dryfly.ca started as a website for sharing one of my DIY projects, a stitch and glue kayak. Since then I've added several more projects including a skin-on-frame kayak, cedar strip canoe, kayak paddles, canoe paddles, building a spey rod, and an antenna for receiving OTA HDTV. I also occasionally ramble on about politics, technology, bike racing, product reviews and last but not least, our kids.
Click on the Photo Gallery to lots of my pictures in their full glory, including family, friends, boat building, travels, etc.
Tight Lines!
September 5, 2011 at 11:46 am · Filed under Sports
I guess it was inevitable after 15 years…
Most road shoes don’t have the two mounting holes for spd pedals anymore. Shimano still makes SPD pedals, but only for mountain bikes. Their road pedals are more like Look pedals now. So it looked like I would need new pedals too.
I opted for some low-end Specialized shoes that fit very well, along with some matching white Speedplay Zero pedals.
On top of this, I had to spend $100 on a UCI road license for the privialage of doing the Vancouver – Whistler Gran Fondo in front of 7000 people in the citizens category. Who knows, maybe that $100 will save me from some nasty shoulder-to-shoulder wipe out. As well, I get to suck my friends’ wheels for as long as I can since they already had Cat 3 licenses.
August 30, 2011 at 11:33 am · Filed under Interlude SOF kayak
After a few trials and errors I finally sewed the skin on my sof kayak. It only took two years of the kayak hanging under our deck in order for me to start the process. I guess I’ve been busy. A bachelors degree, half of a masters degree, and a new career will do that to a guy.
When I first started to sew the skin I had a lot of troubles. I decided to use the method show by Cape Falcon Kayak. I bought 8oz ballistic nylon from George Dyson in Bellingham, which was an interesting trip. The first step was sewing the end pockets, which was easy.
The problems started with the cutting of the nylon fabric. I put a strip of wood down the middle of the deck but i found that the nylon moved a lot while cutting. I virtually had no idea where I was cutting the cloth. Next time I do this I will tack the skin to the gunwales before cutting.
My first attempt at sewing the main seam was pretty bad.
I then made calls for help across the internet. I decided to continue with whip stitches but I would soak the nylon while sewing, thereby giving me more cloth to work with and allowing the skin to tighten immediately after drying. For the most part this worked well. I still managed to have a couple of wrinkles along the sides of the hull. I don’t know if this is common or not, and how much it will affect the paddling.
There is some bunching in the center of the cockpit, and I assume that will not be a problem for when I stitch in the coaming.
I’m still a bit hesitant in coating the kayak with polyurethane. I don’t want to spend a lot of time and money coating the kayak in case one of the following fails:
- little holes caused by the stitching, will they get sealed?
- are the wrinkles going to cause problems?
- will the seams hold?
August 29, 2011 at 8:44 am · Filed under Sports
I went on my old cycling club’s weekend ride this morning (edit: this post was drafted on Aug.29). It was kind of cool because it was almost a type of reunion ride. Several ex-club members were there along with a couple of long-term members: Michael and Heather Haywood, David “Killer” Haywood, Dave Goosen, Alan Walrond, Joe Tam and John Tolkamp and Ryan Cousineau. That was the good part.
The bad part was that the figurative wheels have come off for me. I was exhausted during the ride and had a lot of problems breathing. This has become “normal” for me over the past several weeks. I’m not sure what is wrong…
August 26, 2011 at 2:14 pm · Filed under Technology
Yesterday I had a pretty good night of viewing with my 6″ newtonian telescope. I managed to see many galaxies including M51 (the Whirlpool Galaxy), M101, M106, M31 (the Andromeda Galaxy) and a cool look at the pair of M81 and M82. The Ring Nebula (M57) wasn’t very clear but the Dumbbell Nebula (M27) was decent. M13, the fantastic globular cluster in Hercules was easy to find in the NW, and I think the highlight of the night was the double cluster NGC869 and NGC884.
from http://www.perezmedia.net/beltofvenus/archives/000524.html
This was no doubt the most productive night of viewing I’ve had, with the reason being that I’ve gotten good at using my Telrad finder. Prior to this I used star hopping, which is difficult in light pollution areas, as well as using a “push-to” system. Push-to is a play on words with go-to. Go-to systems are electronic finder systems where a person keys in the desired coordinates of where they want to look, and the go-to moves the telescope there. With the push-to, I have a compass on the mount base and a protractor on the scope itself. I then look up the azimuth/altitude coordinates of what I want to see, and adjust the telescope accordingly. It works pretty good, but relies on real-time input of object coordinates and the mount base needs to be absolutely level.
Tonight I should have a good view of Jupiter from my back deck at around midnight, so I think I will check that out. I wonder what moons I will see?
August 24, 2011 at 12:12 pm · Filed under Photos
The summer isn’t ove yet but I thought I would pictures from some of our trips.
August 22, 2011 at 11:47 am · Filed under Politics
Ahh, good old Taliban Jack. I say that with humour, as the very accusation of that nickname was so ridiculous that a person can only laugh at it.
Smilin’ Jack Layton
Hopefull Jack Layton
Next entries »
