Printing The Forms

You can print the forms directly from Kayak Foundry. Since my printer only takes legal-size paper, it gives you most of the forms on several sheets of paper. with little target-shaped registration marks.

I used push pins to align the marks, and taped the pages together. Some of the biggest forms require as many as six sheets.

I used 3/4" MDF, and very stinky contact cement. All the forms fit on half a sheet.

New Design From Kayak Foundry

After much tweaking, adjusting, messaging, and no small amount of frustration, I finally came up with this design on Kayak Foundry. It was a tug-of-war between technical specs and aesthetics-I came up with designs that looked nice, but had technical problems. I guess I will never know what its like until I build it.

Mattabessett Paddle

Its been a while since I made a blog post about a kayak trip. I should do it more often.
Got today off from work. Set out from Harbor Park in Middletown.

Heading for the Arrigoni Bridge, site of a tragedy, and my vote for Homeliest Bridge In Connecticut. The entrance to the Mattabessett is just beyond the railroad bridge.
The Matt is a slow-moving tidal river. I soon got to a marshy area, and saw a lady in a small kayak. Had a chat, and paddled together. There is another put-in spot further up the river, and we paddled there together, where she took out. 
After a pit stop, I continued up the river, looking for a couple of geocaches. The water level was getting low, and no luck on the caches, so I turned around, this time against the tide. Good paddle for wildlife: saw several Great Blue Herons, ducks, and fish.
I think that this was the longest actual paddle I've ever been on, in both mileage and time.