: Hi All,
: Finished my OUter Island three years ago and use it all the time,
: at least once a week in the warm months, and usually get about
: three to four camping trips per season also. Upon returning from
: my last four day trip on Lake Kabetogama on the Canadian border
: I needed to look at the hatches to see why they leak so much,
: when I noticed the amount of scratches on the bottom. No loss of
: watertight integrity mind you, but there just arent alot of
: beaches in the upper midwest. I have to say even though I cringe
: every time I hear a scrape,
: I have learned to live with scratches and the best I can do to
: accept them is to think of them as badges of honor or battle
: scars, because its not always possible to have a nice launch in
: 6" of water or land on a soft sand beach. Just wondering
: what you other builders out there do to avoid/deal with using
: your boat.

I launched my new Guillemot for the first time on Saturday on Brighton beach.
We had the hottest October day ever recorded! so the place was packed.
Took ages answering the questions! My youngest son took it out, he's
6ft 1" and 210lb. Said it fitted him well and performed like a dream.
Both boats (I was in my 15ft 6" version) ended up with some scratches on the
bottom but this is inevitable when launching and landing in a swell, on a shingle beach.
Nothing that a lick of varnish, one day soon wont hide.
Hope to get some pics on our next outing.

Les C.