Accessorising and ordering.

So now that I've decided on the boat - A Coho Hi from Pygmy Boats Inc, I need to work out how I want it fitted out.

Jim from Pygmy was pretty adamant that the Coho doesn't require a rudder and can be turned by leaning the boat - lean left to go right, right to go left. He encouraged me to paddle it first and then get one if I want it later. The chines on the hull mean the hull of the boat is curved when leaned on an angle, and off it goes. Dad hasn't got one on his, and the system works pretty well, except it struggled a little in a strong crosswind when paddling with a following tide. I had a bit of trouble then, but I guess that's to be expected in most boats. All this aside, I've decided to fit a rudder. Purely because I figure I can fit it and retract it when not in use, but it'll be harder if I decide I want it down the track, so into the basket it goes.

I haven't seen a rudder attached to a Coho anywhere except for one of the boats on a doco I found called 'Paddle to Seattle', which as a bit of a tangent, looks awesome. Two mates paddling from Alaska to Seattle down the inside passage in Pygmy Coho's they built themselves. They're funny buggers too, I'm very tempted to grab the DVD. Maybe my Coho could do something as awesome as that one day! one of them has a rudder on their boats, so I guess mine won't be the only one with one. The Smart-track rudder looks pretty small too, I like it.

Also making the shopping basket are deck hatches for stowage and bungee cord for the deck to hold maps, a bit of food and so on in easy reach.

I ordered the boat and got a shipment tracking number for FedEx so I can see where the boat is up to, just to make the wait all that more agonising. Ordering via the website was easy, the shipping was not shown, but Jim had told me that, and he sent me an email prior to finalising confirming the total shipping charge and that the order was complete. Shipping was about US$355 to the ACT including insurance and brokerage.

The parcel is now in Honolulu according to FedEx, and is expected on the 14th of October. Can't wait! Turns out checking the FedEx tracking page every 30 mins doesn't make it get here any quicker. I think I'd rather it was a mystery and just arrived one day next week, but I think this is more fun. Agonising, but fun.