The Free Olympian

[Mr.Stuart]

Re: The Free Olympian

Aw the memories......
HF goes around the world, so bring 2 maybe 3 batteries for trans.....(Your "AM" remember.)

Keep it 5 by 5 Mr. Stuart.

I wish I would have had more batteries for the camera, I failed to check the batteries before we left and got three pictures before the camera died, otherwise there would have been a lot more, we did some interesting adventures that I never got any pictures of.

It was kind of funny watching us talk with this tiny hand held, but it held out all weekend and did it's job well, Frank has an Icom 706 and we might bring it next time and try out another antenna, or run a long wire between the trees, I built a 2 meter J-pole for the boat, but we didn't have it with us this trip, but it has worked well in the past, I drop the base of it into one of the fishing pole holders and it stays put while the boat is under way, it just takes a while to get used to the funny looks you get when people see you on the river with these antennas

 

[Pierutrus]

Re: The Free Olympian

How far did you get from camp, radio wise? Longest contact?

 

[Mr.Stuart]

Re: The Free Olympian

How far did you get from camp, radio wise? Longest contact?

Frank was running the radio, I was paying more attention to Sollamon, but I think it was about 75 to 100 miles, he was trying to hit repeaters, then talking to some people simplex, I wasn't paying that close of attention to it. I talked a little but in the evening to a repeater that was about 50 miles away from our location and was able to hit it full quieting, doing that wiith 2 meters isn't as impressive as it would be doing it with HF, but I don't own an HF rig at the moment, that may come with a license upgrade, right now I'm just a tech, Frank is a general I think

 

[Mr.Stuart]

Re: The Free Olympian

next weekend we're taking the boat and going steel head fishing, I'll be sure to remember battries for the camera on the next trip, we're going to take a co-worker that fishes a lot and knows how to catch them, he says we will catch fish, so this should be a good trip.

I posted in another thread a question about towing a raft behind this boat so we can put the camping gear in it instead of putting it in the boat, might be able to bring more gear on the camping trips that way.

I would think as long as I'm not going to be running the boat a great distance, towing a 12 foot raft full of camping gear behind it should't present a problem, so that may be the next thing we try

 

[Shizzy]

Re: The Free Olympian

I looked up the laws for boating and ages in Oregon and it looks like you can't operate a boat under the age of 12 here, and age 12 to 15 you have to have a boaters card, and be under the supervision of an adult that holds a boaters card, age 16 and older, you fall under the adult classification.

I have no idea what the laws are like in Minnesota, I know his cousins that aren?t much older then he is, have their own boats. So I don't know if it would do him any good or not to send the boat to Minnesota when he goes home.

http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/safety/boatwater/index.html

Check that out. lots of info on the MN DNR website.

http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/index.html

 

[External Combustion]

Re: The Free Olympian

"Towing" a raft with your boat should present no problem. I would "tow" it in tandem though, that is lashed side by side with a couple of fenders between. I think you will find it easier to handle and you won't have to worry about tangling the tow rope in the prop.

I used to do this all of the time when I was a kid. I was told you could cruise in any boat that would not sink when you stepped into it. I believed them and it worked. You just have to think outside of the box and it sounds as though you are well on your way to some happy cruising. It is great family fun and will draw you closer together.

I have never sold the old Appleby 14 footer that Dad got me. Each day that I walk out into the pasture and see it, it reminds me of the good days we had in it together. It is still a good fishing boat and still creates good memories.

Have fun this weekend. May you have good wind and following seas!

 

[Mr.Stuart]

Re: The Free Olympian

Well, I must be doing something right, I had a talk with Soll's mom today, he doesn't want to go home, he said he wanted to stay until the last possible minute, so we agreed to extend his stay another month, so he's dancing with joy this afternoon, so it looks like we're going to be able to get in a few more camping and fishing trips then originally thought.

I also wanted to thank you for the Minnesota link, I'll look into to that and see what the laws are for kids and boats back there.

A few questions that come to mind are storage, where would he keep it? And how would he get it to the lakes? And who would be going with him? So it's a lot more involved then just shipping a boat back to Minnesota, and I'm not very comfortable letting an 8 year old run a boat by him self, I just think that's to young, he'd have to have an adult go with him, and adult that knows what their doing, all is fine and dandy while he's here but sending him home with a boat, leaves a LOT of questions, plus, shipping it back to Minnesota would probably cost way more then that little boat is worth.

what's your thoughts on my thinking?