For all of you interested, I’m now building a Pocketship Sailboat from CLC Designs. I’d love to have you as a follower if you have interest in following along.
The site address is: idahopocketship.wordpress.com
Best,
Brent
For all of you interested, I’m now building a Pocketship Sailboat from CLC Designs. I’d love to have you as a follower if you have interest in following along.
The site address is: idahopocketship.wordpress.com
Best,
Brent
Northern Cross has officially sold to a gentleman from the San Juan Islands. I wish Northern Cross and her new owner the best of luck, adventure and exploration. I will leave the blog up for further reference for other builders, but will not be making additional posts.
Best to all,
Brent
This may come as a big surprise to many of my readers, but I’ve decided to put Northern Cross up for sale.
This has been a very difficult decision for me and one that I’m still not entirely comfortable with but I’ll attempt to explain…
Northern Cross is an excellent exploring boat and does everything she was designed to do, other than sail. Sailing is a funny thing. It’s a pain in the butt, but somehow has a hold on my heart. I’ve got my eye on a Com Pac Eclipse sailboat and I can’t fit both of these boats in my garage. I’ve decided to put Northern Cross up for sale to bring in needed money to save and buy a Com Pac Eclipse sailboat.
If you’ve read my blog, you know I’ve put my heart and sole into building Northern Cross. She’s the best boat I can build. Countless hours and money have gone into making her as beautiful as I able to create. She’s always been stored out of the weather in my garage and looks brand new. If you have interest in Northern Cross please give me a call to discuss at 208-589-1222. I’m looking to get $15,000 out of her. This would be to recover my hard costs adding little to nothing for my labor.
What’s Included:
This is really everything as it sits in my garage in Rigby, Idaho. Please give me a call if you have interest.
Best, Brent
They’re beautiful lakes in the Rocky Mountains. Jackson lake ranks among the most scenic.
Summary:
Northern Cross has impressed me with every adventure I’ve pursued. It’s a boat that many misunderstand. It does what it’s designed to do and continues to amaze me with its versatility, efficiency, ease of towing, affordability and good looks, to name but a few of it’s virtues. You almost have to own this boat in order to understand it.
Today I got out with some of our kids to explore and play on a nearby reservoir.
Parting Shot:
What we learned:
Summary:
My kids had so much fun on our Skiff America. It was very rewarding for me as the builder to see my kids having so much fun on a boat I built. I’m very impressed by the design and functionality of this simple, affordable water craft. We spent $9 dollars in gas for this excellent outing. Amazing, just simply amazing. Kilburn Adams, thank you for designing this most excellent boat!
Hebgen Lake is a beautiful, large mountain lake minutes out of West Yellowstone. Jennifer and I spent Friday exploring this beautiful lake.
Check it out:
What I learned:
Summary:
This boat is going to be an excellent tool for exploring our mountain lakes.
Check it out:
Benefits of a travel cover:
Summary:
Today, I got the compass and stern tow hook installed…photos to follow. I now just need to attach my registration numbers and get in the water. It snowed here last night in God’s country. So much for global warming.
Northern Cross is back from the upholstery shop.
Check it out:
Now for the Bimini:
And, there you have it. Secure and solid.
Summary:
I’m now adding a compass to the bulkhead and a tow hook to the transom (for rescuing stranded ski boats on the reservoir). I’m all but done folks and it feels so good. I’m looking to get back on the water for the official launch early next month.
I love a lot of outdoor pursuits. Things like: backpacking, cycling, sailing, RV’ing, hiking, outdoor photography, rafting and nordic skiing. Near the top of this list is cycling, even better yet might be family cycling. When I speak of family cycling a few challenges immediately raise their ugly heads. You already know what the issues are: Things like keeping the kids happy, keeping the kids hydrated, keeping the kids on the right side of the road and keeping the kids motivated to push the pedals. At a young age, their attention span is simply too short, they lag behind and become uninterested. In fact, one of the biggest challenges of cycling with kids is keeping yourself from screaming at your kids instead of enjoying your kids.
So what’s the solution? Although not the only solution, the best solution from my way of thinking is a tandem. Yes, a bicycle built for 2. The benefits of the tandem riding with your kids are:
This leaves your child free to sing and tell stories as you cycle along at a much faster pace than otherwise possible. And, sing they will. Trust me, I’ve owned four tandems in my past and always been amazed at how children open up while riding a tandem.
But, tandems companies have fallen by the way side over the last decade or so, leaving fewer and fewer manufactures. Subsequently, tandem prices have risen significantly and many families have chosen to forgo this most excellent form of family togetherness. Additionally, many tandem manufactures have decided to cater to the high end performance market, leaving the availability of family tandems even further behind. As I have scoured the market for what I feel represents a great family machine for a fair price, I’ve found one offering that seems to stand out amongst the others.
First, Let’s review my family tandem criteria:
Here’s what we settled on:
Meet the DaVinci Grand Junction. This quality tandem, developed by DaVinci Cycles out of Colorado, will be our next wonder horse. Given our family size, we needed two. One bought one in size Small, the other in size Medium. My wife can captain the small, while I can captain the medium. This will allow us to attend tandem rallies and experience other trails with our youngest children in the stoker position.
Benefits of a Grand Junction:
Check out their web site for a host of other advantages. I’ll do a full review of these tandems once we log a few hundred miles. Let’s just say on paper, I’m sold.
Is it worth the expense?
You’ll need to answer that question for yourself. As for us, we’re dreaming of doing the C&O Tow Path and the Great Allegheny Passage with our kids. That trip alone would make this investment totally worth it to me. Add on all the local rides, along with tandem rallies and family cycling works out to be a very affordable form of family recreation. Let’s do this another way: For the price of one cheap ATV, you could buy 2 family tandems and do a ton of family riding, with very little continued expense. Your ATV will require yearly Off Road stickers, oil changes, tune-ups, a trailer to haul it and a tow vehicle to pull it. Not to mention another garage to store it. The list goes on and on. Family cycling teaching your kids a much healthier lifestyle. It teaches them to enjoy the simple things, to experience and appreciate nature. The quiet things of life that are so desperately missing from their daily lifestyles of texting and tweeting. And, might I add a much more sustainable lifestyle going forward. Yes, to us, it’s definitely worth the expense.
After looking at other options, I decided to mount the fire extinguisher under the port side bunk, next to the battery. Maybe this is a bad idea, if the battery explodes, but I can move it later if needed.
I used the battery strap to secure the fire extinguisher. There is room to slip the extinguisher out without loosening the strap. Notice the (2) 12V receptacles near the upper edge of the photograph. These will be handy to charge digital devices when motoring. Remember, the 25 Yamaha has an alternator for charging when motoring.