I had a great time at the bash and enjoyed talking to many experienced and curious kayak builders. Here’s a link to my photo set on flickr.
2007 Texas Kayak Builders Bash
Both Kurt and John had new original designs there in addition to Steve’s saran wrap kayak and Tony’s strip built Sea Ranger. I don’t have an official count, but I think there were at least 40 boats. Tony should post something soon with more official numbers.
Made a trip up to AustinKayaks in San Marcos this morning for some foam blocks to mount the yaks on my car. I’m still saving up for a Yakima or Thule (whatever I find cheapest on craigslist). They foam works well in this manner and will fit on the bars of the rack when I get it.
We’re leaving about 3:30 today and look forward to seeing some of you there tomorrow!
Well, the trip to Iowa is about over. We are in St Louis right now and will be flying out in the morning at 9:30. It will sure be good to get back home and mow the lawn… yeah right.. Looking forward to kayaking with Kurt again and getting the boat wet.
I saw quite a few kayak racks on the trip.  My old home town of about 5,000 had quite a few cars and trucks with racks on them and I saw a few SOT’s on some of those racks. I haven’t seen many racks or kayaks here in St. Louis though.
A little more on the Sea Ranger stripper: When I glassed the hull, I didn’t do any fill coats. One reason was that I wanted to save a bit of weight and the other is that I wanted to see if it would slide through the water a bit easier as in ’shark skin’ hulled boats. Not having anything to compare to, can’t really tell if the departure from laminar flow is helping any, but suspect it is. When I taped the shear, I used a scraper to even it out and applied a very thin coat to get back to transparency.
That’s about all the news that isn’t from here, catch y’all later..
Tony
I was thinking of taking a kayak to Iowa sometime this summer and fishing with a friend of mine so I researched registration laws for the state. I was unable to find any information on the website so I emailed, and eventually talked on the phone with someone from the DNR.
I talked with Marj from the Iowa State DNR and she informs me that Iowa will honor any current registration from another state. However, since I’m from Texas and don’t need (or have) a registration, I would be required to register the kayak in Iowa and permanently attach registration numbers to my hull.
If you choose to register a kayak that you built yourself you will need some form of receipt for the materials that you put into the boat. If you bought the kayak you will need the original bill of sale and an MSO (manufacturer statement of origin). I suspect that they won’t validate any of these documents so buy a 2×4 at Home Depot and stick the receipt in your glove box. You’ll also have to find the county recorder office and get there during the week since they aren’t open on weekends or evenings.
If your kayak is 13 feet or less in length then you’re exempt from registration and don’t have to jump through hoops.
If I do make the trip to Iowa this summer I’ll either fish from shore or borrow a kayak.
Here are a few sets of pictures from the 2006 Texas Kayak Builders Bash.
Recent post on TKF prompted me to write this post:
Go to the Thule site,
Thule site
and select your car under the words ‘rack your car’. Mine is a 2003 Honda Element EX so don’t know if things have changed for later models, but I get:
430 Tracker II Foot Pack | LB50 Load Bars | TK9 Tracker Kit
The installation was easy and straight forward.
you install the foot packs first then the towers and cross bars. The above doesn’t include the saddles. Thules are OK, Stackers stick up too high for my garage door and I don’t want to pull them all the time, so, I got the Yakima land sharks.
According to the site, that much is 196$ and you can get the Yakima saddles for $75 per kayak from Connie Mack (where I got mine) So, about 350$ to get a real good system to carry 2 kayaks.
Tony Olsen
For all my loyal Swedish visitors, here’s the report from Anders and Magnus N.
I found the link to this on the Kayak Building Bulletin board (trips.) Pretty cool and very nice scenery. Thanks for the pictures!
inte illa!
(hope that means ‘not bad’)
Tony Olsen
Spent the day at the San Antonio Zoo today with the grand kids. Good time had by all lots to see and do. All who survived are lounged out in front of the TV with eyelids at half mast. If you are ever in San Antonio, the zoo is a must see. Pack a picnic lunch for an all day stay. A few pictures for you.
Good traveling to you!
Tony Olsen
Well, went and did the touristy thing at the San Antonio River walk today. Lots of tourist traps and lots of people milling around with no particular direction in mind. Sure hate it when I can’t walk because of people just standing in the way. So, I gawked at the water a lot and thought it would be fun to kayak in… probably a law against it. They do have the boats that give about 20 people (at one time) a tour. The line to get tickets was about 75 people and there were about 150 people waiting after the tickets booth. We decided we didn’t need that. Headed home and will be spending New Years eve with the kids and grand kids. Remember to visit some of the missions along the way, Mission San Jose.
Take care all, wish I was paddling or building Kayaks..
Tony