RAM Mounts on and Anchor Trolley for the Big Tuna

Here are a couple of pictures of the RAM mount balls in place. Pretty useful (nice tiedown point for the paddles during transport). Turns out with the fairleads on the kayak, you only need one of the 1/4" pulleys. I used a heavy duty carabiner for the accessory interface (where I'll lock in an anchor line, stake pole or drift chute). I placed the trolley on the starboard side since this side of the kayak is stored up when I have it in the garage (this will prevent the carabiner or the pulley from getting damaged or scraping the side of the kayak). If I haven't already said it - modifying kayaks is really cool -

RAM Rod Tubes and 1.5" Mounting Ball

If you check out the walk through video on Youtube for the 2013 Cuda (Jackson Kayaks) you'll see that they have placed #10 screw mounts in areas where you would want to attach accessories (like RAM rod tubes and GoPro cameras that use #10 screws through conventional GoPro mounts). Well - I checked on Jackson's website and they sell the 1.5" ball mounts and the 2008 model RAM Rod Tubes - and the inserts that support the high seat mounts on the Big Tuna also fit the 1.5" mounts. That means you can use these same tube/mount setup that comes on the 2013 models on your 2012 (but you are limited to where the seat holders would be). Next I'll start looking for the inserts (Lowes or Home Depot) and see if I can install them in other spots. Or I'll just save myself the trouble and install yakattack GT90s. We'll see what works better.

Sunday morning - What to do with no wind or surf

We are headed to the grand opening of the D'Iberville Target today.

BUT, I did manage to do some projects to tune up our stoke generating equipment.

I bought two RAM 1" Ball Mounts from BSP yesterday and epoxy puttied them on this morning to the hull access hatch on HOO-YAH. I'll mount the GPS and the GoPro on the hatch.

I also installed an apparent wind indicator vane on the top of the mast and cleaned up the bitter ends of the trampoline lines (the cores were hanging out of the sheaths).

I also modified a kite bar (improved leash) and tuned up the nose lines on my larger kites. Should be able to self-land the kites with this modification (in preparation for the winter months when La and the kids will look at me like I've got a carrot growing out of my head as I head off to the beach).

Not as fun as ripping through the water on an 15kt wind, but it feels good to get hands on the gear and improving the functionality of the gear.