I Told My Wife it's Vash's Fault

[wswartzwel]

So lifting my canoe on the roof of my car is getting hard to do as I get older. Then Vash posted the Kayak saga, and I knew I had to have one.
I am not an avid fisherman anymore. I spent a week in Quetico years ago, I caught 5 and 6 pound smallmouth everyday, all day, and our local fishing isn't like that, so I quit.

I do like to do photography, and camping, so I bought a recreational Kayak. After some research, and watching a bunch of youtube videos, I decided on a Jackson Tupelo 12.5. My dealer had one in stock.









My roof rack is only wide enough to carry one, and my wife wants one too, so I needed some Jbars to cradle them on their side. I bent up some 3/16 X 4" flat stock with my hydraulic pipe bender. I turned a coupling on my lathe to fit the end of the ram, and I welded a piece of angle iron for a shoe. I put the steel in at 90 degrees from how I bend pipe, it did a nice job bending the steel to make the Jbars.










I TIG welded some eyelets on the ends for tiedowns, and sprayed them with bed liner, and glued some strips of rubber floor mat so they wouldn't scratch my boat.






"Glue, strong stuff"





I have a Frontrunner roof rack on my Outback that uses slots that a 5/16 bolt head fits into, so bolting them on was easy.





They don't make any wind noise when empty, even at 80. I am pretty pleased with that. Loading is very easy, just set them in the brackets, and tie them in.

My wife borrowed a sit on top Kayak from the university where she works to see whether she wants a sit on top, or sit inside, before we buy her one.





Saturday, we went to a local Game and Fish Commission lake, to paddle around and look at nature. Had a blast, until a smartazz that was cleaning a 3 foot catfish hanging from a tree in his yard, walked out on his pier and started yapping about a 12 foot Alligator he saw by his pier that had been ripping up his trotline. He showed us a video of it by his pier on his phone. My wife was ready to paddle back to the car after that.





continued....

[wswartzwel]

Sunday she wanted to go to Lake Ouachita, which is near National Forest land. It is a much nicer lake you can swim in with lots of Islands you can camp on. Lots of Bass if you are into fishing as well. She packed a picnic lunch, and we made the 100 mile trip.

We paddled around, stopped and went swimming, padded to another island and ate lunch and paddled back to the car. Made for a great morning. She is hooked, and is going to try a sit inside Kayak next weekend for comparison.











Thanks for the inspiration Vash!!!!

[masraum]

Very nice.

[wildthing]

Nice...both kayak and the fabrication work!

[cantdrv55]

Nice work!

[DonDavis]

I was expecting a bloody finger, or a dented bumper, or a flat bicycle tire, or a bloody stump, or a dull knife....leading to another bloody finger, or a motorcycle...leading to a bloody ankle.

[craigster59]

That's great! I was able to take mine out on Castaic Lake (5 minutes from my house) twice before they shut it down to use as a basecamp for the firefighters battling the Lake Fire.

Thinking of running out to Ventura Harbor this week if the lake is still closed.

[vash]

I love this!

1. Great kayak
2. Great wife, that wants to participate
3. Great fabrication
4. Great tools to fabricate
5. Great, I see a bmw motorcycle back there?
6. Great local waters!

7. Catching 5-6 lb bass all day.....yea...ahhh-(bull hit)-CHOO!

Love it bud. That kayak looks fast!

[Steve Carlton]

Nice work, Bill! A new type of ride report, with some Vash content!

[wswartzwel]

Originally Posted by vash

I love this!

1. Great kayak
2. Great wife, that wants to participate
3. Great fabrication
4. Great tools to fabricate
5. Great, I see a bmw motorcycle back there?
6. Great local waters!

7. Catching 5-6 lb bass all day.....yea...ahhh-(bull hit)-CHOO!

Love it bud. That kayak looks fast!

Yes 2 of em... R1100S and R1200GS

Smallies... Late June, Quetico... Toss a chomper, garlic salamander on their beds... they hit it hard.

Thanks all for the kind remarks.

[Seahawk]

Nicely done!

I am assuming you have a model release

The area is nice as well. An old XO of mine lives in Mena and I have been to see him a few times. We did Rte 88, Skyline Drive then Route 100 back to Mena on motorcycles. Great drive, beautiful part of the world.

Best.

[wswartzwel]

Queen Wilhema Parkway as we called it, is a really fun ride. Have done it many times 30 years ago when we could exceed 100 and get away with it, as it had zero traffic or law enforcement. The Oklahoma side has much tighter corners and was a hoot on sport bikes. Now it is pretty congested, and is a great relaxing ride to enjoy the views. Used to ride with quite a few of the guys from Little Rock AFB. Always great guys.

[Vipergrün]

Originally Posted by craigster59

That's great! I was able to take mine out on Castaic Lake (5 minutes from my house) twice before they shut it down to use as a basecamp for the firefighters battling the Lake Fire.

Thinking of running out to Ventura Harbor this week if the lake is still closed.

If you're ever in the Channel Islands Harbor area let me know. Always up for a paddle.

To the OP, nice fab work for sure!

[bivenator]

Coming to your part of the world late August to canoe on the Buffalo River. Hope there is enough water that I won't be dragging more than floating. Love the Ouchita as well.

[Dantilla]

My wife and I kayak often.
Road that goes past our place dead ends at the lake shore, only a couple minutes away. Great place to toss the kayaks in the water.
No pictures, as I never bring the phone. Don't want to take any chance of getting it wet.
Nice to pull up on the beach and jump in on hot days.

Sit on top vs. sit inside? Inside all the way. Y wife's MMV.

[Scott Douglas]

Nice lathe.

[wswartzwel]

Originally Posted by bivenator

Coming to your part of the world late August to canoe on the Buffalo River. Hope there is enough water that I won't be dragging more than floating. Love the Ouchita as well.

Better call your outfitter first.. Right now it is low up top... Have some friends in Houston used to come up and do the whole thing. The dad of the group was a pilot, he is past 80 now, sent me a pic of him flying his little ultralight about a year ago. They always had a great time on the river.

https://ar.water.usgs.gov/buffaloriver/

[wswartzwel]

Originally Posted by Scott Douglas

Nice lathe.

Oldie but a Goodie. Cincinnati 15X60 Still in really good condition.

[LWJ]

Nice! And yes, it is Vash's fault.

[flatbutt]

Mrs. Bill put up with me under her roof for several days awhile ago. She's a very charitable lady. Not that Bill is a difficult guy by any means!