By Rich Phillips
Kayak Fishing and Exploring Group
Southern New Jersey
Month: July 2018
My multipurpose Wavewalk S4
By Terry Pritchard
Western North Carolina
I’m a retired guide, and I live in the mountains of western North Carolina.
I bought my S4 early this year, but so far I had only one chance to take it out on the river because this year has been been very unusual, since it kept raining until July, and the rivers have been high. The S4 was very stable in fast moving water, and easy to maneuver.
I outfitted our S4 with a 1987 6hp Johnson outboard, and it works perfectly.
My wife and I took our S4 to Florida, and we enjoyed it very much. She likes it, and she even likes driving it.
I drive my S4 with a tiller extension, and I can drive it standing with no problems. I drove it in saltwater at a top speed of 15 mph, and at 13.4 mph in a sustained mode. I noticed that it was going faster in saltwater and at sea level than in freshwater in the mountains. I attribute this to the combination of more oxygen and more buoyancy. Note that the place where I live is at a 2,700 ft elevation.
I take a lot of gear on my fishing trips, and the first time I went fishing with my S4 was confusing for me, since I didn’t know how to store my gear in its hulls. But after I gave it some thought and arranged things properly, the boat turned out to be perfect. I added a storage hatch inside the saddle, works great. I also stiffened the gunnels with wooden ribs so that I could use the sides of the boat to store my fishing gear, and I laid foam on the bottom of the hulls.
I’m planning to add rowing oars to it.
Here are some pictures that show how I rigged it.
Black grouper down
Improvements in roof rack, and campout
By Chris Henderson
I am building my Suburban into an Overlander. My first step was to build the roof rack so I can take either two S4s, an S4 and a W700 or of course 2 W700s. The rack is not complete until it gets a floor (perforated steel) and ladders (one on each side). We will have a roof top tent.
My church does an annual church campout. This year we went to Alta Lake which is on the East side of the state. I was able to sneak out in the mornings and in-between activities to do a bit of fishing. The wind was a constant and irregular companion. One moment it would be dead calm and the next moment whipping 15 mph through the canyon. But that is no problem for the ole W700. Kokanee were quality fish 15-16 inches. Now I need to go back for just a fishing trip!
Wavewalk in the rowing world
By Ken Dollhopf
Rowing shells are among the fastest human powered boats, and there are some two hundred US colleges that have rowing teams.
When racing, a large men’s 8 rowing shell can go about 13.8 mph. This is Olympians. Normal club rowing is about 11.5 mph.
I have a company called Leribe that is focused on the US rowing market. We sell racing boats and systems for racing events. We offer boats for this market. The Wavewalks serve two specific needs:
Coaching launch: The S4 model coupled with an 8 HP outboard motor is perfect for this application, which requires a boat that produces a minimal wake. The S4 is being used as a coaches launch for training and also an officials “chase boat” for regatta racing. There was a lot of experimenting with motors in a number of water conditions but we have settled on the need for an 8hp motor.
Regatta Start: During racing there are usually 6 platforms that are anchored at the start and a person on these hold and adjust the racing boats prior to the start. The Wavewalk 500 R is a great option for these. Each regatta needs 6-8 of these boats.
The 500R’s are being used as stationary platforms for racing. An unconventional use undoubtedly. The key item here is that a person sits in each boat and then for each race the crew that is assigned the lane backs into the 500R and the person uses the split between the pontoons to align the bows of each boat to the starting line. As each racing boat may be a different length there is an official that uses radios and will tell each of the 6 500Rs to move their boat in or out until perfect alignment is achieved. Then the race may begin. This is repeated for each race on between 3 and 10 minute centers.
It is a unique use of the W500 R but it’s working.
