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  1. yknpdlr

    Great Lakes ice coverage - Winter 2026

    When I was in the Air Force as a KC-135 tanker air refueling navigator, on one of our missions out of Eielson AFB, I was chosen as lead navigator of a winter flight of six other tankers leading as many RC-135 reconnaissance intelligence gathering aircraft. I felt a great responsibility to...
  2. yknpdlr

    Obsolete Stuff

    For the five Yukon River races I have been on (both the 440 miler YRQ and 1000 miler Y1K), I planned and plotted the entire route using Google Earth with GPS turn waypoints to transfer to my two Garmin GPS 60csX units used during the race. Many river channels can and do change significantly...
  3. yknpdlr

    Obsolete Stuff

    This was my air navigation computer. it is a circular slide rule, among other flight calculation tools. The reverse side is used for wind drift angle calculations. I still have a couple of them with about 2000 flight hours of use on them, Definitely now obsolete as far as I am concerned.
  4. yknpdlr

    Obsolete Stuff

    I will never consider a compass as obsolete. it is my primary navigation tool and will remain so, even though at times I do carry and use a GPS ( for SAR incident missions, canoe race navigation on a new complex river route). I consider the journey itself of my backcountry navigation skills...
  5. yknpdlr

    Back Country Skiing

    During the past two winters the extra heavy lake effect snow has defined, my XC skiing, when I have time away from other activities. It focusses on skiing 2 miles into a hunting camp I inherited from my father several years ago in the heart of the Tug Hill Plateau of NYS lake effect snow...
  6. yknpdlr

    Budget Permethrin

    Gordon's comes in several sizes. You only need the 8 oz bottle that will last a very long time with dilution. personally I do not dilute it as wead a 0.5%. There must be some kind of domestic animal farm supply outlet in Alaska. I know for a fact that you have plenty of bugs that you may want...
  7. yknpdlr

    Budget Permethrin

    At Tractor Supply, you can buy an 8 oz bottle of permethrin for $12.99. Was just $9.99 a couple of years ago when I last checked. it is a 10% concentration solution. Compare with how much a 0.5% can of Sawyer costs and how long it lasts. Just mix the Gordons wiith water at a ratio of 19:1 for...
  8. yknpdlr

    Obsolete Stuff

    i have one of those triangular scales, as well as a couple of slide manual rules. I did not much have need to use the scale as intended, but I could not have lived in college without my faithful slide rule in the early 1970's. Within a short time, 4 function calculators became available, but at...
  9. yknpdlr

    So what exactly is everyone up to in their non-boating hours?

    Where my cabin is on a small Adirondack lake, the native aquatic vegetation is growing and expanding wildly. As a lake association board member, I created a lake management committee to investigate vegetation controls. But the state DEC has recently instituted a number of new very restrictive...
  10. yknpdlr

    Safest places to canoe in the USA after a nuclear war

    From what I said, why would you ever think that? The Strategic triad capable of delivering nukes consists of Aircraft, ICBMs and submarines. 'we had representatives of the first two delivery systems in this thread, I was only looking for the third if we had one.
  11. yknpdlr

    Safest places to canoe in the USA after a nuclear war

    So we've got two legs of the Srategic Triad repesented here. Do we have any "Boomers" wearing the dolphin pin online here?
  12. yknpdlr

    Pack canoeists, do you use portage thwarts or yokes?

    That's the way i do it with a heavier canoe, C2 or larger when using my knupac. With a clamp-in yoke, I'd rather not subject the stern deck of my lighteweight canoes to grinding in the dirt or pavement with that method. They are just as easy to do a single lift from ground to shoulders. With a...
  13. yknpdlr

    Happens every year

    Count the calendar weeks until the Vernal Equinox, just a couple days more than 6 weeks to the first day of spring! What a coincidence. Phil is right again, as good as any weather observer. Happens every year. No lack of woodchucks here in CNY. Every young boy's first .22 target. Farmers are...
  14. yknpdlr

    Safest places to canoe in the USA after a nuclear war

    As with Offutt (SAC home base), Ellsworth, Whiteman (home of the B2 bomber), FE Warren, Malmstrom, and Minot Air Force bases ("why not Minot? Freezin's the reason"). These are Bomber, Tanker air refueler, and ICBM missile launch bases. They are situated far from the coastline to provide maximum...
  15. yknpdlr

    Safest places to canoe in the USA after a nuclear war

    When I was in the Air Force, flying with the Strategic Air Command (specializing in nuclear delivery systems), we were definitely a target at our base not far from the southwestern corner of the Adirondacks. We knew that not only was the base itself a target, but so was the area several miles...
  16. yknpdlr

    Pack canoeists, do you use portage thwarts or yokes?

    I'll add that with the bolt-in yoke method, I use a thin line tied from bow to stern with a quick release clip at my hand, the line being slack enough for me to grab it at my hip. This allows me to control tip of the canoe for going up or down slopes. Sometimes the quick release is needed...
  17. yknpdlr

    Pack canoeists, do you use portage thwarts or yokes?

    it does work, but the glued in block is too thick (high). The clamp installed itself at a steep angle tended to not be secure and slide off the block. So I had to fabricate small wood spacer blocks to put through the clamp bolt to extend the depth of the metal clamp to the level of the block. it...
  18. yknpdlr

    Pack canoeists, do you use portage thwarts or yokes?

    i have posted the photo of me carying my Hornbeck with a Knupak many times and will not repeat tha here. But i do have a photo of the knupak breing mounted on a custom bent yoke temporarily held at the canoe's CG by with bolts and finger tight nuts through the wood gunwales. Time to...
  19. yknpdlr

    Your three favorite pieces of comfort or luxury canoe camping gear

    Unlesss I am in a relaxed campsite situation, I cannot wear a bug shirt during heavy exercise activity. it is just too hot to wear. Contantly moving is my best bug defense. Other than its lack of ventilation,, it is just too annoying to bushwhack without it getting caught in every branch I pass by.
  20. yknpdlr

    So, what old item do you still use?

    When I started racing in the Adirondack 90-mile canoe race in the 1990's, At first I used a beautiful Grey Owl wood bent shaft paddle. It served me well in several years of racing. I still have it but it is now more of a museum piece since I soon discovered carbon bents and the G.E.. is a bit...
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