The canoe made it so much fun getting to some wonderful places in Tasmania.
First Major Overseas Trip - December 2009
After a year of smaller trips (the Mitchell River at Paynesville, more Lysterfield Lake trips ), we decidedto attempt Bass Strait. In a 16ft Canadian Canoe! Of course, we would be going in the car ferry, Spirit of Tasmania :-) The trailer was working well, but they would have charged us another $700 or so for the ferry trip if we had a trailer. So - time to build upwards. Luckily, there was no extra charge for tall vehicles, IF there is room available.
The design of the carriers was complicated by an existing camper top. Hours of designer type thinking, measuring, and welding experimentation results in some strange attachments. It was with great trepidation that we attempted to load the canoe on the ute, but it was very easy with two people. We ended up doing 500 kilometres over very windy roads, and never had a problem with the canoe load, or the carriers.
29 December 2008 - 4 launches - story so far
Pictures to come soon - I have been out about 4 times now. Yesterday with the first passenger (Dorcas is a keen canoeist, thank goodness ) ! With two in it, it works fine, no major upsets or problems. I am soooooo glad that I spent the effort to put a bit of "curve" and "contour" into the wooden seats. Spent about 2 hours in the canoe the other day, and it would have been so uncomfortable on flat seats. There are quite a few scratches on the hull, but I havnt done any filling and re-painting yet. The trouble of making a strip plank hull is very much offset by the pleasure of seeing the nice hull lines.