A house gives birth and a maiden voyage!!

The big day has finally arrived. Two months to the day, the new boat is ready to leave the attic and hit the water!!

I think the pictures speak for themselves . . .

See, no problems coming down those stairs!

Not what you'd expect to see!!

A helping hand.

Coming down!

A soft landing.

Time for rackin'

A two minute drive brings us to St. Philip's.

On the slip next to Tony's Nordkapp.

It was a lovely evening on the water. 

Impressions:  This boat is a lot "tippier" than my Baffin - but in a good way! My initial fit is good so far - may need one more 1/2 piece of foam on the foot braces! Rolling is good - only three pulled off due to cold water temps. Edges nicely. Tracks great - but no wind to really test.

Verdict (after one paddle):  A boat that will reward the serious paddler but will not suffer fools! 

My camera died before heading off for a paddle but my good paddling buddy, Tony, managed to document the rest of the evening in his blog -  http://mynewfoundlandkayakexperience.blogspot.com/2011/04/seans-shakedown-paddle.html

It was a great evening on the water - thanks to Tony, Dennis and Eugene. The boat was great. Fast and responsive. We hit some slight clapotis - just enough to get the feel of the new boat. After two hours I was quite comfortable and it's only going to get better!!

Only one  setback. When Dennis and I we're loading the boat back on the car I heard sloshing and the boat felt a little heavy. I ignored it until home when I found that the day and rear hatch had significant water in them. My initial thoughts were DAMN - those friggin hatches are leaking. BUT after some pressure testing, i.e, pressing down on the closed hatches, I found that the pad eyes (deck line fittings) were all leaking. They all hissed loudly whenever I pushed down on the hatches!! Again, my initial thoughts were DAMN - those friggin' pad eyes are leaking. But then I thought that is was better the pad eyes than the 300.00 worth of hatches!!  Oddly enough I managed to push the pad eyes back into the hull with no problem. It appears the sealant did not set up properly!!  I've decided that I will next put copious amounts of Marine Goop on them and see how that works!! Marine Goop is very thick and tenacious - I am confident that a good dose of it will cure any future leaks..

Other than that, the boat is resting comfortably here in the living room - lying in front of the woodstove like a lazy dog!. I put the compass in earlier this evening (without incident) and am now waiting for the hull to dry out. Tomorrow I will rectify the pad eye problem.

All in all, a great evening on the bay with a great new boat in the company of fellow paddlers!! Can it get better??

Sean