Next Event: Columbia River

[Lowell]

Ross, Baker and Lake Chelan

I like large bodies of water, something about the remote wild beauty of the wide and open. If there is natural beauty all the better. I would be interested in both Ross Lake and Baker Lake if I have the weekend off.

Last week I took a friend out for 4 days on Lake Chelan, he camped and I stayed on the boat, the mountains, waterfalls and scenery is awesome. Saw a brown black bear, big horn sheep, deer and 1 rattlesnake. There are docks and campgrounds about every 5 miles. On the last day the notorious wind that everyone warned me about arrived. There were white caps 3 to 4 feet high with a following sea. It sure put me on edge keeping control of the boat. (this would be nothing in our 27 foot sailboat). At times the 40 hp motor was full bore just to climb up on the backs of those waves. Next time I think I'll wait out the wind until it dies down some.

Chelan would be another lake worth exploring, the last launch ramp is 25 miles up the lake. This gives you 30 miles of remote road less wilderness area to explore. At the far end, 30 miles up is the town of Stehekin, in town there is a restaurant, marina, bakery, campground and window / door type of lodging. This lake is wonderful to explore if the wind would behave, the wind arrives as if it's a late arriving freight train, fast and hard.

[Marty Loken (Norseboater)]

Chelan: It's Been Awhile...

Lowell -

It's been awhile since we've explored Lake Chelan as a group, so maybe we could add that to next year's calendar of events? Stehekin is a great spot, and if we plan our major on-the-water runs for the a.m. I suppose we might avoid getting blown off the lake.

- Marty

[Bflaherty]

Sad day in Bellingham...

So we may be out for Columbia River cruise... We had a major catastrophe at the launch ramp last night. Testing a loaner rudder to see if we can improve our handling issues, got to the ramp, unstraped and started backing down the ramp (upto this point the rollers haven't moved an inch when loading or unloading) suddenly about 1 foot into the water all the rollers finally broke free and dumped the transom (rudder and brand new prop) on the launch ramp...

I now have a second piece of wall art to hang next to my slough prop from the Havoc, and I own my father's customer a new rudder, and now I have to special order another new prop and most likely a shaft.

I officially hate roller trailers!!!

Brian, sorry to hear that. I know that has been one of my fears for years, that and forgetting to raise the motor when we pull out. Hope it works out for you. I just dropped my prop off this morning to Tacoma Propeller to get fixed. They said it would be ready by next Wednesday so I'm hoping to still get to go on the Columbia.

[Marty Loken (Norseboater)]

Terrible Day....

Brian -

What a nightmare, and the worst feeling imaginable. Very sorry to hear about the suddenly-slippery rollers. I know there are a lot of good reasons why folks love roller trailers, but I've always preferred long bunks with the slippery pads. You get better-distributed support of the hull; you can usually launch without the hull 'letting go' too soon, and you don't get roller marks on the bottom.

What size shaft do you have, and do you know the approximate length? I might have something that would help, and the price would be $0.00.

- Marty

[Bflaherty]

Brian -

What size shaft do you have, and do you know the approximate length? I might have something that would help, and the price would be $0.00.

- Marty

Marty,

I have a 1" shaft. The previous owner actually gave me a huge box of parts and inside I found a stainless steel shaft that is marked "straight" so I am going to have it checked today when I drop the prop off (they seem to think based on pictures that the prop is still repairable) If the extra shaft is bad I may be in touch, I don't know the length but I can measure when I get off work. Also found a NOS prop strut for the boat, not sure why he had an extra but at least I have a replacement if mine is damaged (dont think it is)

Thanks,

[strobee]

Don't unhook the winch line on a roller trailer until you have the stern in the water. Unhook, grab your bow line, and give it a little shove, and you are ready to go boating. Roller trailers work great for me. Clint

[westerner]

When I went shopping for a trailer the first thing I was asked was what were the launches like that I frequented most. I was advised to go with a roller trailer because they loaded and unloaded better in shallow conditions and i have found this to be true so far. I've been able to load under minus tide conditions several times even though It's not my favorite time. With a larger boat though, I would opt for a bunk trailer for better weight distribution and use the higher tides (my use is mostly salt water.) So I guess it all depends on your boat and where and how you use it.

[Tim McCrain]

I think the size / weight of the boat has a lot to do with it too. I loaded the Sabrecraft onto my old tilting Holsclaw roller trailer at Langus Park when the tide was out and the water was so low that I couldn't have gotten the hubcaps wet without dropping the wheels off the end of the ramp. I tilted the trailer up and just dragged the thing onto the trailer until it had enough weight forward to lower the front. Durn near had the entire boat out of the water before it tilted forward. It must have looked pretty funny but it worked just fine. Don't think I could have done that with Chuck's boat, tho ...