by REI, they changed to a flimsy fabric layer.  We have not purchased any of those, but that same kind of fabric is on the tiedown straps that came with the Malone Kayak carriers, so we'll see how they hold up over time.  We've purchased some of our straps from REI and some off Amazon.

And that is our basic set up.  Let Kayaking commence!