West Palm Beach, Florida
Candy and I had friends visit from North Carolina, and we took them over to Peanut Island, and hung out for the day.
What a blast!
We went all four of us in the boat. We had to go slow but it works fine. It was only about a half mile ride over.
We had probably a little over 700 lbs of payload on board.
More Wavewalk S4 adventures with Jesse and Candy »
Key Largo, Florida
This evening, at the edge of sunset, I was driving the White Knight, my Wavewalk S4 workhorse that’s powered by a 9.8 HP Tohatsu outboard motor, and I spotted a couple people two handed waving from a 24′ Grady White boat.
They were broken down, offshore, and two other much bigger boats had passed them by.
The Wavewalk S4 easily hip-towed them to safe harbor through the channel into the Garden Cove canal, for a safe landing.
They are now home, with cold beers.
This pic is none too good, as I am a better towboat operator than a photographer. But, bringing a Grady back to the dock with a kayak is a noteworthy accomplishment.
Soon, my motor will be flushed. The S4 stowed.
Maybe, a cold beer (or two) is in order.
A nice way to start another Wavewalk weekend!
West Virginia
I use a kayak to go in rivers and creeks for the purpose of relic hunting for Civil War and Colonial era artifacts with a waterproof metal detector.
I make videos of my adventures and publish them on my YouTube channel. I find items such as Civil War cannonballs, bullets, a colonial era shoe buckle, and sometime I get wildlife footage such as a black bear crossing the river.
My interest in a Wavewalk was primarily so that I could use a small gasoline motor in order to get to more remote areas that are too far to reach by paddling.
I have a “Swamp Runner Mini” long tail rig with a 3 HP motor that I thought would couple nicely with the W500. I was looking for a lower-cost alternative to a Mokai.
I found a sand-colored one with Joe Stauder, Wavewalk’s dealer in PA, and I drove up there to pick it up.
I have everything rigged up and ready. I made a short test run over the weekend and it went upstream very quickly in a fast current. The rivers here are all high right now but as soon as they come down, I’ll take it out and get some video and photos on the water.
We took the boat out yesterday and cruised around Peanut Island. The perfect little boat for exploring in places bigger boats just can’t get to.
Candy loves the little boat… Two cuties in the water 🙂
More from Jesse and Candy in West Palm Beach, Florida »
North Carolina
I usually keep my Wavewalk S4 on my dock so I can use it right there. But sometimes, we like to explore other areas. I don’t have a truck to transport it, so I decided to convert an old sailboat trailer into a Wavewalk S4 trailer.
All it took was some treated 2×6 and 2×4 boards, some U-bolts, and some ceramic deck screws.
I started with the trailer for a [brand name] sailing catamaran that I don’t use.
I’ve never trailered that boat.
The first step was to attach two 2×6 boards each with a U-bolt on the front and the back. On top of those, I screwed five 2×6 cross-boards so they support the boat from underneath all the way from front to back. Then I added 2×4 boards on both of the outside edges to provide an outer groove for the S4 to sit inside. A set of rollers from the sailboat trailer act as guides to align the inner hull of the S4.
The result? A very light but stable platform to pull my Wavewalk S4. When we get to the boat ramp we just back it down the ramp and the S4 slides off the trailer with an easy push. You should have seen the faces of the big boat owners at the ramp when I launched my boat with one finger!
The key to trailering the boat is to make sure it is tied down securely in the front and the back so that it doesn’t slide forward or backwards. I also have two lines over the top of the boat to hold it down, but be
careful not to over-tighten these and compress the hull. Also, remember to tilt the motor up if you have one so it doesn’t hit the ground as you trailer it.
Having a homemade trailer can extend the range of your Wavewalk adventures and save the hassle of loading it in or on top of your vehicle. All it takes is a used trailer and some treated boards!
