That's Not Good!

While the river trip was wonderful, Kathy had just one day before she needed to be on a plane out of Phoenix for a business conference. With BJ staying to launch again with her gal friends, I got a ride with Kathy's 5 am departure headed back to the Valley of the Sun.

Don't ask me why Alan was up that time of morning to take a picture!

The sun was up by the time we got to Monument Valley, so I messed around trying to catch the car & kayak's shadow. Much tougher than I thought it would be! We stopped in Kayenta for a quick bite of breakfast and kept moving.

With a significant cross-wind from the left to the right, we headed out of town, but didn't get far. A very loud BANG and suddenly the Knot Too Shabby was alongside of us. When we stopped, the bow and stern lines were still attached, but the cross bars had bent severely, allowing the cross bars and Malone J-brackets to release from the car.

After surveying our options, we pressed my Therm-a-Rest Z Lite pad into service and then loaded the kayak upside down on the roof.

The hatch covers had internal tethers. Both hatch lids came loose, and one tether broke, leaving us without one of the hatch covers. Kathy walked back along the highway and found the missing cover a couple hundred feet back.

Both hatch covers have scars but are structurally OK. They'll clean up and the fiberglass repairs will hide any repairs, at least to the casual observer.

The boat obviously slid upside down for part of it's E-ticket ride. The cockpit cover was shredded, and a few layers of fiberglass on the front of the cockpit coaming was ground away. The only other damage on the top of the kayak was the stainless U bolts at the bow and the stern for the carry toggles. The crown of the U bolts were both worn to about half the original thickness.

The fiberglass at the deck to hull joint took a lot of abuse. There will be some hours sanding, applying new glass layers, and refinishing, but structurally, the boat is undamaged! Wood boats rock!

It will take a few days effort over a couple months to do the repairs and it will be good as new.

In the meantime, when Kathy got home with the boat, a note was posted on the boat. "Please let me have some quiet time... I have had a hard day."