Xtracycle + Kayak + Kids

Yesterday I was sitting on my back porch looking at Craigslist on my phone and got the bug to look at kayaks. I used to have a Dagger Blackwater 13.5T that I sold to fund my Cross Check. One of the reasons I sold it was because it was just too big. It was close to 80 pounds and 13.5 feet long... It made it quite a pain to get it anywhere. After I sold it, I always thought I might want to get back into the water with a smaller boat that would fit my needs a little better.

Well, back to Craigslist...

The random notion to check was all about research. I have no money. Angie and I both just got new iPhone 4's since our current phones were three years old and starting to crap out on us. There was no option to buy anything. But sometimes looking is fun.

But sometimes looking can be serendipitous as well. The first ad listed said, "Trade my 11' kayak for your iPod." I clicked and immediately realized this person may be interested in my first generation iPhone that I had just replaced. A few quick exchanges of emails and here we are.

Kayak, paddle, spray skirt... all for the exchange of my old phone that was going to sit in my top drawer for who knows how long. The boat is a no-name mystery. But everything looked to be in good shape with plenty of life in it to get me back in the water (and technically for zero cost).

Naturally, I wanted to see how I was going to haul this thing via bicycle. I thought about (and have seen pics) strapping it to the side of the Wideloaders of the Xtracycle. I think it would work, but I'm not sure it's really necessary to work so hard to balance the load. What I had in mind required no extra equipment or much work.

I thought I could fold down the kid trailer, lay the boat on top, then strap the bow of the boat to the bike.

It worked flawlessly.

Weight distribution and tethering strategies could be slightly refined. But overall, this is an easy solution. Once everything is fine tuned, this thing is headed to the water. My Saturday ride was about one mile short of hitting the river. It looks like I'll be finishing that journey shortly.

As always, the kids were helping me all along the way. When we were finished, they wanted to take a little joy ride. Naturally, we had a blast with it.


new kayak from Derrick Purvis on Vimeo.

(By the way, I realize they're not wearing helmets. We are helmet people. This was an impulse ride about 15 yards down the street and back. Please, moms, don't yell at me.)

Get out there.