Juggling Katz,,,

Muhndaze are always on the interesting side,,, and interestingly enough, NOT at the J.O.B. today,,, Pretty stratght forward sort off day. Bossman off at Docs so he was gone, and our usual troublesome wastrel was off as well,,, things went smooth.

Nopes, The juggling of kats began after I returned home. The materials to fix the neckgasket in my drytop came in, and I had already done all the prep work (up to but not including roughing surface and cleaning with acetone) and was ready. Plop the top in my lap, sandpaper in hand and

here come the kittehs!!!! mreowr, kblert buzzzzzzzzzzz We luvs you dada,,, seriously LUVVVVs you, NOW Feed us!!!

This project is not one I want to half ass,,, The top cost new $260. That was 3 year ago. I hadn’t looked lately, but I would imagine adding 100 to that wouldn’t be out of line. The gasket itself cost me $25 and the hightech special adhesive these things use was another $18 for two 3/4oz tubes. (sure smells like rubber cement to me, even has the same texture, but I’ll play the game in this case. Too much at stake to gamble.)(and to note, the one reason I think I am wrong was the ‘recommended storage’: they suggest keeping this stuff in the freezer. Do that with rubber cement and it goes off and won’t cure.)

SO, I stopped what I was doing, set everything out of the way of sharp pointy ends, rubbed noggins, stroked chins and made like the good dada, and then fed my tyrannical furries and appeased them that ‘playing outside is ok, AND encouraged right now.”

and now I get to wait 24 hours to find out if I screwed the pooch on the repair or not. Gasket and top are meshed together and clamped AND OUT OF THE WAY OF THE CURIOUSER SPECIES. Really don’t want to try and unwrap sticky and pissed off furry from a suddenly useless pile of goretex and rubber.

Just glad I have no need of it currently. It’s been cool/cold some days I get out, but the Neoprene has been more than sufficient so far. Water temps are still up near sixty and I won’t need the dry top until they are forty/fifty. I dress for immersion, and thats why I was sweating on Sunday,,, It was warmer ‘up top’ than if I had taken a dunking. I was ready, and as I say, ‘rather look at it, than look for it’ and if you don’t wear the stuff,,,, That’s when you WILL need it.

I (and bruther B) would really like to see the prices in our ‘sport’ come down out of the stratosphere. Gear is where you get hammered, the boat is just opening the door. Paddles running $400+,,, Drysuits (the good ones with reputations and killer warranty) run well over $1200, usually around $1500. Granted, a dry suit is gonna last you several years, (like the boat) but that initial buy, bites deep.

Is what it is,,, I ain’t a rich man, know it, and I still play with these things. I keep looking at full drysuits, and if I were coastal, or into Class5 white water, I wouldn’t be so hesitant. When we had that white water class, I used neoprene pants, dive boots, and dry top. I had a quick dry shirt and fleece ‘sweater’ under the drytop, and even though I was wet from the waist down, I was warm as could be. Warm enough that during slack pools, I was ‘cracking’ the gaskets to vent hot humid air out that drytop. AIr temp was midforties. I didn’t get cold until I was changing and that from exposing my wet bare ass to chill air, not the gear I had been wearing.

What I am saying is that right now (assuming I didn’t just fubar this gasket repair) what I have is what I need to play in the waters I can play in.

And I still have the ‘not dry drysuit’ from B and M, I can put ankle gaskets in it (now that I know how, assuming I do know how,,, Still waiting to see how this turns out) and I can patch the pinholes. It’s big, bulky, and HOT, but hey, if it keeps you dry when snow and ice are building up on your boat,,, good’nuff. Dry is warm when the air turns frigid.

Winter is fast on us, and looks like its going to be flat nasty this year, at least in the temperature departments. And I will still find a way to get on water, I’z krazzeee like that,,,,