: Hey, Charles, the pollen thing isn't much of a problem for me at
: any time. For me, it's the dreaded snow mould. I spent Friday in
: bed instead of at work. All weekend I have felt as if the weight
: of the world is on my shoulders and today doesn't feel much
: different. Ugh! Happens every spring...I refuse to take
: antihistamines as they make me feel worse. Try to move toward a
: carbon fibre paddle if you can. They are pricey but way lighter.
: You have mentioned a very interesting idea. I have to refinish
: the VJ after my Hudson Bay trip next year so perhaps I will sand
: her right down to the wood and reglass her in 4-oz or even leave
: off with the glass and just finish the deck up with a nice coat
: of epoxy. The deck rarely gets any punishment so not having
: glass on it shouldn't be a problem. Speaking of home-made wine,
: using wild berries is my next step. Got batch no. 3 stewing now
: and batch 4 waiting in the wings. So far I have had wonderful
: results with the wine kits I have used but now I want to get
: into wild berries like blue and saskatoons. Saskatoons are sweet
: like ripe blue berries but have a modestly different taste that
: kinda leads you to want to eat more and more.

: Robert N Pruden
Hey Robert,
It sounds like all the junk in the air has the same effect on the respiratory system no matter what it's called. I've taken two rounds of antibiotics for respiratory infection to no avail and have still had a sore throat for the last two weeks.
Stripping the glass off with a heat gun should be fairly easy. Of course, you'd have to try to make a nice clean cut through the glass somewhere around the cockpit to end the stripping. The trick, I think, would be to not get the layup so warm/hot so as to break the glass loose on the inside. But, I guess if you did you could always cut it at the sheer and go with lighter glass inside too. But that sure sounds like a lot of work right now.
I got into making home-made wine almost ten years ago, all in an effort to keep some peaches from ruining. Now it's an every year ritual. Last year I had 16 batches (6 or 7 different flavors) going at once. But I don't think I'll do that again. It kinda started to feel like work. All made with locally grown fruit and wild berries.
Happy paddlin' and enjoy the wine.
Charles.