I choose Stearns inflatable for her portability, speed, and stability (wife can't swim).
To inflate, I use double action hand pump that cut down pumping time by half. It takes about three to five minutes to pump. It is considered done when the kayak become firm to the touch. Stearns kayak needs some forcible air pressure to achieve the required firmness so that she can track almost like a hard-shell. Battery operated pump (too weak) or air compressor (to strong) are both not recommended. The finished size is:
One-person kayak measures: 37" x 116".
Two-person kayak measures: 43-1/2" x 140".
Like you said, this kayak is also good for marsh, creek, or cave exploration, wild life/bird watching, and things of that sort. I think my wife enjoys the kayak as much as, if not more, our M-15 boat.
Fair wind,
Fuh-Shing Pan, M-15 #120, at Glendora/ Los Angeles
From: "William B. Riker" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: For and about Montgomery Sailboats<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "'For and about Montgomery Sailboats'"<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: RE: M_Boats: Photos of M-15 #120 at Catalina
Date: Mon, 12 Jul 2004 18:04:34 -0400
Hi Fu-Shing,
The Stearns inflatable in an intriguing alternative. A couple of questions.
How do you inflate it? Battery powered pump? How large and heavy is the
deflated package?
I can't say I've ever really needed a dingy to get ashore, but know it will
happen some day. It would be great for exploring marshy areas, creeks, etc.
I have been interested in having a hard kayak, but don't want to tow one and
sure can't store one on deck.
Most of my cruising is done with other M-boaters on the Chesapeake. We usually raft together and pile onto someone's M15 for the ride to dinner.
Thanks, Bill Riker M15 - #184
-----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Fuh-Shing Pan Sent: Monday, July 12, 2004 12:53 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: RE: M_Boats: Photos of M-15 #120 at Catalina
Hi, Randy,
Glad that you enjoyed my humble writing on the three-day trip to Catalina.
We had a total of four(4) inflatables put in but only two remained in
service. The other two were pulled out by their owner due to their
deficiency. Captain Howie's Sea Hawk III and my Stearns Inflatable Kayak
remained in service for the entire stay in Catalina. The Stearns kayak
tracks pretty good with decent speed, enev under windy condition, and is
very hard to tip over. It stores in a carry bag which, while under way, was
kept in the cabin near the bow to counter balance the outboard. I was able
to inflate it in the cockpit by placing it abeam with two paddles underneath
for initial support. The one I have is a two-seater kayak so that my wife can also enjoy it. When paddle solo, the front seat service as additional storage. It might be a little pricy, but it is worth every penny. I found the best price on internet: http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/product/horizontal-item.jhtml?id =0013156013584a&navAction=jump&navCount=0&indexId=&podId=0013156&catalogCode =OE&parentId=&parentType=&rid=&_DARGS=%2Fcabelas%2Fen%2Fcommon%2Fcatalog%2Fi tem-link.jhtml.1_A&_DAV=search&
>From: RandyG <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Reply-To: For and about Montgomery
>Sailboats<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>To: For and about Montgomery Sailboats
><[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: RE: M_Boats: Photos of M-15 #120 at Catalina
>Date: Fri, 9 Jul 2004 16:39:31 -0700
>
>Fuh-Shing Pan,
>
>Enjoyed reading about your Catalina sail. What inflatable did you and your
>group find worked best? It sounds like you all carried your inflatable
>deflated and then inflated them when you arrived. I am curious to know what
>inflatable worked well. I have a great inflatable dinghy but it is too big
>to reasonably stow inside my M-15. And creates too much of a drag to tow it
>behind.
>
>Randy
>M-15 # 407
>
>
>
>From: Fuh-Shing Pan
>Sent: Fri 7/9/2004 2:04 PM
>To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Subject: RE: M_Boats: Photos of M-15 #120 at Catalina
>
>
>Sorry, Steve,
>I did not get your message until this morning. I was out of town for
>several days.
>Yes, I am on the list and lurking around for a year or so trying to soak up
>as much information as I can from all good salty sailors of Montgomery
>boat.
>I searched but failed to find any active Montgomery group in so. Ca. I
>joined S. California Potter's Group in May so that I can learn from its
>old-salt sailors and beef up my confidence. This Potter group has an active
>yearly schedule that includes day-sailing and couple of coastal adventures
>to outlying islands. I tagged along Potter's June adventure to Catalina
>Island to self-test my sailing skill outside the protective Long Beach
>Harbor for the 1st time and to check if I would get sea sick on a long
>trip. Both tests, to my surprise, went along quick smoothly. Following is
>some recap of the Catalina trip.
>
>Trip day one: Launched and departed at the Alamitos Bay/ Long Beach at
>6:00am. Except the father/son team from Utah, we were all single-handling.
>We motored half way to Catalina and motor-sailed the rest of the trip. Due
>to balky motor that plagued some of the skippers (total nine boats
>participated) for the whole trip and steady head wind during the second
>half of the trip, this trip not only took 2 hours longer than the expected
>6 hours passage but also forced a change of destination. Instead of the
>targeted Catalina Harbor on the south side of the island, all but two of us
>headed for the Two Harbor/ Isthmus Cove on the north side. Other than the
>mishap of the motors, the outward trip was uneventful until we came across
>a huge tanker in the shipping lane unmercifully claiming her right of way.
>The wake waves generated by the long-gone tanker were quite a shocker to a
>novice sailor like me. The approaching wake wave looked more like a small
>tsunami with sporadic breaking white cap on top. Every Potter skippers
>changed their course and headed into the wave at a slight angle. I followed
>suit and, while crossing the wave crest, felt my M-15 airborne for more
>than a split second and landed with a big solid splash behind the wave.
>What a thrill! After mooring at Two Harbor, everyone brought out their
>inflatable dingy/kayak and went on shore for a hearty sunset barbecue.
>Speaking about inflatable, do not waste your money on those cheap toys.
>Some of us learned a good lesson from using them.
>
>Trip day two: we had a lunch gathering and exchanged ideas/experiences and
>other heated issues on our living planet. After the lunch, I walked across
>the narrow flat land connecting Catalina Harbor/Two Harbor to see the other
>side that I had never seen. The scenery are quite nice especially when I
>reached the higher land overlooking the entire harbor and the Pacific
>ocean. I finished the rest of the day enjoying kayaking, swimming, on-shore
>shower, and on-boat cooked noodle. I slept the second night with continuous
>dreaming of a gentle rock-n-roll.
>
>Trip day three: After breakfast, I paddle ashore to deflate my kayak and
>summoned a water taxi to take me back to M-15. We departed around 9:30am.
>One of our potter-15 failed to get motor running and was towed by a fellow
>potter-19. Again, we motored-sailed halfway and then quit motor and
>wind-wind all the way back to Alamitos by 4:00pm. On the way, I try to rig
>main/jib sheet for autopilot without success. During some point, I even
>experienced an accidental jibe that surely shook me up.
>
>To summarize: the trip was successful and very much enjoyable. Distance
>traveled was 36 miles to and 31 miles from, according to GPS. Peak wind
>speed was estimated between 10-15 knots. No worry necessary for the ebb
>and flow of tide. For anyone interested in our Catalina trip, a slide show
>was made available by our beloved Captain Howie at
>http://www.howies.net/socalpotter/ and click on the "past event/ Catalina
>June 2004"
>
>Fair wind
>Fuh-Shing Pan M-15 #120
>
>
>
>>From: Steve R. <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>>Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED], For and about Montgomery
>>Sailboats<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>>To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>>Subject: M_Boats: Photos of M-15 #120 at Catalina
>>Date: Tue, 6 Jul 2004 09:31:58 -0700 (PDT)
>>
>>There are some nice photos of Fuh-Shing on the Catalina Island cruise with
>>the SoCal P-boats: >> >>http://howies.net/socalpotter/catlina22004/03.htm >>http://howies.net/socalpotter/catlina22004/10.htm >>http://howies.net/socalpotter/catlina22004/17.htm >>http://howies.net/socalpotter/catlina22004/19.htm >>http://howies.net/socalpotter/catlina22004/32.htm >> >>Is Fuh-Shing on the list? If so, could you give us a trip recap? >> >>Thanks, >> >>steve >> >>Steve R. >>M-15 #119 >>Lexington, KY >> >>_______________________________________________ >>http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/montgomery_boats > >_________________________________________________________________ >FREE pop-up blocking with the new MSN Toolbar get it now! >http://toolbar.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200415ave/direct/01/ > > >_______________________________________________ >http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/montgomery_boats >_______________________________________________ >http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/montgomery_boats
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