Well I finaly did it! I drove 1.5 hrs to get to the perfect spot that would do justice to the occasion ... the 1000 islands!!

The kayak (Expedition Single) performed beyond all expectations. I can't say too much more with out getting emotional on you all. The screen is already blurry!!

The family really enjoyed the kayak and are totally enthused. I was very excited to see my oldest two kids (10 & 8) just get into it and paddle away.

I don't have the final weight but my last weighing was 40# before varnishing and a seat. My guess is 45#. My Journal says it took me 240 hrs to complete. This doesn't include any "Mark Kanzler time" (ie. sitting around talking and dreaming about it :) I would be well above 1000 hrs if I had to include every second!

I want to publicly thank my wife for her support through out this project. She didn't complain once when I was working on the kayak and not fixing other things around the house. My only problem is that she now wants an other one!!! Help me what am I going to do?

Follow the link if you want to see a few more picture of the event. I don't have time to put together a proper web page right now. So it's simply an anonymous ftp directory of the pictures. I included a picture of a close up of my home made roof rack. Some of you might be interrested in seeing it. Tell me what you think? The price was right, $0.00.

Matthew