boat repair and rigging

This past weekend, I spent some time outfitting my playboat (RAD 195), with the help of Oly's plasma cutting torch. I decreased the foot foam, moved the seat forward, and shimmed the back of the seat padding with some minicell wedges. Once I'm happy with the existing rigging, I will add knee blocks and possibly shaped hip foam instead of the Bliss-Stick "pouch" hip padding system. Taking off the Easy Fork of the Lewis after a test run, I joked with group member Joe that I'm evolving into a C1-er: forward in the boat, raised seat, and increased reliance on J-strokes. I do have an interest in C1, but I'm thinking I'll probably be exploring burlier Class V runs and checking out squirt boating before I go that route. Need to come up with a spare boat hull to outfit for C1 first, anyhow.

Today, I'm sending off the beloved MAC-1 (planing creeker) to The Plastic Mechanic (a.k.a. Ernie) for repair of a crack that formed beneath my left heel on a Canyon Creek WA run last month. I'll be needing a higher-volume creekboat for the impending true burl and for self-support, but I do like the MAC, and I figure it's worth half what I paid for it to repair it...especially given that I paid so little. I'm hoping Ernie's expertise and warranty will have me paddling the MAC for a while to come. I'll be adding foam to the bulkhead when I get it back, to try to avoid the downward heel pressure that seems to have caused it to crack. Ernie says he can also install something to stiffen/reinforce that area of the hull, which sounds promising.