thedonald

I had a tear in the bottom of mine. My buddy does Duradek and we just heat welded a patch on it. The original construction is put together with heat welding and that is the key. My patch was grey vinyl and my boat was red but it was on the bottom so not noticeable. If your fussy you could get them to ship up some red vinyl patching. With a valve you might want to talk to them but I am thinking if they could send you one mounted into a piece of vinyl then you could cut out the old one and heat weld the new piece on. Message me if you want his number.

I use the Keen water sandles with Vincere sand socks. This is a flexible combination to walk the beaches and rocks with ease. Sometimes in Mexico with an incoming wave, sand can get lodged inbetween the sock and the shoe but by turning the other way most is washed out. The sock keeps 99% of the sand off your skin. Before I waded barefoot and used old runners. The sand will wear off half of your skin in one day and using the runners was a little better but you have to throw them away after. Sand gets in every where and is impossible to wash out. Some guys just use the socks on sand beaches but I love venturing out on the rocky points looking for the perfect spot to cast. So the shoes give added traction and stiffness for scaling the odd cliff and rock hopping which I always end up doing.

This guy was really on to something as that was his quest, ultra light weight packable float tube, fins and even waders. His goal was to get it all under 3 lbs and he came really close. Unfortunately he passed after a bout with cancer and only having made a few boats for sale. Being an engineer and a fussy detail oriented person, he was able to overcome many of the problems with the ultra lights. The designs and craftsmanship look really good and I'm sure by now the comfort issues would have been addressed. We need someone to carry on this torch. Anyway, the thread is a good read for whenever you have the time and just shows the future possibilities. I will hunt around again to see if anything new has shown up on other sites or even ali express. For my old bones, it's either something like this or the helicopter trips. http://www.kiene.com/forums/showthread.php?21680-SHig-s-Superlight-Packin-tube-Project

Yes that's true. There is a front facing picture with a guy in the water in one and it does close up about 6" by the look of it. They look like they are made with a flare out to accommodate some of that. Also it looks like your legs are half in the water as well. I found that on the Trinity that it was sketchier than my Water Skeeter but the weight savings at 7 lbs compared to 23 lbs made the hike a breeze. What I didn't like about it was the small valves that made getting the air out quite time consuming. The water skeeter has the boston valves so air out and folded up is about 1 minute if you push on it. I can fish all day in my water skeeter in great comfort and stability. I also use a piece of 1 1/2" styrofoam on the seat in the cold water so only below my knees is in the water. I would imagine that any of these light weight jobs will sacrifice some comfort and stability for the weight savings. But if you want to do some 1 hr plus hikes with waders, gear, food and water then something like this will get you there. http://www.wildernesslitefloattubes.com/backpacker-pro-wilderness-photos.html

These are the lightest I have come across, except on the pocket book. http://www.wildernesslitefloattubes.com/index.html I am getting tempted as weight matters and some nice lakes can be tough to fly fish from shore. Nothing more relaxing than float tubing a high mountain lake in the summer.

How did you crop out the wind and big waves? Anyway nice job!

I like Upper Kananaskis lake for ice fishing from December on. It is no bait so you can jig the cutties over with some wet flies and the bulls with some streamers. The fishing is not steller but the water is crystal clear so you see what they like and what they don't go for. The beauty of the place is sure to reduce some stress and clear your head. The "shore" ice can seem sketchy because it is thinner and it cracks and breaks a lot but it is just over top of rocks, also because it slopes it is slippery because of the draw down in the reservoir but you will be fine once you get past that. There are lots of ski tracks to follow if you are unsure where to go.

Well I have to go to the Peg for a wedding on the May long weekend so after reading this I just have to stop in and try it out. Might get parts of two days in and if that proves excellent than I may plan a September trip without the girls. We'll stay in the Russell inn and I hope it is about 1/2 hr to Patterson and Tokaryk. Just wondering if anyone has any recent updates or tips to share. Thanks in advance.....Don

Speaking of prospects, who do we have on the farm? Any headturners? Or is this another area of concern....lack of player developement in the system? Mind you the draft can be a casino of sorts, no guarentees there. Would have been nice to have some up and comers being tutored by Iginla and the boys.

Yah 5-3 with a nice pp goal and right back on the pp in a 2 goal game so who knows, Caps defence wasn't exactly stellar. I thought the coaching should have been to write that game off after 2 and try and have some fun in the 3rd. Show some hustle, finish some checks and get a little buzz going. Coming out like a bunch of pilons in front of the home crowd doesn't cut it. So it seems that since last December the wheels have come off and the direction is lost. Maybe from too much pressure and unrealistic expectations. They are not a cup contender but with the right leadership should easily make the playoffs. will that show up..........stay tuned. And puck movement, that's the first area for attention. They miss out on so many chances with poor passing, in the skates, on the backhand and many other bad habits, without pressure. So part of the problem is not enough attention to the basics.

Where's the challenge flag? A bad period with bad reffing = ugly. Even the CFL has a better system than the NHL. 2 blown calls, one calling off the goal and then not calling the trip, that's a big swing. Might of had a shootout. But the lack of effort or desire in the third, well something smells. That's fine on the road but packing up early at home is not. I say there are too many Sutter's around.

If you have the time you can use a combo of contact cement and aqua seal. I stick on the patch with the contact and use aqua seal around the edges of the patch. I find the contact breaks down after a while and you get slow leaking. The aqua seal prevents this. I also use aqua seal along the seams of the bladder as mine seams to tear there. It has worked very well in adding some reinforcing to this area.

I was fishing down there last Friday when this went down. I didn't see him but noticed something strange in the water when I was leaving. Unfortunately this was in a very strong wind which blew me way past where I wanted to beach and there was no way for me to check it out. It was about 100 yds north offshore just past the point on the east end. It sort of looked like a submerged orange cooler. Now I know it was the tip of his kayak which was still attached to the anchor which was anchored. Anyway after seeing his van and not him i assumed he was shore fishing, on a hike or with the group in the campsite. Someone driving by around 3-4 in the afternoon took down both our plate numbers because it was a very strong windstorm then, waves 2' high for an hour and they felt it didn't look good for anyone out fishing. I had bailed out on the beach by the outlet during this time, wind howling, waves pounding the shore, sitting on my belly boat (so it wouldn't blow away) and too far to walk back to the car. According to Jeff's brothers this was when he arrived and I guess chose to head out and then capsized. Thru the plate number the RCMP contacted me and took my statement via a Calgary police officer. I also showed him my pictures and made a map of my whereabouts during the day. With this info they have been in contact the last few days for a little help in locations and wind conditions and so forth. This morning they phoned saying today was the last day of the recovery and invited me down to go over everything in person especially for locations with the chief of the dive team just in case something might help. So I thought it was the least I could do to help out, went down met with them and Jeff's brothers. Just after 2 this afternoon the body was recovered. I doubt it was anything I said because they seemed to have everything well set up and organized. Afterthoughts of this incident have made me rethink some of my fishing adventures and my methods. My rope and lifejacket were in my bag in the car so even if I saw Jeff and was able to get out to him I had nothing to help deal with this emergency. In the future I'll make sure I'm better equipped on the lake although I'm doing better on my hiking ventures. Fishing is fun but accidents are not.

I did not notice any real change with Keenan. My opinion the team did not seem motivated or on the same page. Power play stunk and that really hurt. The flames are not a top level team so to go anywhere they have to make it up in other areas. That being said Vancouver never fared any better against Chicago than we did after 10 days rest. Actually I like watching the CFL for the reason most guys don't get the huge bucks but still give it a good go. Watching millionaires play lifeless hockey is not something I pay for.