LJ70 Build Thread!

[Ben]

Thanks guys.

Happy New Year to you all!

I'm back from the last big drive, so have now completed all 80+ hours of driving for this big move!

The trip was pretty uneventful so no pics. Flew down to Melbourne at 8am and by 8am the next day I was home with the last car. Drove for 13 hours straight before having to pull over for a nap before driving the last 4.

As I drove a good portion of it at night between 9pm and 2am the roads were deserted and I was able to sit on 140-150kmh for a good 3-4 hours which shaved hours off the journey time!

Off to Byron in a few hours for New Year and will be meeting my sister and her friend who have been traveling around NZ and now OZ and their coming to stay with us for a bit which will be nice!

 

[AndyCook]

Epic move, glad it all went ok with no hassles,
Enjoy the sunshine !


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[Gary820]

Good to see all went well with the move.

 

[Ben]

Thanks guys.

 

[Ben]

Meet Lexi.

After lots and lots of searching we finally found a respected and reputable breeder who had a female, chocolate border collie puppy available!

So yesterday we went on a 6 hour round road trip in land to rural Queensland to meet the breeder and the cute little girl who we have decided to call Lexi!

The mother has had 4 litters now in total, but this is the first chocolate one she has had!

We've got to wait another 4 weeks now until she can come and live with us.

We're both so excited and cant wait!!!

I can't wait to be able to take her 4wding and camping!

I'm also going to be buying a kayak soon and will get her a little doggy life jacket so she can come out with us as we explore all the rivers and lakes that surround us!

We're flying to Tassie this weekend to look at the farm we are being loaned for the wedding, later this year, in the beautiful Huon Valley.

Then when we get back I need to look for work.

 

[Pat]

I think with a lot of us the first baby in the home was a puppy.

 

[StarCruiser]

Aaaahhh

Lynn just OD'd on cute!!

 

[AndyCook]

Lovely puppy, my wife just kissed my iPad screen ! When I showed her.
Bet you can't wait to get her
Nice name, Lexi, our neighbours have a lab with same name

We are thinking of getting a big open canoe , for 2-3 people, so we can take "Jet" our black lab and with us on paddling trips, can't fit her In our sea kayaks
So you can get life jackets for dogs - cool, I was wondering about that
We would only be doing day trips on lochs or sheltered sea bays or sea lochs
So would park up hilux and setup camp and head out on the boat
Also need to get a tentipi of camping and woodburning stove, since we can't have roof tent on roof and carry a kayak or canoe.....

Looking forward to more pics of Lexi



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[ModelMakerMan]

Wow busy time for you Ben, glad it all went well. Looking forward to seeing what the future holds for you.

Im very jealous of the puppy, she is beautiful. Ive always wanted a border collie but Im not at home enough to have one right now what with work and most weekends spent on the water canoeing and white water kayaking. Maybe when I retire Ill have a canoe collie.

Im assuming you are thinking of a sitontop kayak to take the dog in? You wouldn't fit a dog in a standard kayak. Maybe consider an open canoe as Andy says. They would be much better if you decided to do camping trips etc. and the dog could move around a bit more too.

@AndyCook: Have a look here for dog Buoyancy aids (being pedantic its not a life jacket as a life jacket is very difficult to swim in): http://www.ruffwear.co.uk/activity/water-activity/k9-float-coat

Please do get a buoyancy aid for the dogs guys. They are expensive but how much is your dogs life worth? They make is so much easier to grab to dog out of the water if it falls in with the handle on the back. Also dogs sometimes panic and swim the wrong way if they end up in the water, the BA means they wont tire so quickly, will float even if unconscious and if a bright colour is purchased then will be much more visible.

Sorry to bring a horrible story to this lovely thread but its worth telling so people are aware: Last week a beloved family dog fell of a small cliff whilst being walked on Dartmoor. She fell into the river Dart which was running in spate. She was still conscious and swimming when the owners last saw her but due to the speed and power of the river was unable to swim to the bank. I was kayaking the Dart that day and assisted in the search for her but unfortunately she wasn't found till the next day when she resurfaced several miles down stream drowned. Had she been wearing a BA she may have had the chance of survival as we may have spotted her more easily or she may have been able to swim for longer. I know its not something people consider when walking dogs near water (people don't usually wear BAs when walking near water either) but if you are taking your dog into a water/boating environment then I would say its essential.

 

[AndyCook]

Thanks model maker man - saved link for the doggie BA


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[Ben]

Thanks guys.

Its still over 3 weeks we've got to wait till she can come home with us.

The breeder has said she will send us some pics over the next few weeks though so we can see how shes doing and shes also starter calling her Lexi to get her used to her name.

I will always ensure that were all are wearing Buoyancy aids when in or near the water. Like you say Dave, there not expensive when it could be life saving and I certainly dont want any accidents!

TBH I know very little about kayak's/canoes.

I was thinking of getting one of the sea ones where you sit on top. But from reading what Andy has said above I'm guessing one wouldn't be suitable for a dog as well?

This is the sort of thing I was thinking of.

http://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/the-gap/kayaks-paddle/kayak-double-ride-on/1099792374

But I'd very much appreciate some advice on this one guys as I've not got much experience or knowledge of kayaks.

 

[Ben]

Just looking at open top canoes and spotted this one:

http://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/stafford-heights/kayaks-paddle/2-person-canoe/1099860584

I'm thinking one of those might be a lot less stable in the water than say a sea kayak? But obviously more room for the doggy.

 

[Chris]

Ben, shame you're not back over here. I could do with your skills. Just booked myself onto a canoe building course of all things!

http://www.orcadventures.co.uk/#!compare-canoes/c1nbb

 

[Ben]

That looks awesome Chris!

Less than £500 for the big one seems very reasonable!

 

[Chris]

Yep, that's built and on your roof rack for that price. You can add bits of course like woven seats and bits of rope, dry bags, paddles, but I think I'll go with the basic boat. I can add things during the build if I want to. Just keen to get a really top class finish. You can see in the gallery that some have been made better than others but hey they all float.

Why not get plans Ben and make one. I have seen just plans for sale on e bay. You could make one in your sleep. Out of aluminium!

Booked in for Easter weekend

 

[Ben]

Thanks mate.

Awesome! Sounds great!

I will be interested to see how they bend the timber. I'm guessing it will be steamed and then bent. I've seen people make their own steamers using large diameter plastic pipe where by the timber is slid inside, the ends capped and then a wallpaper steamer linked up to it to fill the inside with steam. An hour or so of steaming and the timber can be bent like rubber, clamped in position and then left to set in its new shape.

I like the alluminium idea, I think I could build one in alluminium easier than wood!

Not enough time at the moment though.

Need to concentrate on setting myself up in business.

I want to go self employed and do some sub contracting. Then I can get a brand new 79 series duel cab, kit it all out and off set all the expense against my tax!

 

[Paddler Ed]

+1 to the PFD (Buoyancy aid (BA)) for the dog, but also don't forget yourself. I prefer the a BA rather than a life jacket as they also offer protection from other things hitting your ribs... Try to spent the money on that; my one I have was about £100 and is nicely cut so that it is unobtrusive and comfortable to wear; ones for tubing and wake boarding will be too restrictive for use canoeing/kayaking as they are designed to protect you from landing on the water.

On the Sit On Top vs Canoe debate... sit on tops work well for going out on your own as they are naturally buoyant and can be self rescued easily (often having drain bungs in them) whilst a canoe is much harder to self rescue (but not impossible, just takes a LOT of practice - my open boat is 15' long, and has about 10' of airbags in it which makes it much easier to swim underneath, push it up and throw it over), often working better as part of a group. Something like that Mad River is a good boat, but will need buoyancy in it. The other ones that are common over here are the Coleman/Pelican Ram-x boats; watch out for the reinforcing bar in the middle as a pinch point.

Stability wise, I can hold my open canoe on flat water until water is trickling in over the gunwhale, and can do the same with a sea kayak with water coming into the cockpit. The trick is to keep your head and torso 90* to the water... where your head goes, you WILL follow; it's the same with rolling a kayak, bring your head up last and the roll will work; bring it up early and it will fail. Watching my friends do freestyle, you could see how much was led by the head and torso.

I have friends who take their dogs in their open canoes on up to G2/3 white water (in one case the guy is at least a Level 4 coach...) where they reckon the dog works well as ballast. On the other hand I had friends who swore their dogs were a nightmare as they viewed it as a launch pad to get closer to the ducks... damn spaniels...

Whatever you get, please carry it upside down; I see a lot of Aussies carry them the right way up, which can lead to distortion of the hull due to the warmth we have softening the plastic, as well rain collecting in it and making it top heavy on the roof!

I've also seen people make their own strip canoe, finished with fibreglass to reinforce the underside of the hull.

 

[AndyCook]

Our current sea kayaks look like this. They have closed top deck over our legs and spray deck skirts we wear and clip over deck to stop water getting in. So no place for a dog to sit.
I had not thought about sit-on kayaks, my brother has one and does a lot of sea fishing in it. They are much wider than my conventional sea kayak and have a lot more primary stability, but when conditions get hard going e.g. Massive waves - conventional sea kayaks are better. But I would never be out in those conditions

So I was thinking an open canoe might be best
Plan to borrow a friends one to try it out first though


My sea kayak

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[Paddler Ed]

This is my Open canoe, as I was setting up for airbags (I used some foam blocks so begin with):

The airbags fill from the bow (the end nearest the yellow bucket) to just before the seat, whilst the rear air bag went all the way under the stern seat.

The end result was:

And a better picture:

Now those are probably more extreme set ups than most people would use for open canoes (I have a few friends who do more than I did... but they run full spec open boats; mine is a trad boat) those photos were taken on Halton Rapids on the River Lune nr Lancashire, which is G2 (3 in places). As can be seen, I don't have much room for water in my canoe, and know that I could paddle that out swamped (and have done so) from a G2/3 rapid.

With reference to the BA, here's a picture of me in mine:

As you can see it clears around my shoulders nicely, and is a similar fit at the front, so my shoulders move nicely.

That looks a nice sea boat Andy; I used to use some Prijon plastic tanks, never paddled a glass or carbon boat... always had plastics...

Sorry for the picture highjack but I thought it was the easiest way to explain what I mean...

 

[ModelMakerMan]

My canoe is identical to Ed's above (I also have a Venture Prospector 15). I would suggest a traditional open canoe over a sit on top as they are more versatile; they can carry more, easier to paddle solo or tandem if required and are just nicer to paddle. As you want to tandem paddle and take a dog I would say a minimum length of 15ft really. However as Ed mentioned you need to know what you are doing a little more as they are more difficult to learn the techniques of paddling and recovery. I would suggest you do some training and/or join a club se you can learn the basics and the safety stuff. Also most clubs will have boats you can borrow to try out and decide what you want to buy so you can get it right first time or maybe go to a shop and see if they have a demo fleet, you can try out some boats and then shop around on the second hand market once you know what you want.

Youll love canoeing, you get to see so much more wildlife (not too sure about the merit of that in Aus though with all the crocs etc!) as you can paddle silently and camping trips from a canoe are great. I tend to do a multi day canoe trip at least once a year, usually in the summer as in the winter I tend to do this kind of stuff in my kayak:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10156138238950603&l=548e497555
(you can also see another example of a good Buoyancy Aid (also known as PFD) as well as the rest of the safety kit too).