Last evening was BSBS's last pool session, and I finally got my Peter Strand SOF onto the water. Unlike the SOF I built (it is skinned in canvas...but I digress), this one is skinned with nylon covered with RustOleum paint. Any how, it is an extremely low volume boat made for rolling. As you can see, it has a very low profile and, after getting some water aboard, the deck line became the water line.
And roll, she does. I hit the usual ones, found the shot gun or arm pit roll easy enough. Then, for the first time, I managed to chest scull and recover. I am hoping to be able to make QAJAQ Training Camp again this year and add some new rolls to my recovery. Between now and then, I plan to get a Norsak and learn to roll with that.
Interestingly, the canvas SOF tends to tighten up in the water while nylon stretches. When I was finished for the evening, I could see the impressions my bare heels left on the bottom. I need to add a mat to distribute the pressure more evenly. In any event, it was a good evening for me. Now, we only have the cold waters of Lake Michigan in which to roll, and they are still trying to get into the mid forties (F).
Paddle safe...
DS
3 comments:
Congrats on getting the new boat wet!! The lakes here are turning slowly from ice to very cold water. Once the pool sessions are over, it will be a while before I am practicing rolls again.
Yes. Nylon stretches 2% when wet. In the 70s, that used to be a tent problem: You put up your tent as tight as a drum, when is starts raining, the outer fabric would sag and wet the inner tent.
For tents, the problem has been solved with silicone coating. (The coat is also increasing the strength, I believe.)
Have you looked at dacron and mylar?
If I ever build another, I will (I didn't make this one, of course).
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