Folding In Sydney

Well after the very brief Maiden Voyage of the Kahuna at Mission Beach, Queensland. I rinsed the boat and frame with fresh water and packed it away before heading back home to Sydney. Additionally I picked up a PFD, which goes without say is an essential accessory to be had, the model I chose was an Ultra Gorge Type 2 PFD which fits well and feels like it could withstand some a good deal of abuse.

After about a week when I had a few moments spare I humped the boat down to the waters edge in Manly and set about putting the boat together. Things did not go so smoothly, the rods were welded together with salt and some of the buttons were stiff and got stuck inside the tubes! The tubes would not separate without some considerable force and refused to join cleanly and easily. I spent absolutely ages putting it all together, but ended up with a few hours of paddling around the North Harbour of Sydney. I experienced some problems with the boat's tracking which I have now associated with the problems I had in putting the boat together, and the poorly connected tubes.

After taking the boat home I cleaned it all very thoroughly, placing everything in the bath, removing all the salt, drying each piece and then lubricating all the connections with a 4oz bottle of Boeshield T9. I am still looking for a dealer for Boeshield here in Australia, so if you are aware of a dealer in Australia then please let me know. After this process, which I spent a good couple of hours on, I had a nice set of free moving, nicely lubricated, tubes the connected and disconnected with ease. So I would have to stress to you all the importance of maintenance of your boat, and I would have save myself significant amounts of time and stress if I had performed the due diligence and cleaned the boat properly after my holiday.