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Am I too hardcore?

Too hardcore? Admiring the Grummans at Disneyland is the easiest question on the Hardcore exam.

When you cross a bridge over some little creek or stream do you b*tch to yourself if the sides are too tall to allow you to see the water? Extra points if the mental b*tching included the F bomb before words Road Engineers or Jersey Barriers.

When you see a vehicle with roof racks, ahead or behind travelling in your direction, do you slow down or speed up in order to pull side by side, have a look and wave to the driver? Bonus credit if you know who it is at a distance, just from their boats.

When you see canoes on a roof rack do you immediately try to identify the make and model? Partial credit for spoken identification, even Two poorly secured big box SOTs on pool noodles, no bow lines, headed our way at your twelve is worth a few extra points.

Do you critique passersby tie down methodology? Bonus points if muttering out loud, additional points for maneuvering to stay well away from the scarily unsecured examples.

At any popular or populated landing is your long suffering significant other demonstratively rolling their eyes while you chat up the owner of some interesting canoe instead of paddling away?

Are you stupidly excited when you arrive at a put in and see a friends vehicle already parked there? Bonus if you did not know they would be there at the same time, nor they you, and they have already paddled off on their own trip

Have you ever have stopped to help a stranger properly tie down a boat? Or, my favorite, secure a, GoodLordnobowline bent upright on the highway rooftopped mattress about to take flight.

If you have roadside taught some stanger a truckers hitch, made them demonstrate it, and donated rope to the cause, you earn an instant pass, no need to take the rest of the test.

What are the rest of the questions on that Hardcore CanoeHead exam?
 
Well we get the FL resident price and go home at night. Taking the wife to a theme park every there years or so is a ptice you must pay if you live in central Fl. This buys a lot of good will towards river time

Mike have passed all the above test except tying down a matress for some one.
 
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Mike have passed all the above test except tying down a matress for some one.

In mattress test has usually been initiated by watching folks outside some bedding store attempting to granny knot tie down their purchase with the twine the store provided, sans any potential legal Do it like this demonstration responsibility from the sales staff. Once seen on the highway I try to keep my distance.

I keep crappy Home Depot give away rope in the truck for just that parking lot purpose. I have enough of a junk rope supply to last a lifetime, even with foisting off the too short pieces hidden in DougDs car.

Another Hard Core question.

Have you been Hey, whatcha doing? caught by a boats owner while wandering around, peering at the lines and outfitting of a roof racked canoe at a launch or campsite area?

Bonus points if you did not notice that they were still sitting in the steamed up windows drivers seat the whole time. More if they proved to be one handshake away.
 
Or talking to your (female) neighbor about her solo boat (Mohawk version of a DY Special? Don't remember her name!) when your girlfriend drives up with a scowl on her face.
 
Mike "If you have roadside taught some stranger a truckers hitch, made them demonstrate it, and donated rope to the cause, you earn an instant pass, no need to take the rest of the test."
does spending 1/2 hour in the crappy Tire parking lot teaching a newbie how to find underhood points to add a bowline, and running hitches through the windows, all while the wife is glaring at you, because her tub of rocky road is melting count????
 
Done all the above except the neighbor and the mattress thing. Did catch an unsecured mattress in the windshield once though....
 
I've squatted down and stared at little rivulets of water going downhill from a garden hose, trying to figure out the best routes to run the teeny-weeny "rapids".
 
I've squatted down and stared at little rivulets of water going downhill from a garden hose, trying to figure out the best routes to run the teeny-weeny "rapids".

Glenn, I do not know if this was common place, but back in the early 90s one of the local canoe clubs had a miniature artificial whitewater run, complete with two inch kayaks, rocks and eddies and a recirculation pump. This was right around the time the Dickerson WW course was being designed, which may have been the inspiration for that model.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dickerson_Whitewater_Course

The kids loved it at club meetings, and so did the adults.

We have done miniature boat races on tiny inch deep creeks with DIY bark and leaf boats. Especially enjoyable at night with lighted birthday candles affixed amidships. Again, kid and adults, all yelling Arrh, I am stuck in an eddy and Oh no, a capsize!

Hardcore question number 12

Have you purchased a vehicle influenced in large part by roof rack ability? Bonus points if you calculated and measured for a two canoe spread, overhang and roof clearance. Extra credit if you really miss rain gutters.

Question number 13

Have you purchased a vehicle and immediately installed eye bolts, under hood straps or carabineer attachements for easier tie down points? Bonus points if your significant other caught you drilling holes in a brand new car and gave you a look of silent resignation.
 
12 and 13 - check. No holes drilled, but I still own some gutter mounts....just in case sanity returns.

You know how dogs alert and obsess on squirrels? I do that with any video of moving water.
 
We have a ditch running by the barn and one summer we had a real gully washer of a rainstorm. I broke out the RiverJammer 12' and poled up it just for the heck of it! As for question 12, I dearly miss rain gutters on vehicles and yes I buy a car based on carrying a canoe(s) more on how tall the car is cause ya know I'm short. I have 2 setups for my rack, one that holds a single and then a second that hold 2 canoes but dang I gotta put some pads on the under side as I have almost knocked myself out getting outta the car and smashed my head on the front one. A good friend almost wet his pants watching me do this once and that was the one that drew blood.

dougd
 
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I've been staring at the 20' circle of open water around my pond bubbler and thinking?? Spring paddling fever I call it. I am wearing my canoeing shirts, studying ADK maps, I ordered a new boat-yes got it. After looking at one in a parking lot, I searched and bought a ford focus wagon as my canoe hauler. I installed straps the first day(it was winter) and drove to the rack dealer in a snowstorm for adapters for my yakama racks. A fellow paddler friend had racks WELDED to his roof! I have even considered a trip to Florida to paddle.
sick Turtle
 
I've squatted down and stared at little rivulets of water going downhill from a garden hose, trying to figure out the best routes to run the teeny-weeny "rapids".

I do this too. I also watch the water flow on the little creek by my home. And I hate it when the sides of the bridge are too high to see the water. I do stop strangers in the grocery store parking lot to ask about the boats on their cars.But I have never stopped to help a stranger with tie downs. Mostly men are always trying to help me, and not always usefully. But having said that, I now have a 2002 Grand Marquis that I have to get a canoe rack on. Quite a puzzle as no ready made racks seem to fit it. I may be stuck with pool noodles and tie downs. :-( When I bought it, it didn't occur to me that not all cars were suitable for carrying canoes. What were these designers thinking of? What good is a car that can't carry a canoe?

Erica
 
Bought a Ford Focus wagon my self just for the long roofline/spread of the racks.Did not buy new. Bought what I refur to as low mialage predented. Put rain gutters on the truck cap. Every time I use the quick an easy backers and carpet covered 2 x 4 wonder why they can't put something like that on every car.

Turtle come on down to Fl. Every thing is just about to go green. Buds on the trees are opening.

Erica to get a rear rack on your car try a hitch and what Yackima calls a goal post. There is also this little clamp that you put on the end of the goal post to keep it from wobbling in the hitch.

Any moving water is fair game to practice reading water.

Guess I need to mark the thread "SOLVED". As some how around here I seem to be normal.
 
Bought a Ford Focus wagon my self just for the long roofline/spread of the racks.Did not buy new.

I have looked at those Ford wagons, and at the loooong flat roofline on the Ford Flex.

Every time I use the quick an easy backers and carpet covered 2 x 4 wonder why they can't put something like that on every car.

I suspect it comes down to eeeking out every bit of aerodynamics and MPG. I would happily trade a 1 or 2 MPG penalty of well affixed factory rain gutters. By the time I get a couple boats on the roof I doubt the rain gutters matter much.



Guess I need to mark the thread "SOLVED". As some how around here I seem to be normal.

Wait, the test is not over yet.

When you see an advertisement for some product, vehicle or Viagra, featuring a roof racked boat speeding into the wilderness, do you immediately critique the boat, or cringe at the lack of bow and stern lines? Or note that it is a cheap big box SOT atop a forty thousand dollar SUV?

When mom, dad and the two kids are shown happily paddling away in an overloaded canoe do you note the Both Hands on the Shaft paddling technique and wonder why the production company could not at least have hired a paddling instructor for a day. Or Googled How to hold a canoe paddle?
 
Hardcore question number 12

Have you purchased a vehicle influenced in large part by roof rack ability? Bonus points if you calculated and measured for a two canoe spread, overhang and roof clearance. Extra credit if you really miss rain gutters.

I get all 3 points here. Bought a new truck this past spring but only after making sure my current 2 boat rack set up would fit without taking it all apart and re-adjusting everything (I'm basically the lazy type).

I still have the rack I got to fit my '71 Plymouth Duster. Hauled my shiny new Grumman 17J on it (secure front tie downs were an absolute must!). If gutters ever come back, I'm all set and ready.
 
Hardcore question number 12

Have you purchased a vehicle influenced in large part by roof rack ability? Bonus points if you calculated and measured for a two canoe spread, overhang and roof clearance. Extra credit if you really miss rain gutters.
And front wing window vents
 
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