Length: 10′
Beam: 30.5″
Depth: 16″
Cockpit: Open
Weight: 42.5 lbs.
Max Capacity: 325 lbs.
Hull Material: Ram-X
Front Hatch: Quick Lock Hatch
Flush Mount Rod Holders: 2
Seat: Adjustable Padded Backrest With Seat Cushion
Foot Rest: Adjustable Footpegs
02 May 19:
Skipper pushing the Fun Button on her rechristened kayak SACAGAWEA.
Paddled about 2 miles, light breeze. Saw stingray, redfish and mullet. A few osprey.
27 Nov 19:
Took out CLARK and SACAGAWEA to chase dolphin. They swam faster than we could paddle.
06 Apr 20:
Paddled 30 minutes, watched osprey.
12 Apr 20:
The kayaks were jealous because SCOUT went out for a paddle, so we took them out for a half an hour. We were sore from paddling SCOUT the day before, so the kayakfest was more of a stretching exercise.
The kayaks are Pelican Premier Icons, 10 footers, they have held up well being stored against a tree in the back yard. Sit on top with adjustable foot rests, easy to get in and out of. Light weight, our lightest boats.
09 Jun 20:
We have had our kayaks 7 years and they get exposed to a lot of sunlight, it was time to replace a few of the carry handles and the seats as they were UV damaged. The seatt back zippers failed and the covers were faded. The handle webbing tore away on one end, leaving a weak handle attached on only one end. We were pleased to find that the manufacturer Pelican has a nice Parts tab on their website so we ordered new comfort carry handles, seat bottoms and seat backs. The parts arrived and they came with the installation hardware, a choice of 3/16th inch closed end rivets or screws.
Skipper suggested leaving the old hardware in place and drilling new holes, but I of course wanted to drill out the old rivets and get rid of the old seat back panel. The first rivet was drilled cleanly but the second got chowdered up and left a hole that was too big for the rivet. I figured out later I could have left the old plastic seat back tab in place, maybe trimmed down to just the small base, with the oscillating multitool, and installed the rivets right through it. I ended up drilling two new holes just above the old holes and sealing the old holes with 3M 4000 Marine Sealant.
The other seat I was more careful and drilled the rivets cleanly. For the seat strap attachments on one boat I drilled the old rivets and on the other I cut the old webbing at the attachment point and installed the new strap right next to it. Then for the handles I cut off the old webbing and attached them right next to the old attachment points. 4 new carry handles spread out over 2 kayaks.
The new seat bottom gel is not as thick as the old seat, but it was not worn and we use our own extra cushions anyway. The RamX material that the kayak is made of has held up amazingly well.
We like the Premium Icon because the foot rests are adjustable, and we have other kayakers in the family who are tall. We also like the high visibility yellow hull. New carry handle on the bow, makes dragging the kayak down to the beach easy.
Skipper's boat SACAGAWEA has pink duct tape tabs on the bow and stern, her pedals usually don't get moved. On the other boat CLARK we have marked pedal positions with Sharpie so they can be reset quickly.
13 Jun 20:
We took out SACAGAWEA and CLARK to test out the new seats and carry handles. They didn't sink so I guess I drilled the new holes in the right spot. Skipper still likes her Greenland style paddle, light weight and she scoots around with ease.
We enjoy the fact that the kayaks only weigh 42 pounds, they are easy to move around. The new seat back has a little more lumbar molded into it, we found them more comfortable on our backs than the original seats.
18 Jun 20:
...okay, she didn't run aground, she was just beaching her kayak. Keeping an eye out for marauding squirrels, they were on the hunt for peanuts.
19 Jun 20:
30 minute paddle. Found out that paddling backwards is a great triceps exercise. Oranges for breakfast on the boat.
21 Jun 20:
Father's Day paddle. Taunted by small dolphin. Saw one at first, then three. They circled us, we think they were making a bubble net but got bored. 40 minutes, light wind from the NNW, 75F with water temp 78F.
06 Jul 20:
30 minute paddle in our Pelican Premium Icon kayaks SACAGAWEA and CLARK. Skipper backs off the beach using her Greenland style paddle. She likes its light weight and the handle is just the right length for her that a lot of long, thin paddle ends up in the water for the power stroke.
The new seats and handles have been holding up great.
28 Aug 21:
We scouted out a new local spot on the James River, turns out it will be a great place to beach launch the smaller boats and it also has a boat ramp and docks. Our 5x10 Carry On utility trailer is the perfect size for the 2 kayaks Clark and SACAGAWEA, I launched Skipper then came back to get my kayak with our new Railblaza C-Tug, a versatile cart that is going to work great for the kayaks and canoe. (Small Boats Magazine C-Tug article).
Posing for article photos.
Skipper floating around the area where her ancestors wandered over 400 years ago.
The kayaks are now river certified. One more accomplishment today was testing out the layout of our boat yard, we hoped to have room to pull into the yard and make a U-turn with the tow vehicle and trailer(s), so far so good. One of the appealing aspect of small boats is the ability to keep them at your home, on the side of the house, or in a parking spot, garage, Sunfish Shack etc...They are easy to maintain and work on, and easy to transport. We spent many years with 2 small sailboats, and when we found a property close to the water and with a little more room, we expanded from a flight of 2 boats to our current Armada of 15.
Small boating is our hobby, with the subset hobby being restoration of the physical craft. At our new Station we will be shifting focus a bit to the beneficial aspects of restoration of the soul, through the use of these boats. We have new territory to explore, and many ways to get there. And we'd like to hear about your adventures.
05 Sep 21:
We had 2 broken carry straps on our Pelican Icon kayaks so I ordered replacement parts from Pelican months ago, they arrived, we moved and I actually found them in our large pile of boat bits.
i had replaced the other 2 straps before, and found it was best to leave the old strap rivets, cut off the old strap and drill new holes for the new straps.
Here are the threaded screw inserts.
We used the screw to screw in the insert, then removed the screw to attach the strap.
Skipper's kayak gets identification tape.
29 Jun 23:
It was time to road test the new Malone MicroSport so we headed out to our spot on the lower James River with our Sunfish WAVE and Icon kayak SACAGAWEA. The trailer rode smooth and quiets, the boats stayed strapped securely to the pads and racks and we were raiding the beach in no time flat. The beach is mostly coarse sand with a good amount of pebbles and also remnants of crumbled brickwork from an old waterfront oystering business. Hard to medium packed sand and a shola bottom make this beach a good spot to dolly launch
We got Skipper rigged and launched, WAVE dcsided to fly her true colors today.
Skipper headed out to Marker 5 and said hello to an osprey.
Meanwhile I took a few photos and launched the kayak to be the photo ship.
Video: https://youtu.be/VUmFEN_AORI
Next we tested out the double paddle that we made last year. The paddle is light in weight and the blades are a good size for our leisure paddling, but we can dig in if needed.
Once again the Dynamic Dolly proves it is worth every penny spent, I was able to unload and load both the kayak and the Sunfish and roll them down the beach to our base camp. The kayak is light enough that we threw our beach chairs and snacks inside of it for the ride back to the car.
The Sunfish slid easily onto the dolly and loaded just as smooth back onto the MegaWing racks. We had plenty of tie down points and more than enough straps, we plan to use some shorter Malone straps as we fine tune our tie down routine.
SUPER SANDY ST had the tow vehicle honors today.
22 May 24:
Photo shoot basics. I stand in the waist deep water while Skipper tries to hit me...actually she just does a fly by, because if she hurt me then she'd have to load the boats.
Our kayak LEWIS got to play a bit also.
A first for us, we cartopped our kayak to a local creek. Our little RailBlaza C-Tug came in handy to get the kayak fro the car to the launch ramp.
Skipper celebrating the success of her plan. Her partner in crime is our Pelican Premium Icon 10 named CLARK.
Local watermen bringing in 30 bushels of oysters.
Then they hauled their boat out.
We bought the Outback for its off road capability and All Wheel Drive. And for the nice roof rack system where the racks swivel out of the way and stow on the roof when not in use. The XT turbo model is also rated to pull up to 3500 pounds
Two straps from Malone Auto Racks did the trick, they tightened down secure and did not loosen during the drive. To get the kayak on top we stood the kayak on its stern next to the car, slide the bow up over the side bar, the lifted the stern and rotated the stern over the aft rack. We placed the cockpit down because the top of the kayak is flat, and the seat back slid snug under the forward rack, helping to keep the kayak from sliding forward.
04 Jul 24:
Our 1982 Olympic schemed Sunfish named PHOENIX helped us celebrate the 4th, along with our Pelican Icon kayak named CLARK. The Admiral took out PHOENIX first, to see if my post hurricane bow replacement was still seaworthy. She tried to trick me into going first, but I didn't fall for that.
The locals looked on with disinterest.
Sea Retrials successfully completed, the bow remained attached so the Admiral gave me the tiller and sheet for a bit.
The double paddle we made from spruce and Skipper's Greenland style paddle by Shaw & Tenney.
We were very happy with this "carry on" setup compared to the Malone trailer, fewer straps, no sliding of boat to dolly and back and we didn't have to break down the dolly
Yard decorations.
26 Jul 24:
Nice weather for a sail and a photo shoot, we took our 1981 AMF Sunfish named MADISON out for the first time on the James River. As mentioned in an earlier post, we had the boom set too low for our liking, so the first few photos are of Skipper going out and returning immediately so we could adjust the gooseneck.
Even sitting in the cockpit and ducking, the boom is still too low for a recreational sail. But we have nice wind and a few small waves. Winds were around 6-8 knots with a few puffs coming off of a rain shower about 15 miles distant. Mostly cloudy skies added to the pleasantness with the water temp at 82F and air temp at 75F, dewpoint 74F.
MADISON has been in the family since the late 1990s, she spent a bit of time teaching new sailors at Corpus Christi State University, and after being sold as surplus she found her way to Skipper's parents. We can't remember how and when, but she worked her way from the Texas Gulf Coast over to the Florida Gulf Coast, spending some time on Escambia Bay and then East Bay. Now here she is in the Mid-Atlantic region. Is she trying to get back to Waterbury, CT?
We slide the gooseneck well forward, maybe 16-18 inches from the forward end of the lower boom, which is a little further forward than our normal 19-21 inch setting. We could also tie the halyard 6-12 inches lower on the upper boom. But this setup got us sailing today, with decent lower boom clearance above the deck and the aft end of the lower boom angled up a bit. We like the lower boom set high, the way ALCORT shows in all of their advertising photos, but you may notice in other photos that modern day racers set the sail rig very low.
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| Image Credit: Ginnie Gilson Spofford Lake Sunfish Regatta July 13th, 2024 |
Anyway, we like what we call "The Geezer Rig." And check out our beautiful custom sail, made by Hunter and his crew at Schurr Sailing Pensacola.
Back to the beach. Low tide by the way, we used the dolly to roll the boat about 50 feet out before there was enough water to launch, even then we didn't have full clearance for the daggerboard. We like how the nose wheel rolled, so we didn't have to hold the bow the entire time. The dolly rolled so well that we had to turn it sideways to keep the dolly and boat from rolling back into the bay.
A few photos follow of a recreational rigged boat. At the top of the upper boom here, the tack of the sail, take notice of the outhaul line and that there is a sail ring on the last grommet, some folks forget to add that ring. The outhaul can be adjusted as desired, tight for high winds to depower the sail a bit, and loose for "loose" winds to add more cup or draft back to the sail.
On MADISON we have a long bungee run from the bow handle back to the daggerboard, the bungee's is to be a retaining line to keep the daggerboard from floating away after a capsize. The ideal length is to have just enough tension on the bungee so that the top of the daggerboard is pulled forward enough to keep it from sliding down into the trunk....for some folks...that is where I like it. The Skipper likes to have a loose retaining line, so she clips the bungee around the mast when she goes out.
We use a Sunfish snap shackle on one end of the bungee, so that we can easily unsnap to move or remove the line.
Skipper got becalmed last time she was out, for at least two minutes and twelve seconds, so she is going to start taking a paddle with her as entertainment. Here's one spot to stow it, another way is to slide the handle under the halyard. And many Sunfishers keep a shorter telescoping paddle in the cockpit. Also shown in this photo is how we like to stow the excess halyard. One last note about the sail and booms, it is easiest to put the sail, lower boom and upper boom on the port side of the mast so that the halyard can run free from the top of the mast down to the deck fairlead/bullseye. If the sail is on the starboard side, then there is a big mess of sail and booms to try and work around when raising or lowering the sail, and either you are reaching behind the sail to get to the halyard or if the halyrd runs outside of the booms, then it fouls the sail when the rig is raised. How to remember which side the sail and booms go to? One way is to remember is the "Right is Wrong" meaning sail on the right side is wrong :)
The daggerboard retaining line is attached to a daggerboard handle through a 1/4 inch hole that was drilled into the handle at the factory. The earliest daggerboards do not have this hole, because it took a while for folks to realize that it would be a good idea to keep the daggerboard from floating way, as it is needed to right the boat after a capsize. To right the boat, insert the daggerboard fully, swim around to the bottom side, push down on the end of the daggerboard to use it as a lever to get the boat rolling upright. Then grab the deck edge and haul yourself back aboard over the side, or over the stern.
Capn Jack always liked using a line bridle over the factory wire bridle, and he added a little block to clip a snap shackle to for the sheet. He liked the sound of the block going back and forth and the ease of the snap shackle over tying a bowline knot. There are many variation on this theme, one of which is using a bridle block to create a 2:1 purchase by starting the sheet on the lower boom, running the sheet down to a single bridle block, back up to the aft boom block, forward to the forward boom block and down to the cockpit, where another slew of variations happens with open fairleads or swivel cam cleats or stand up ratchet blocks or...FWIW MADSION has a swivel cam cleat (factory) which I use, but Skipper likes the sheet coming right off of the boom straight to her hands, she don't need no stinkin fairleads and will be the first to tell us to never cleat a dinghy sheet.
AMF Alcort Division. The 1/8 inch hole above the cockpit bulkhead sticker is a hull vent, do not plug it. Without the vent, air inside the hull will heat up, expand and create enough volume to pop a deck/hull seam or pull internal foam blocks loose.
The original Cool Cat AMF cubby cooler...
Did we mention how much we like the nosewheel?
MADISON in the foreground and our photship CLARK lounging on the beach.
Field Trials with the trailer winch were a success, operated by the Trailer Wench aka Skipper aka Dock Line Wench and Galley Wench.
We are also very happy with the Railblaza C-Tug kayak cart.
Video: C-Tug
650 Cold Cranking Amps for the winch is plenty, as is 100 minute reserve. The winch motor has to be cooled 14 minutes for every 45 seconds of cranking, we assume this means when pulling a full 2000 pound load.
Updated the Marine Traffic Control Board.
24 Oct 24:
Once again our Sunfish named MADISON was called to action for a photo shoot, we needed to get pictures of the Ronstan Battlestick for a Small Boats Nation article. Wind building as a front came down the James River, 10 knots with a burble coming over the treeline made for interesting conditions, but Skipper worked through it, heading out on a fun and then heading back in on a run, with one dead spot in between. Water temp 68F, air temp 70F with the tide about halfway out.
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