The Ellesmere Comes to Sandpoint

 

We brought the Boreal Design Ellesmere back from Plains, MT. The drive between Sandpoint and Plains is very pretty, following along the Clark Fork River. It takes a leisurely two-plus hours. There is a short stretch west of Plains where one must drive more slowly because of the occasional presence of bighorn mountain sheep. We did not see any on this trip, but have in the past. 

Initial questions to settle: 

Q1. Will I need to adjust the seat back, as I must often do?

Q2. Is it too big for me? Maybe I need to pad it.

Fresh Answers:

A1. I did need to adjust the seat back, using minicell foam so my back could be well supported when sitting erect. I crushed a disk in my lower back many years ago and a supportive seat back is crucial.

A2. It is a bit big for me, so I padded the hull interior at my hips.

What else did I find? I also padded the hull interior further forward, so my knees had enough contact to attempt rolling. And since I like a keel strip, I installed a 2" wide strip of EazyKeel. I've used this product before and have found it quite adequate for the kind of paddling I do e.g. no barnacle encrusted landings, rather on sand or non jagged stones.

The kayak behavior was more or less as expected. The Ellesmere seems to crave at least a wee bit of skeg. Perhaps I will load the stern more heavily to judge the effect. At slightly below 140 pounds, I may be lighter than the kayak expects. I do like the 'dial' used to deploy the rope skeg. 

I am no longer a camper, but the kayak has plenty of room for packing gear. In particular, unlike some of the skeg kayaks I have owned, this skeg box is quite small so the rear hatch has more usable room than I expected. My prior Ellesmere had a more intrusive skeg box.

How light is the kayak? Boreal Design specified this kevlar version at 46 pounds. I haven't actually weighed it, but probably will when the time comes to sell it.  Supposedly some vendors weigh a kayak without deck lines, seat & seat back, and hatch covers. I don't think that is true in this case. It feels to be somewhere in the 40 to 50 pound area.

Is the kayak fast? My prior Ellesmere provided my fastest time in the now defunct Sand Creek Challenge. That was 12 years ago and my paddling speed is significantly slower now.  Can I keep up with a group? Only when I am solo, a rather small group.

As of today I am precisely 84.5 years old. This is likely the last kayak I will buy as my primary kayak. However, I may want a wooden kayak so my wife can shoot flaming arrows at me to provide a Viking funeral. She is clearly motivated and her practice has been going well.

 

Boreal Design Ellesmere

In the last article, I related how I discovered that the Boreal Design Pakesso would happily leecock and was resistant to changing its ways - so I returned it to the seller. I had a Boreal Design Ellesmere when in my mid 70s and quite liked it. I was hoping that the Pakesso would be a smaller version of the Ellesmere - not so!

As it turns out, there was a Kevlar Ellesmere in Somers, MT. Rather far to drive, but the owner was willing to meet me in Plains, MT only a 2 hour drive. So on the day prior to kayak pick up, my wife and I will drive to Hot Springs, MT (near Plains) to stay at the Symes Hotel. We had stayed at Symes in the deep past, quite the funky establishment. The next day we will meet the Ellesmere seller in Plains.

So what will be my experience, returning to an Ellesmere? My current favorite kayak is my composite CD Squamish, essentially because of its light weight and good behavior. But the Squamish is slow. As a very crude measure of potential speed, I note that the Sound Rowers classification ranks the Squamish at 7.3 and the Ellesmere at 9.0. The Squamish does not weathercock at speeds below 10 knots, but my recollection of the Ellesmere is that it wants a bit of skeg. 

The adventure will continue. 

The Pakesso

On May 27, 2025 I purchased a used Boreal Design Pakesso. Pakesso is the Abenaki name for the partridge aka the ruffed grouse - not sure why a waterfowl was not chosen. Here are the specifications:

Length: 14' 6" (441.5 cm) - the shortest kayak I have used
Width: 21.6" (55 cm)
Height: 15.2" (38.7 cm) - hmm, room for big feet
Weight: 38.8 lbs (17.6 kg) 

Maximum capacity: 260 lbs (118 kg)
Outer cockpit dimensions: 16” x 30” (40.5 x 76 cm)

Serial No. QBOPK614M03J

The latter suggests that the kayak was born around 2003. It is swede form, rudder (not skeg), with fore and aft hatches. The less ancient Pakesso kayaks provide a skeg and day hatch by default. Although I like a day hatch, this kayak seems too short for that feature. In particular, it is trivial to stick my kayak cart in the rear hatch; otherwise with a skeg box that would be problematic. For its length, this kayak has quite a bit of water length.

The rudder control is via the justly derided sliding foot pegs. Yet the skeg deployment system is easily repaired in the field. Since this would be our guest kayak, I am unlikely to move to a Sea Dog system or some other fixed accelerator style foot peg - as I did for my wife's Necky IV Looksha.

My only other Boreal Design kayak was an Ellesmere, which was a splendid kayak. Nowadays kayak models come and go, also true of the original companies. This is true of Boreal Design in both cases.  

So, in an optimistic frame of mind, I took the Pakesso for a drive on Sand Creek. For starters, the skirt fit the boat ... but the tunnel was too narrow to fit me. I am not slender, but at 5' 5" and under 140 pounds, I am not plump. I should have checked the fit! No big deal, but how did the kayak behave? Yikes, it leecocked fiercely; so back to shore to load the kayak as stern heavy as I could. That helped marginally, but it remains a somewhat dangerous kayak. Well, back to the seller.

 

Start of 2025 Kayak Season

On May 2, I made my first day trip of the current season starting from Sandpoint's 3rd Avenue Pier. Generally I don't take photos, and this one of a Western Grebe was downloaded from the Internet. It was a sunny, calm day, with Fahrenheit temperatures in the low to mid seventies. 

Among the birds I encountered, these were the most notable:

• a large flock of Western Grebes in the bay south of Condo del Sol 
• a scattering of Buffleheads
• Coots (probably)
• Mallards
• Geese with goslings
• many osprey cruising Sand Creek
• swallows and killdeer

Although I saw no mergansers, a friend saw many near Hope. In spring the grebes migrate through on their way to somewhere else, typically hanging out in the aforementioned bay. Just a few remain for the summer. As a paddler approaches the grebes, they flee by diving; whereas the coots run across the water before finally lifting off or else settling on the water further away. 

As expected, my left shoulder was dismayed by the paddling. Hopefully, it will come around. However, my back was reasonably happy. The next day I was still tired, despite only covering ~6.3 nautical miles, but at age 84 and puny that is acceptable.

I paddled solo in my composite CD Squamish, using a Nimbus Chinook, my preferred paddle.

 

Refurbishing the NDK Explorer

I have more or less finished fixing up the elderly Romany Explorer. It was already quite sound, but there were a few things left to do.

I drilled a hole in the skeg and attached a line to aid a paddling companion to free your jammed skeg while on the water. I've only used such an aid once in nearly 20 years, but it was very useful at that point and is an easy modification to implement. I next filled the holes in the front bulkhead with well nuts. They can be removed to reinstall the foot pump, which I stored. The blemishes on the hull were small and easily repaired, but need to be smoothed and gel coat applied. The gel coat should show up next week.

The deck mounted tow rope was already set up to install except for the rope itself i.e cam cleat and fairlead bullseye. For the tow rope I used a stout bright blue rope and added a short section of shock cord. I'll need to try it out, having only used a waist mounted tow rope myself. I very rarely require using a tow rope, but when needed it can be crucial - or at least helpful.

I used minicell foam to support the back band and attached the preexisting NDK back band to that. This isn't even semi-permanent because I must try it out to see if my old back injury likes it. I may need to modify it.

The compass rotates smoothly, but seems confused about finding north. This is not resolved, but I have a strap-on compass which works fine.  

I have neither named nor weighed the kayak. At the moment, I have it on Craigslist. Nevertheless I may keep it and then give it a name. I'll likely weigh it next week, once the gel coat is applied.

An olde NDK Explorer .. rope skeg, even

I just purchased an older NDK Romany Explorer from someone in Spokane - on Saturday March 29, 2025. Like all Explorers, it is a handsome boat. And, like all early Explorers it is relatively heavy. It will either evolve into a guest kayak or be sold after 'restoration'. This is my third Explorer and the oldest, maybe also the heaviest. This is one of the most famous expedition designs. A new Explorer costs $4585 + tax, from Maine Island Kayak,

The kayak is sound, but needs straightforward refurbishing. It has the old rope skeg which needs a new bungee and control line. I hope the parts are not too worn. The skeg is currently disassembled, so hopefully I can figure it out. I had to adjust the rope skeg on an older Romany some years ago, but that memory has faded. In a worst case scenario, I could abandon the skeg, but my recollection is that the Explorer weathercocks enough so that I would want a skeg. We'll see ...

Update: The skeg is now installed and works smoothly. Luckily, I had appropriate lines in the garage i.e. a bungee and a control line - both the right size. Rope skegs are sometimes reviled, occasionally being finicky and hard to keep properly adjusted. But, they can be worked on when out in the wilderness.

Further plans:

• drill hole in skeg so jammed skeg can be freed when on the water
• fill holes in front bulkhead, no longer needed for foot pump mount
• repair a few spots on hull
• install deck mounted tow rope (with bungee extension)
• figure out a back band
  
• inspect marginal compass (remove?)
  
• name the kayak 
• weigh  the kayak
  
• further inspection
  

I have the needed parts etc. For example, I have well nuts to plug the holes in the front bulkhead. So here we go. The next report should provide results.

The Explorer specifications for this boat are

• length: 17' 6"
• width: 21.26"
  
• measured weight: with hatch covers etc. 63.7 pounds
• storage volume: 166 liters
  
• suggested paddler weight: 150 to 220 pounds
• 3 hatches: bow, stern, and day hatch
• rope skeg
• Keyhole cockpit 
• Coaming: inside 32.25" long, 15.5" wide
• Coaming: outside 34.5" long, 17.75" wide
• minicell seat (custom redfish at $255)

  

 

Verdict on Classic Nordic Fischer 62 skis

After 10 days on the classic Nordic Fischer 62 skis, I have formed an opinion. These new skis seem to climb ascents with better traction than my mohair inset skis. However, the Fischers don't seem to glide as well, but close. The metal edges don't seem to matter much for the trails I use. I have no measured data to support these conclusions, nor am I about to gather such data. So ... not very persuasive.

My typical route covers just over 13 km on the moderately hilly Schweitzer terrain, certainly more than at the start of the season. My most recent outing was in warmer weather than I'd prefer. Had I begun that outing much later, I would have had snow sticking to my skis, despite the glide wax I usually use.

My season distance is ~250 km so far. While on the trails I encounter 10 to 25 other Nordic skiers during my ~3 hour outing, I know perhaps a third of them, fewer on the weekends when the tourists show up. I most likely the oldest (age 84) and the slowest of anyone I meet. 

It is doubtful that Schweitzer makes money from its Nordic skiing trails. But some of the customers will buy food, drink, or other items from the Schweitzer shops ... so maybe a little money. Yet the grooming is just excellent and quite expensive. Schweitzer also maintains a short Nordic trail near the 'roundabout'. It is unadvertised and groomed less frequently (maybe 3 times per week). It is wonderful for beginners or short races. When and if the resort expands, the roundabout trail is destined to become a plowed/maintained road for a lower parking lot. Similarly, the main Nordic trail system will most likely be modified.