Well, not really, but it looks like it should have. First the Jimmy Lewis 11′ 7″. Here’s the pics:
Here’s the board with the mast track glassed over and a little bondo
And finally the patient resting comfortably on the Funmobile. If it works as good as it looks it should be fantastic. Can’t wait.
While I was at the Ding Kings picking up the Jimmy Lewis, I spotted a new project underway: Making a mold of the 14 foot steerable standup that Mark has been experimenting with. He told me this is the fourth version he did of this board and he’s very happy with the results. It’s a downwind board, though I assume guys like Laird will surf it, and guys like Dave Kalama will paddle it any damned direction he wants to, including across the Molokai channel. Click on the first thumbnail to see the series in larger size.
And finally, here’s the Funmobile with a serious load: Two Hobie Adventure Island Kayaks, and the JL 11X30 standup board. Diane is getting to be a fairly adventurous sailer. After this picture we sailed from Makena Landing to the four Seasons, had an absurdly expensive lunch, and sailed back. Diane was much braver with the sail on the way back, partly from gained confidence and experience, but mostly from two glasses of Sonoma Cutrerer Chardonnay. Sam sailed on the back of my boat, occasionally leaping off when he decided he’d had enough and was willing to swim home. His doggie float coat gives him way too much confidence–he thinks he has his own boat. I hook him to the Kayak with a boogie board leash and yard him back in when he decides to abandon ship.
My homebrew rack system works pretty darned well. I made the extension arms adjustable so I can pull the front ones way out to load the nose of the kayak, then I only have to pick up half the weight at a time. The arms flip up so I can carry the amas and keep the kayaks in place, or flip them down so they don’t get in the way when I’m loading surfboards or windsurfers. The tennis balls on the ends of the extensions came after I peeled off a nice section of scalp. I slit them to fit over the ends and filled them with window sealant foam.
I also modified the rack at the same time, welding the back support arms directly to the roll bar. They used to extend all the way down to the wimpy rusted brackets that are just above the taillights. I need to remember to take those off sometime soon. I got some pre-bent large diameter conduit 90 degree sections and fishmouthed them with a holesaw. Came out pretty nice and the rack is still removeable (sort of). This modification and fabricating the extensions justified my buying a nice little Miller MIG welder and an angle grinder. I told Diane to consider all the money I was saving by doing this myself. She’s entirely too good with math to believe anything like that.
I saw you in your toy car trundling down the Hana Highway yesterday. Looked a little top-heavy. It made me think of those silly bumper stickers: “He who dies with the most toys wins.” It turns out that some people take this VERY seriously. The accumulation gives a sense of of cheating mortality, or something like that. O tempora, o mores. Tempura and s’mores? Oy gevalt.
Yup, a guy could die with all that crap on the car. Much better with just a board, but the wife wanted to do the Kayaks. Actually I think it’s really he who dies with the most toys is still dead.
Worst part about toys is that one leads to another. It takes discipline to maintain simplicity, and I don’t have much.
I don’t think Tempura and s’mores sound all that great.
My next plan is a ultralight trailer I can pull behind my dirt bike that can carry windsurfing gear or a couple of surfboards. It’ll probably wind up with Kayaks on it.