: Hi Paul,

: I listen to every idea presented to me. I am back to working on the boat but
: when I have more time I will try the sling that Julie mentioned on the
: side just to satisfy myself. The reason I may be skeptical is that the
: boat works as you said it would a while back, it spins like a log (without
: water in it). The first time I grabbed it from the side to get water into
: it, it spun and the other side cracked me in the head. You can't rescue
: yourself if you knock yourself out at the start. Then I discovered if I
: forced the stern underwater and twisted the boat at the same time I could
: get plenty of water in it.

: I have a sponge to get the last drop of water out of the boat, but I found
: that after paddling to shore with the boat flooded, that I could pull it
: parrallel to shore and tip it shoreward dumping most of the water, then by
: lifting the stern and then the bow, all of the water would run out. It was
: fast and a pleasent suprise to me. I very well may put a pump in to take
: out the small amount of water while I am paddling. A lot of trial and
: error going on here. For instance, my $7 seat that I put Tough Stuff foam
: underneath to conform to the haul shape is now back to square one. I put a
: coat of epoxy on the foam before I put on my velcro fasteners, but the
: foam has slow been shrinking because of a reaction with the epoxy. Who
: would have thought.

: John

John --

If you try the sling -- you want to put your 'outside' foot in it, keep your body low and reach across the boat and grab the FAR SIDE gunnel with your hand and then pull/lift yourself in. If you put all your weight on the near side of the boat, you will capsize. If you are holding the far side, the boat may tip, but should right itself as you flop back in like a fish. The goal is to use the sling to lift yourself enough so you can get yourself back over the side without needing to flood it to lower it. You may need to experiment with the length of the sling.

And -- although I know you're set on re-entering from the side of the boat -- the fact that you can push the stern underwater while flooding it suggests that crawling back in from the stern (or bow) may be a viable option.

Julie Kanarr