A couple of weeks ago, I wrote that I was considering an inflatable kayak as a replacement for my hard sided Native Watercraft Manta Ray, and I got a lot of feedback comments from blog readers. Some shared their experiences with inflatable kayaks, and a surprising number said that they too have thought about an inflatable boat, and would be interested to see what I came up with.

After that blog came out, Tim Ryerson from Inflatable Boats 4 Less contacted me and offered to send me one of his Sea Eagle PaddleSki 435 catamaran kayaks to test. I’ve met Tim and his pretty wife Crystal at different RV events over the years, and Tim has told me several times that if I tried an inflatable kayak, I’d be hooked.

Tim said to play with the boat and write an unbiased review for my readers, good, bad, or indifferent. I’m impressed with a businessman who is that confidant in the quality of his products!

Two boxes arrived, a large one that held the boat, and a smaller box that held two paddles, two inflatable seats, a foot pump, and other supplies. The larger of the two boxes weighed about 50 pounds. Terry was able to lift it with no problems.

Following the directions Tim sent us, we unpacked the boat, and used the foot pump to inflate the two fourteen inch tubes. It took us about seven minutes to inflate the boat on our first attempt. Sea Eagle also has an electric pump available as an option, and I think it would be a good investment.

Sea Eagle calls the PaddleSki 435 five boats in one, because it can be paddled as a kayak, or with optional equipment available from Sea Eagle, you can row it, mount an electric trolling motor, a small gas motor, or even a mast and sail! I disagree though – to me it’s actually six boats in one, because it can be either a solo or tandem kayak! Once inflated, the PaddleSki is fourteen feet long, and just over 36 inches wide, with a capacity of 650 pounds. The boat weighs 41 pounds inflated, and is easy to carry.

Yesterday we tested the Paddle Ski out on the Crooked River, here in central Florida, with our friends Denny and Cindy Henderson. The river is aptly named, because it has more twists and turns than a politician’s pedigree, and connects several lakes in what is known as the Clermont Chain of Lakes.

We put in at the boat ramp at Palatlakaha River Park, and the first thing I noticed was that the PaddleSki is so stable that getting on and off is much easier than in my regular sit on top kayak. I’m an incredibly clumsy guy on my best days, and I don’t have many good days. More than once I’ve fallen into or out of my kayak when launching or coming in, and my buddy Ron Speidel swears he’ll never go anywhere near me on a body of water again until I get launched, because last summer when we paddled together, he almost fell out of his kayak laughing at me! Not so with the PaddleSki. I’m not sure that I could turn this boat over if I tried!

As soon as I paddled away from the boat launch, my first impression was “Man, I love this boat!” I’ve been on the water in everything from rowboats and canoes, to several styles of kayaks, and I have never been in anything that feels so stable and comfortable. No matter how much I wiggled and moved around, the PaddleSki stayed solidly planted on the water.

We paddled about 1/4 mile downriver to Lake Louisa, and then out onto the lake a short distance. There was no wind and the lake’s surface was as smooth as glass, and I became more impressed with the PaddleSki with every foot we paddled. This is absolutely my new favorite boat! It moves quickly across the water, it’s easy to paddle, and the skegs, one mounted on the bottom of each pontoon, make the boat track extremely well. Much better than any of the three hard shell kayaks I’ve owned.

However, I just as quickly became aware that the inflatable seat that came with the boat was just not going to work for me. I felt like I was leaning backward, and before long my back was killing me. This is more a factor of my weight and my very bad back than any design flaw in the PaddleSki seats.  I’ve experienced the same thing with several different kayak seats. I doubt that most paddlers would have any problem with the inflatable seats that came with the Sea Eagle.

The most comfortable kayak seat I have ever had was the one on my first boat, an Ocean Kayak Prowler, and I told Terry that I think one would solve the problem I had with the inflatable seat. Of course, losing 75 pounds and not having a trashed back to start with probably would help too! 

We paddled back upriver to the boat launch, and we moved Cindy’s kayak seat, with four mounting points, to the PaddleSki, and I tried it again. It was a major improvement, and later on when I called Tim from  Inflatable Boats 4 Less to give him my first impressions of the boat, he offered to send me one of Sea Eagles four point high back kayak seats to try. I think it will be a major improvement, and I appreciate the fact that Tim and Crystal want their customers to be satisfied, and will work to make that happen.

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Denny took the PaddleSki for a short test ride, and came back to the launch ramp very impressed with the way it handled, then Miss Terry took it out on the river. You can see by the smile on her face that she was impressed! I asked Terry what she thought of the boat, and she said it’s very smooth, it tracks very well, it’s extremely responsive, and well balanced. If you can’t tell by now, in my opinion, the PaddleSki 435 is a keeper!

Unfortunately, because of the seat issue, I had to deflate the PaddleSki (which took two minutes) and get out my Manta Ray for the rest of the day’s paddling. What a difference in weight just carrying it to the water! The Manta Ray weighs 65 pounds, over half again as much as the PaddleSki.

Back on the water, I was immediately aware of the difference in stability between the two boats. The Manta Ray is an excellent kayak, and I am comfortable in it, but it is definitely much more “tippy” than the PaddleSki. Just wiggling or leaning a bit side to side will make the Manta Ray bounce all over the place.

We paddled upriver through some beautiful scenery to another big lake and out onto it’s surface, Denny stopping to cast for bass along the way.

Once we were on the big lake, I got a real scare when a couple of guys in a bass boat went speeding past, throwing up a rooster tail of water behind them, and creating a strong wake. The safe way to take a wave in a kayak is head on, and the boat will ride up over the top and back down. But this happened so quickly that I didn’t have time to turn, and three fast waves hit me broadside, bouncing me all over the place.

Terry was sitting beside me when the waves hit, the bow of her boat against the side of mine in a T formation, on the lee side of the waves. If I hadn’t been able to grab onto her bow to steady myself, I think I may well have gone into the water. That was the first time I’ve been really scared in a kayak! Most fishermen have good manners and are courteous to other watercraft, but there are always a few jerks out there.

My friend Denny lives and breathes fishing, and had been casting into dark pools at the base of cedar stumps, and under docks, as we paddled by, hoping to hook something. As we headed back downriver toward the boat launch, Denny’s rod tip suddenly dipped sharply, and he had a fish on the line. It gave him a pretty good fight, but he brought a nice one pound largemouth bass to his boat, then let it go after posing for a picture for Miss Terry.

We spent close to three hours on the water, and had a wonderful time. But we sure were tired by the time we got back to the launch. Carrying our heavy boats back up to the van was a chore. I can’t wait until the new seat comes for the PaddleSki, so I can get it back out onto the water!

Thought For The Day – I may not have gone where I intended to go, but  I have ended up where I needed to be.

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We’re tired, and we’ve just gotten started! Yesterday was the first public day of the Hershey RV Show, and we spent eleven hours in our booth, greeting people, passing out sample copies of the Gypsy Journal, and selling a few subscriptions, books, and CDs.

The main vendor area is on the floor of the Giant Center, which is a hockey rink. They laid down thin sheets of floor covering over the ice, and we added a 1/2 inch thick layer of interlocking cushion mats in our vendor booth, but by the end of the day we were really feeling cold. Today we’ll wear a second layer of socks, and bring long sleeve shirts or sweaters.

We saw several vendors we know from other events, and quite a few of our subscribers and blog readers came by the booth to say hello, including Ed Meyer and Theresa Davis, Mike and Joyce Neilson, Nancy Shaw, and several others whose names I’m afraid I just can’t remember this late in the evening.

We also saw our pal Flakey the Clown, who was tooling around on his Blue Ox powered cart, bringing smiles to young and old alike. I’m not sure if he’s directing traffic in this picture, or telling his rabbit to sit and stay.

A lot of the folks stopping by our booth were either brand new RVers, or wannabes who were at the show checking out the RVs on the market and trying to decide what’s right for them. Since there is no “perfect” RV, it’s hard to find the best rig for you, and going to a big RV show is a good way to look at everything on the market and get an idea of what might suit your needs and lifestyle.

I did my Highway History and Back Road Mystery seminar in the afternoon, which I always have fun with, and at least one person liked it well enough to go back to our booth and buy a copy of my book by the same name.

Our sales for the day were nothing to write home about, but I think we took in enough to cover the cost of our fuel to get here. We also passed out several hundred sample copies of the paper, and we know that when we do that, it’s like planting seeds. Some folks will never get around to reading them, some will read them and forget about it, and some will like what they see well enough to subscribe. Usually a week or two after an event we’ll see a spurt of new subscriptions coming in, and then more will trickle in over the next month or so.

The official vendor hours are from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., but by about 6 p.m. things had slowed way down, and several of the vendors closed up shop for the day. We hung in there, and by 7 p.m. it was pretty much a ghost town.

When we left the Giant Center, we stopped for a quick dinner at a nearby diner, then headed back to our motorhome at the Thousand Trails campground. We got home about 9:30, pretty worn out from our long day. But we still had e-mail to check, Terry had to total up our day’s receipts, and I had to write this blog post before we could even think about bed.

Today we’ll be up and back at it early again. It’s going to be a long show!

Thought For The Day -The less time I have to work with, the more things I get done.

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We have had a good week in Salt Lake City, and really enjoyed our time here. We look forward to coming back again.  Pony Express RV Resort is an excellent base for exploring the area, though we actually have not done any “exploring” while we’ve been here. Most of my time has been spent doing genealogy research at the Family History Library, and Terry has been busy finishing up a project for her son’s wedding.

Salt Lake City is an interesting town. Many of the city streets are very wide, 132 feet to be exact, designed by the early settlers, with room enough for a covered wagon pulled by a team of four oxen to turn around.

The Mormon influence is obviously very strong, but one of the first things we saw coming in from the west on Interstate 80 was a billboard advertising a topless “gentlemen’s club.” A local business owner told me that just a block or two away from Temple Square, the centerpiece of the Mormon religion, State Street is known for drugs, prostitution, and gang activity.

We have a long day ahead of us today. We’re headed for Gypsum, Colorado, where we will stay at River Dance RV Resort for a few days while we attend Terry’s son’s wedding in Vail. The route my Microsoft Streets & Trips computer mapping program suggested was U.S. Highway 40 into Colorado, and then state routes southeast to Meeker and on to Rifle, where we would pick up Interstate 70 into Gypsum. That’s about 370 miles from where we are.

But, I have learned that one cannot always trust mapping programs, or GPS units, for that matter. In talking to several people who are familiar with this area, we decided to take a longer route that they tell me is a much easier trip – Interstate 15 south to Spanish Fork, where we’ll pick up U.S. Highway 6 and follow it to Interstate 70, near Green River, Utah, and on to Gypsum. This route is about 25 miles longer, but looks to be an easier trip.

That’s a longer trip than most fulltimers do in one day, and we prefer shorter days on the road ourselves. But we can handle it, and we want to get in and settled so we’ll have a couple of days to relax and enjoy some family time before the wedding.

I’m not sure what kind of Verizon service we’ll have in Gypsum. Their coverage map shows they have high speed EVDO, but I have learned that one cannot always rely on what the maps show. Then again, here in North Salt Lake the service has ranged from super fast to just a little bit slower than sludge. So if you log on tomorrow and there is no blog, be patient and I’ll get it up as soon as possible. Likewise, if you send me an e-mail and don’t get a speedy reply, be patient and I’ll get to you as soon as I can.

After the wedding is over, we have to make a fast trip across the country. We want to stop in Forest city, Iowa to have some work done at the Winnebago factory, and then we have to get to Traverse City, Michigan for Terry’s annual oncologist checkup the first week of August. From there, we have to rush down to Elkhart, Indiana to get all of the last minute details handled before our Eastern Gypsy Gathering rally the end of August.

Several blog readers have invited us to stop and visit on our trip east, but I’m afraid there just isn’t time. One of these days, I’m going to stop all this busy-busy nonsense, get myself one of them there recreational vehicle motorhome thingies, and just relax and travel!

Thought For The Day – Yes, I do understand your problem. I just don’t  care.

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I’ve said many times before that saying goodbye is the hardest part of the fulltime RV lifestyle. Yesterday evening when we took our leave from my daughter Tiffany and her family, we all had tears in our eyes. Seven year old granddaughter Hailey clung to us until we almost had to pry her arms loose, and we promised her that we will be back again, and that we’ll send her postcards and call her from the road. I love my family, and I always feel terrible for leaving them, but I know, as does Tiffany, that I’d be miserable living in one place all the time.

Today we will leave Show Low, where we’ve been for over two months, and travel 170 miles to Williams, Arizona, where we’ll hang out for a few days getting the new issue of the Gypsy Journal ready to mail out. As soon as that’s done, we’re headed for the California coast. We have enjoyed our time here in our old hometown, but we stayed longer than we planned to, and we are really looking foreyard to seeing some new territory.

Except for winds predicted at 15 to 25 miles per hour, we should have an easy drive today. But in northern Arizona, that’s not really windy, it’s just a breeze. We have to pick the new issue of the paper up from our printer in Flagstaff, which is 30 miles east of Williams, but we’ll probably go on to Williams first and get the motorhome parked, then drive back in the van. I don’t like driving a big rig in Flagstaff, and besides, there is a Chinese buffet there that I’ve wanted to try for years.

I have had several people ask us if we will have rally T-shirts available at our Eastern Gypsy Gathering Rally in Elkhart, Indiana. Yes, we will, and it would really help us plan our order if you reserved your shirts before the rally. Cost is $15 per shirt, and 2x and 3x sizes are $17. You don’t need to pay us right now, but knowing who wants what helps us make sure we get enough shirts in the right sizes, and that we reserve shirts for those who ordered in advance.

I was contacted by longtime readers Ray and Nancy Fassbender yesterday, asking if I could reach out to blog readers to help them with a problem. They have been stuck for several days while a repair shop tries to diagnose a problem with their 2001 Serengeti Safari motorhome, built on a 2000 Magnum Chassis with a Cummins diesel engine.

If anybody out there has an electrical wiring schematic for a coach like this, please contact these folks at 520-280-4715  or e-mail them at nfass@earthlink.net. Neither they nor the shop has the wiring diagrams, and they are at a standstill. Please contact them directly, not me, because we’ll be on the road, and it will only delay matters for them. RVers are the nicest folks there are, and I know if anybody can help them, it will be my blog readers.

I promised Bad Nick that I would let him play with the computer, now that I have the new issue of the paper finished, and he jumped right on it, posting a new Bad Nick Blog titled I’m Sorry, BP. Check it out and leave a comment.

Thought For The Day – If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there.

Click Here To Register For Our Eastern Gypsy Gathering Rally!

I wrote in yesterday’s blog that a cold front was going to bring high winds to northern Arizona, and that our trip to Flagstaff to get the new issue of the Gypsy Journal was going to be interesting.

The wind started blowing hard about three a.m., and all night long it slammed into our Winnebago. At 9 a.m. it was looking pretty grim, and I had a bad feeling about the trip to Flagstaff. Experience has taught me that sometimes I need to listen to that inner voice that warns me of things, and I told Miss Terry that we were going to sit tight for a while and see how things went. There was no sense in endangering ourselves, or getting caught on Interstate 40 if the Highway Patrol closed it.

Throughout the morning, we had rain, sleet, hail, and wind gusts up to 55 miles per hour.  I called the newspaper in Flagstaff that does our printing, and the pressroom foreman said it was just as nasty there. Sure enough, just after noon, they closed Interstate 40 due to blowing dust and high winds, and the highway became a big parking lot the rest of the day. I’m sure glad we decided to wait it out!

About 4 p.m. the wind finally eased up, the sky started to clear a little bit, and I managed to take this picture of a rainbow over Juniper Ridge RV Resort.

A few minutes later and we had mostly blue sky and patchy clouds overhead.

The delay in picking up the paper won’t affect getting the new issue into the mail. We were supposed to stuff the envelopes and get them back to the mail service in Flagstaff Monday morning, and we can still meet that deadline. We’ll just have to push a little harder to get it done.

With our day’s travel plans changed, we just stayed home and relaxed. It was too cold and nasty to go anywhere anyway.  I worked on my family tree on Ancestry.com, adding some newspaper birth and death notices that I found searching Google.

I also spent some time reading online reviews and news stories about the new Apple iPad. I wasn’t too impressed with this new gadget when I first heard about it, wondering what it could do that my laptop computer can’t. But after playing with a couple of them in stores, my thinking has changed 180 degrees. The iPad isn’t a computer, and it isn’t an iPhone or an iPod Touch. It’s an entirely different creation, incorporating some of the features of all of the above, and I can see dozens of uses for it, from cruising the internet to reading e-books and online newspapers, as well as using it for a GPS, and on and on.

The first generation models are WiFi only, but the new 3G units will be in stores the end of the month, and I am going to take a long, hard look at one when they become available. Have any of you blog readers acquired an iPad yet? I’d be interested in hearing your impressions of it.

While I was goofing off, Miss Terry caught up on her paperwork for our Eastern Gypsy Gathering rally and ran a couple loads of laundry, then started a new crochet project. All in all, it was a quiet day inside our motorhome, while the storm raged outside.

Today, if the weather cooperates, we’re headed to Flagstaff.

Thought For The Day – Okay, who stopped the payment on my reality check?

Click Here To Register For Our Eastern Gypsy Gathering Rally!