Stijn!!

[porsche4life]

My kayaks are of the open top variety... Don't think I'll be getting crazy like that...

I've done a few hundred miles in canoes, but never in water that rough!

[flipper35]

You can stretch aluminum canoes enough that they leak a lot of water on that river when the kid in front knows nothing about being on the water. The durable plastic ones now are much better than what we went with. I went back in the 80's when I was about 14 or so.

[flipper35]

Oh, and on the way home the center support bearing went out on the driveshaft of the brush painted baby blue 1972ish Suburban.

[porsche4life]

They make some aluminum ones now that are damned near unbreakable. Check out osagians! Our scout troop had 6 of them and we were hell on them! We also rented some on our yearly float trip to the Illinois river. Some years the river was low enough in spots you had to get a foot out and skate the canoe over the rocks. Only ever saw one broke completely in half, and that was near a huge log jam. Only thing we could figure was that it got stuck across the river open side up and got naild by another boat, thus breaking the nose off.

[Outback Porsche]

I'm liking this ease back into work caper after the holidays. Knocked of early yesterday coz of the dentist thing, now home all day coz the plumbers are back to fix the sewer and need access to my yard. I wonder what I can organise for tomorrow?

[porsche4life]

I predict you having a terrible case of anal glaucoma...

[Outback Porsche]

eeeewwwwww! but I suppose, it is a 'brown eye'......

Bwahahahahahah!

[flipper35]

We have a fiberglass lake canoe. We have access to those same aluminum ones. My wife took the girl scouts last summer (or two summers?) in the AL ones and we were to meet them with the trailer 4-5 hours later. The made it less than half way and called from a borrowed cell phone and were already 2 hours late. We had tried many times to contact then but never did get them on the river. An eagle scout and I had to walk a couple miles up stream to get the last two and gave them a flashlight and the two of us took the canoe down in the dark. The last two were adults. One was pretty experienced and the other was afraid of everything. They were very grateful to give up the canoe and walk back.

I have made that trip several times and even with my wife and our daughter in we have made it all the way in less than 5 hours and we stop for snacks about half way down. Where we put in and take out are both farmer friends.

[Noah930]

Anybody want to go kayaking? I just picked up a pair for $75... Should be fun to play with.

I coulda made you one for a lot less.

[nynor]

Originally Posted by Outback Porsche

Hehe, back in the day (1989)

i had one of those old cruzer 165's. i wish i still had it. the best board i've ever ridden in powder. most of the new boards are terrible in the powder, in comparison.

[Outback Porsche]

Oh crap! The solar hot water service is rooted.

They tried to flush and recharge it, and it just pi55ed glycol everywhere.

Rough guesstimate...$5-6k

Ouch!

[nynor]

Originally Posted by Outback Porsche

Oh crap! The solar hot water service is rooted.

They tried to flush and recharge it, and it just pi55ed glycol everywhere.

Rough guesstimate...$5-6k

Ouch!

um.... how did THAT happen? and how is that YOUR problem, if THEY tried to flush and recharge it?

[Outback Porsche]

The unit is about 15yo. It hasn't been working properly for about 12 months and we've been needing to electric boost it most mornings (especially through winter). I finally pulled my finger out of my arse and got a plumber to have a gander at it, as the $700/quarter electrical bills we're getting tiresome.

From the symptoms I gave them their first step was a flush and recharge. It failed the flush part. It's simply rusted out.

15 year lifespan is not too shabby. I should be able to knock about 30% off the power bill with a new unit. And we'll get nearly a grand back in gov rebates.

It's just a bit of dosh to fork out straight after Christmas.

[Rick V]

Jeff that sucks, We looked into solar here but ran out of money before we could pull the trigger on it.

[GH85Carrera]

Originally Posted by flipper35

With a 195* thermostat, it should at least get that hot once. I suspect the heater core is leaking as well. I can smell coolant in the cabin.

When I was a wee lad (about 14) I went through the ice during deer season. I stayed warm the two miles in the snow to the end of the drive (I went in a sweatshirt and vest this year for walking but it was in the 30s) and when I got everything packed up and in dad's Dodge Maxivan I took my boots off and put my feet up on the doghouse and he put the vent on full heat and full fan. My socks and pants dried pretty quick. The next year I had water resistant leather boots.

My trusty El Camino blew the OEM heater core about 20 years ago. Being stupid at the time I swapped it with a cheap aftermarket unit. That POS was pitiful for heat. At one point back at only 240,000 miles the engine was getting hot so I put in a 175 degree thermostat. I damn near froze to death that next winter. The POS heater core developed a leak and I dug my OEM core out of the attic and took it to a radiator shop. He fixed the leak and and flushed and boiled it.

When I installed it I made sure to pack insulation around the heater core so that any and all air coming into that heater box HAD to go through the core and not around it.

Now I have wonderful heat. It is really amazing how fast it heats up. The engine temp needle just moves off of the peg and I have some heat. By the time the gauge has moved into the 140 range I have full heat and that is within 1.5 miles. 333,000 miles and going strong.

[flipper35]

I checked when I got home last night. The outlet on the core is not very warm so not a lot of flow there. They aren't very expensive, even for OEM but the labor to R&R is a pain.

Hey, maybe I should drop some lye in the system to flush it out?

I did think about removing the hoses and letting CLR sit in it for a few hours and flush the core out and reconnect the hoses. Then I thought it would make the leak worse.

[RKDinOKC]

Nephew used to always do a radiator flush on the used cars he bought. Then that winter he would have to replace the freeze plugs that blew out.

[flipper35]

I hear of guys using their air hose for flushing stuff out. I thought it was pushing it with 60PSI on the garden hose for the system, but 120 PSI?

[GH85Carrera]

I just change my antifreeze every other spring. Cheap and easy. I am due for a flush this spring.

[911SauCy]

I need to change mine.

The cholesterol built up in the arteries of my old Buick 3800 engine was unreal