rogerdodger:
first off, I did not take fishing gear on this test float. oh I wanted to, had the whole kit in the car, water flow was perfect for winters (I was 0-3 from shore the day before, netted one for my friend and he was 1-4) but I stuck to my plan and focused on getting familiar with the dynamics of this boat on moving water. Plus I had never run this stretch of river before in a drift boat; I did know it was 'easy' stuff.
location: Siuslaw river, Whittaker to Wildcat (~1.5miles), 48F water temp, 54F air. beautiful day for Feb. 2 but definitely not a summer "go play in a river" day.
anchoring: spent about an hour at the put-in trying both a 10# mushroom and 1.5# folding kayak anchor. both worked in slow water near shore just fine, neither worked good enough in slightly swifter water. I ordered a 3# folding kayak anchor that I think is what I will go with. 20# rope seemed long enough, I was able to deploy and recover the anchor just fine, then grab the oars and quickly gain control again.
tracking: this boat turns on a dime, which means the water can turn it easily but that also means the oars can. my goal is to float like a drift boat, "Steer with the Stern" and "Bow to Danger".
rapids: positioning for rapids was just as planned- kick out the stern, back row to slide sideways, then kick it straight and use just light oar dips to keep the boat straight through the rapids. the boat seemed to track very nice down the rapids, the top deck felt solid but the side floats moved just a little at the front, in a good way, it was transmitted into my legs through the foot rests and gave me feel very connected to the waves, similar to the feeling I get on my i11s (and love).
summary: on this stretch of river and at this flow rate, I was able to position the boat where I wanted, when I wanted, and pointed in the direction I wanted at all times. large bends in the river did not present any problems. at one point, I passed close by a very large rock, intentionally, then kicked out the stern and backed right into the eddy behind it, just like you would in a drift boat. There were probably 20 drift boats out and I was always able to navigate around them so as to cause minimum impact on their fishing, passing close to them at times or between an anchored boat and shore if there was room.
video is 3.5 minutes, it covers a stretch of the float where the river splits and there is a long island, both sides looked to have roughly equal water flow, guys just above it let me know that most drift boats take the right side. as the river came back together, I pulled up at the end of the island and hopped off to soak up how much fun I was having. (might have been kicking myself just a bit for not bringing along at least a plug rod.)
this is my initial fishing kit for the next float:
Mojo Jojo:
Nice job mister Dodger, what did you use to secure the Velcro? That’s an awesome idea I might try on the kayak to keep a small plano where I want it.
rogerdodger:
--- Quote from: Mojo Jojo on February 04, 2018, 09:02:35 AM ---Nice job mister Dodger, what did you use to secure the Velcro? That’s an awesome idea I might try on the kayak to keep a small plano where I want it.
--- End quote ---
I used self adhesive velcro and on the wood part added some staples to lock it down. the velco seems to be holding fine on the aluminum and plastic boxes. so far.
C_Run:
Very cool craft.
Tinker:
Looks like a successful prof of concept. roger! A frugal angler's driftboat.