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For my next project, to improve the trim of my Bell Seliga Tripper I plan on removing the foam from the bulkhead and replacing it with either pea gravel or lead pellets. Because the bulkhead is small I'm leaning heavily towards the lead pellets but I'm concerned they might be toxic. Any thoughts ?

I like "quiet" when I'm outdoors and try not to speak any louder than I have to for the people I'm talking to, to hear me. Sometimes I can hear peoples whole conversations that aren't part of my group. There's not much I can do about that, but when someone in my group is a loud talker and I...

My wife was recently in need of a new paddle after her current favorite was broken. This was second favorite paddle of hers broken by someone else. We had hoped to find one at the WCHA assembly, but no luck. So we stopped at Raquette River Outfitters on our way home to have a look. They carry...

I started out using an insulated mug with a lid my first few years of tripping. I loved that mug and even took it to work with me. Unfortunately a truck driver at work took it with him on his run and I never saw it again. I replaced it with a 14oz plastic cup with no lid. I have used it for...

I have given up my dream of doing a family float trip with everyone in w/c boats, and am thinning the herd. I purchased it in the spring of 2017 and used it a few weeks a year for a couple years at the cottage, and it has been stored indoors ever since, with only occasional use. The boat had...

About a week ago my lake had enough open water to go out for a paddle. I could only paddle for a few hundred yards before hitting ice. In order to reach more open water I would have to bust through ice near shore that was too thin to support the boat. The pole was the tool to do that. The next...

It's often said that w/c boats are more pleasing to paddle and it seems so to me. Is it real, or imagined, I was never sure. My first w/c boat was an OT Yankee, it has a flat bottom and probably not a great paddler but I still really liked it. With its' stiff hull and fine entry it was surely...

I'm not a fan. I'd rather "go" where no man has gone before. I can see the need in heavily traveled areas, as I'm sure they reduce the number of toilet paper piles you find at campsites, but I'm sure they can get pretty gross and unusable too. In areas that have them, is it unethical not to...

I had been perusing second hand stores for cold handle frying pans for a few years with no luck. I did get a set of three off eBay so I’m not panless, but I kept looking. I recently found this set at my local flea market. I cleaned up the little one and have been using it at home for a couple...

I recently acquired a brand new old stock Bell Seliga Tripper from Raquette River Outfitters in the Adirondacks. The owners had been holding onto this boat for their own use since Bell went out of business. Now that Tom Bell is producing them again at Northstar they were willing to part with it...

I thought this is worth sharing. I saw this over at WCHA and thought it was interesting, especially the part about floating tombstones.

Has anyone successfully been able to remove or improve the smell of an old nylon? tent?

I'm in the market for a new light weight tandem. I was looking at the Nova Craft P16 or Pal but am also interested in the Seliga. I haven't heard much about them. Any info would be appreciated, thanks.

Swanson Lake in the kenai National Wildlife Refuge is the best rainbow trout fishing lake that I’ve found. I reestablished a campsite on it that was overgrown and appeared unused for maybe twenty years. That was more than thirty years ago and up until 2020 I hadn’t missed a year. In 2020 I had...

I am going to reapply shellac and want to fill in the scratches so they won’t show. What do you use? The scratches are small and not deep. I hope those spider cracks disappear too.

After about five years I just noticed that there are holes that have been plugged in the ribs of the boat. They start one rib past the thwarts towards the stems on both ends and are on both sides of the hull. On the outside of the hull they show as nail pops. They are spaced every four ribs...

I reapplied shellac to my White Guide last winter. I used what Jerry Stelmock recommended and it went well and looked great. It doesn’t seem to be holding up as well as the original but I’m assuming it is because this is the first season the boat was outside during the summer. Previous seasons I...

I saw this guy yesterday at my place in the Poconos. He looked poisonous and I thought copperhead, but he didn’t look like the picture. Any idea what he is? He was about 18” long.

This is a very easy, cheap and useful item to make. Materials needed are the legs from some worn out pants and a 5 dollar blue camping pad from Walmart. (I think they’re 11 bucks now.) I have only made a prototype using a worn pair of jeans and some packing material, but will make another out of...

I am now taking a towel in my w/c boats in addition to the sponge that I have historically taken. I found that the towel works better than the sponge for sopping up small amounts of water and cleaning any dirt or fish slime. I also can put it on the floor where I can step on it when getting in...