folding my expedition....

[lancepearson]

I am learning how to set the foot brace, support the seat back better, put the spray skirt on so it stays, and how best to put the backbone in. I kayaked 4 miles yesterday with it on the James River and it did great again. I have a new deck bag for the front that I like really well that came today..28" long, big mouth wide towards me with roll up and webbing on top if I want to attach things to it. Should eliminate hanging the dry bags on the front with the size so am happy about that. I find that more support behind the seat back helped me as well.

When I get it home which is close to where I've gone so far I sometimes just put it in the suv and leave the glass tailgate up and drive it home. I put it on the trolley and take it to the back yard where I wash it and then when I deflate it I don't use the pump at all. I just open all the valves and let it sit for a pretty long while. I take the inflatable floor out completely which lets it dry if I've let any water get in, remove and disassemble the backbone after deflating the tubes and then come back to it in an hour while I do something else. After that I fold it over lengthwise down the center like they say to then do the normal fold pattern they recommend. I fold it, put it in the bag, then fold the inflatable now deflated floor and put it in the bag with the seat and zip it up..very easy. It was lots easier with the inflatable floor out to fold it. I have to take the floor more or less out anyway to use the backbone which seems to make it a good kayak so dealing with them as three pieces instead of two or one seems to be easier to me. Works for me at any rate.

I like it a lot.