Big Tuna in the Adirondacks!

7.15.2012

We had a great week in the park and I got to play with the boat when others weren’t stealing it from me.  In all honesty we did do some fishing but the highlight of this trip was using the Big Tuna for some good old family fun.  It was really cool to see how versatile this boat is and I immensely enjoyed sharing it. We really put the boat through its paces this week.  Face time seat time, Tandem Paddle, What is the real Capacity, fishing, and more…..

Facetime seating

I managed to convince my brother and his girlfriend to take the boat out for a paddle.  This only took a little prodding after she found out that she didn't have to paddle!  The spent about an hour out on the water the first day and really had a good time.  I think the first thing his girlfriend asked when they got back was “how much are these, this would be a great boat for us”  They spent many hours cruising around the lake over the week and my brother who doesn't have much paddling experience commentated several times on how great the rudder system was.  The more I use the boat, the more I appreciate how simple yet functional the rudder system is.  It is one of my favorite parts of the boat.

Paddling with Kids

I had the most fun on this trip just piling on the kids and taking them for a paddle.  They absolutely loved it and I actually found that the best way to do it was to put the seat in the solo position and let the kids sit on the floor in the front or behind the seat.

This picture is me with my son and nephew.  They had a great time exploring and looking for turtles, frogs and getting some close up looks at loons.  The most exciting thing on this trip was getting to see a few military jets on a training exercise.  The boys were amazed watching them practice stalls and other maneuvers.  It’s amazing what you can see when you are practically in the middle of nowhere.

Stand-up Paddling

No one believed me that you could actually stand-up paddle this boat.  They saw me standing and fishing and though I was insane.  After a quick demo my brother took it out and went for a nice paddle.  His comment on return was that I needed to buy a stand up paddle.  The kayakers in the background of this shot were bewildered at what they were seeing.

Tandem Paddling

So I finally realize why tandems are called divorce boats!  I took one of my other brothers out for a tandem paddle to see how the boat handled.  The first thing I noticed was that my brother was a horrible paddler and it was impossible to stay in sync with him resulting in banging paddles, etc.   After a few “on-the-water” lessons, things went much more smoothly.  I’m not sure those lessons would have gone as well with my wife.

Bottom line is the boat paddles very well with two adult males in it.  It was relatively fast, handled well and was very stable.  We probably combine for about 440lbs and had plenty of room left in the scuppers.  I was once again pretty impressed and I actually thought the boat paddled a little better with the extra weight in the front in comparison to my normal 40lb companion.

So how much weight can this thing handle?

After seeing how well it handled my brother and I we decided to do a load test safely attached to the dock. +1 more adult male to bring us up to about 620lbs.  Boat is about maxed out; water is very close to the tops of the scuppers still relatively stable with everyone seated.   Add a few kids and in comes the water and the stability becomes a little sketchy.  So I would say that you may get a little beyond the 575lb capacity rating if your load is evenly distributed but that is pretty dead on for functional use.

Fishing

We actually did fish a little this week.  I have been coming to this lake since I was very young and have great memories of brook trout fishing with a few limit days.  Unfortunately a few years ago yellow perch started showing up and the trout have been harder to come by.  We did get a few trout and too many small perch to count.  Here is a shot of me and my co-fisherman heading out for a sunset attempt.

Moving Forward

This trip was followed by an amazing week of Bass Fishing in Maine over the 4^th.  Hopefully next week I’ll get that up.  I’m thinking a fitting title will be, “Yes you can turtle a Big Tuna, and a few other things I learned in Maine”.  You can use your own imagination until I get it up.