Removing a dent from a Pyranha Burn 
Nant Y Gwryd swim.. 

So I have Decided to write a blog on how I removed my dent from my Pyranha Burn. First of all I shall tell you how to boat became dented. Lovely morning to travel to wales, meeting everyone next to the ogwen (which was high) we decided to go to the Nant Y Gwryd, after a small drive in the rain we made it to a super windy lay by, kitted up and got on this small ditch which ran through some field's, this river was also High (we were paddeling over sheep fences) first section was fun nice an bouncy, turned the next corner to find eight of us all bouncing down this continuous section, Adam took a swim, myself and Andy were chasing his boat, until I was knocked of line and hit a small rock, next minute I was upside down on a small rocky slab.. witch led to me swimming (not the nicest swim I v'e ever had!!)  the boat and my paddle were of down stream and were kindly recovered by my friends, the front of the burns nose was dented and had a small split. paddle had no damage. 

The Dent..

So this was my little Sunday afternoon challenge, I was given a few tips from some friends who's boats had been dented in the past, so it was time for me to have a go.


First thing I did was rigged up something for the Burn to hang from in the garden, this wasn't very hard and didn't take long, I used two slings.

Before I put the boat on it I did remove the foot plate and the grab handle, here is a photo of what I removed and the tools I used. 

Tools I used.

1inch nut to hold the grab handle
spanner also for the Grab handle
2 spanners 
and a screw driver 




Footrest 
Grab handle 
Foam from front support. 

Heating the noes up wasn't so hard, the dent took about 2 hours to completely pop out which was 8 kettle trips, I filled the gab handle holes in with blue tack which worked out quite well. 

Towards the end the dent did become rather small and it was horrible waiting, for it to pop out so just to encourage it I was told heating the outside can help to, so I set my small gas cooker up underneath it to add that extra heat. If you have a dent and you aim to remove it using this technique please make sure you DO NOT make the plastic bubble on the outside.. that is what you call melting! 

After I did this it didn't take long to pop out! 
Here is a photo of the finished results, I think i did a pretty good job myself! 

Thank You for reading my Blog, I really do hope that some of the info has helped and you can use some of these ideas if this happens to you or a friend! 

Chris :) 

A Saturday in Welsh Whitewater!

So i spent this Saturday 12th May in beautiful welsh land!  on beautiful welsh water! 


Nice early start, up at 5:00am to be picked up from my house by Robert Grimshaw (Grimmy), after loading the car and realizing grimmy had left his paddle at home and a 2 hour-ish car journy to Welsh land! 


Arriving at betws-y-coed at 8:30 to meet the rest of the crew! 
Crew - Grimmy, Mike Hatton, Ieuan Belshaw, Zak and Fraz Marr.


We all discussed what rivers would have flow.. thinking because of all the rain we had, had the rivers must have water in them.. we were slightly wrong. We parked up at the Lledr witch looked low from the bank but was still do-able, we all agreed that we would do it anyhow, after kitting up in a layby at the side of the road we were ready. 


The walk to the get in was nice and after everyone had turned there Go-Pro's on and sorted there Faff out we were all ready. The first section of the river was nice, Zak lead the way, really nice chilled out section of the river, as we all eddy hoped down. This section ended in a nice flat pool which was nice to practice rolls and cool off. 


The next section was a scrape, witch lead up to the grade 5 rapid we all got out and had a good look, because the water was low it brought out some nasty looking rocks/undercuts. We all desided to portage this one. The rest of the river was nice some nice little boof ledges nice rocky bolder garden witch fraz cracked under the seat of his burn on, we all got out at the get out bridge walked back up to the shuttle car, semi de-kitted and discussed what were were going to next! 

The Upper Goedal Scout!

We decided to have a look at the Goedal to see if it had any flow.. it didn't. so we had a look at the upper! were we found a 60fter, this is something that is a must for the future!

Lower Cynfal waterfall fun! 

After Iuean talked us all into how fun the lower cynfal was we desided to have a go at it. After checking the levels on the bridge it looked like you could float. So we semi - kitted up in an layby and started the walk in (I am seriously un-fit!). Got to the top we had to scramble down a very slippy bank to a small beach. We all fully kitted up and paddled over to the first pile of trees in the river that we had to portage. Iuean was the only person that was enjoying this bit. everyone else was slightly annoyed, we all thought the rest of the river was going to be like this, it wasn't! after portaging this there was a small rapid and the first horizon line. we all climbed out of our boats and up a very steep and slippy gorge wall. Zak and mike went on ahead to see what else there was. Mike calls across to me and Grimmy asking for a rope, after iuean gave me a 20m rope i scrambles over to Zak and Mike, we used the rope as a guide down a super slippy hill. to what appeared to be two waterfalls! 

Chris Jackson - Sweet Shadrach Goretex Dry Top

So i have recently bought the Sweet Shadrach Goretex Dry Top from robinhood watersports. As i have never owned a Goretex dry top before i had to try it out! Myself and a few friends including RGphotoUK went down to Llangolen in Wales to have a play on the river Dee.

The Shadrach is really comfy to wear, you have a lot of freedom and movement unlike some dry tops were it can be hard to twist and stretch. The neoprene cuffs and neck seal latex covers are nice a comfy unlike some dry tops i have worn were they can rub on your neck! overall i really like this dry top, it is defiantly money well spent! 

Here are some photos of the Shadrach in use! 

Thanks to RGphotUK for the Photos ---  http://www.facebook.com/RGphotoUK

Thank you for reading my blog Please check out my facebook page for all the latest videos and photos - http://www.facebook.com/pages/Chriskayakers-Youtube-Channel/252188428155464 

Sunday Bimble on the Burrs..

On Sunday 26Th Feb, we decided to meet up at the burrs for a nice chilled day, we arrived to find that a uni group were having a meet up and all so met Big Dog kayaks there.. we spent the morning doing the usual messing about, practicing different moves.. here are some photos of the morning!

                                                        Chris Jackson -- Stern squirt!

                                           Robert Grimshaw -- Stern Squirt

                                         Adam Bannister -- Having a surf

BIG DOG KAYAKS DEMO!

In the afternoon I decided to demo out the Big Dog Kaos. This was the first time i have been in a Big Dog play boat, nice boat easy to throw around, nice and stable when surfing... was nice to be in something different!

Thanks To RGphotoUK -- http://www.facebook.com/RGphotoUK  For the photos!
Thanks to Big Dog --http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001537902275&ref=ts For the demo boats!

Weekend in Dartmoor..

DEVON EAST LYN

So i spent this weekend down in Dartmoor, meeting up with some friends we met through Northwest Kayakers Facebook page.
After a long drive on Friday night we arrived in Devon meeting up near the East Lyn river, after a cold night sleeping in a car we had a early start, waking up to a beautiful area, after a bowl of warm spaghetti we were all ready to go boating!

The East Lyn starts of nice and easy.. nice small rapids to warm up on some small drops and a bit of rock bashing, we then got out on the right this was above the double drop, after having a look at it i came to the decision to portage and take video of Mike and Zak run it they both had nice clean lines. got back in paddled around the corner and find Zak swimming (on the flat) * Muppet*. The next section was nice we decided to split our selves into groups because the size of the eddys wouldn't have fitted all seven of us in. Just before we get to the gorge we had a play on the two drops on Horoak water. the next section was a nice to eddy hop down with some sweet little boofs here and there. The next section was the gorge, after getting out and inspecting we all took turns on safety, because of the water level some of  the lines were a scrape however still a good level, first section was good.. coming up towards the lip of the next section knowing that i need to boof and missed the boof luckely i wasn't pulled in the the hole, the next section i no were i wanted to be, all the way over to the left to scrape the undercut and lift the noes of my boat on to the boil, however my plan did not work, lost all my speed when i hit the boil and got sent over to the right were i had to go down a small slot. Everyone else had a really nice clean line through this section. after everyone had ran it and was back in there boats we headed on down. next section was good for most of us.. Tony took this section backwards which resulted in a swim and a broken paddle. Towards the end of the gorge was really nice grade 2/3 bounce down to the car.
really nice morning out boating!

Photos of the East Lyn

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhsneUJ6SUI     --- Check out the videos of the East Lyn!

The East Lyn is worth it! something to come beck to in the future!

after some food and a drive we got to the Dart, getting on the water at 3:00 knowing it will go dark soon we had a blast.

UPPER DART...
For my first run of the upper dart it was fun however it was a scrape! nice fun bimble with one swim from Steve a rescue and a funny seal launch of Zak.
Really good days boating! accept for the dart being so low. i can see why it would be fun in higher water..!

We all earned some food and beer! stood in for pyranha's talk which was sweet and nice to learn some history.

Sunday, we decided the dart was too low to paddle so we drove home.. Sweet weekend! defiantly go back and paddle it all with more water!

Thank you for reading, video and pictures will be up later in the week!
Big thanks to Marcus and Tony who lead us through the East Lyn. and the rest of the crew for a top
weekend!

Wet West Paddle Fest 24th/25th September 2011

So on Friday  night at 6:00pm myself, Mike Hatton and Robert Grimshaw set of to the Wet West Paddle Fest (WWPF) held in Scotland on the Morriston and the Garry.


We arrived in Scotland at 12:30am and set the tents up in some serious rain and wind on the Glen Etive road. So after some sleep some beans and sausages we set off to the Moriston, stopping of at Morrison's on the way, we arrived at Morrison's to find that all the other kayaks had had the same idea. A hour later we arrived at the WWPF parked up and walked about talking to the Pyranha team and F-I-U fire it up, Then we decided to go boating. after kitting up and getting a mini buss to the top we got on the Morison, this is a grade 4 river with a grade 5, so we go on the water paddled down to the eddy above the drop had a look at the drop and i decided id go first, had a nice line down the drop, mike and rob also had clean lines. we then met this bloke who told me what the rest of the rive was like and said he would guide us down if we wanted, i said yes and we then followed we all had nice clean lines on the next two rapids, whilst waiting in a big eddy we met up with some of the guys from North West Kayaker's (facebook group) i went to have a look at the next rapid to come back to see one of the lads in the group had had a nasty swim. I then decided to follow Lee down the next few rapids, i had a nice boof and a clean line through the rest. I then walked to the get out to watch Mike and Rob come down, Rob had capsized and lost his paddle after a hand roll  attempt Mike decided to try a T rescue which worked. Rob sat in an eddy an was hoping someone would find his paddle. paddle was found and he successfully paddled the rest of the river. We were then able to catch the last shuttle bus back up to the car park, however we didn't get a chance to run the lower. We decided to go and get changed and find some were to camp, after a pub meal and some beers we hit the pillow for the night. waking up to the sound of wind and rain, we packed up and moved down the road to have a play on the Allt Mheurun after walking down and then up to the river we had a nice 10 seconds of fun each. and then walked back to the car, de-kited a bit and drove down the road the Allt Chaoruinn after a 20minute walk in we found the trib to be on a medium to high level, we got on and i swam on the first drop, Mike and Rob had nice lines, we then moved on around the corner to the slides, i went first and made the eddy to watch Rob come down, he then had fun in a stopper and mike kindly pulled him out, Mike had a nice clean line down the slide and then we all met up in the pool in the bottom, we didn't run pinball or casum because they looked evil. we then decided to go, got to the car sorted everything out and headed back having a nice KFC on the way. 


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17th September Lower Prysor trip

On Saturday myself and some friends headed to wales to find some water, we met up with Ieuan Belshaw at the Tryweryn white water center and then headed to the Prysor dam to check the levels. Ieuan said it was "good to go" so Ieuan made some calls and got some more people, we drove back to the car park to walk down and have a look at the Cresta run, huge was and under statement to what it was! then we met back up with Ieuan and he had Beth and lee with him, we all decided to paddle it.... so we got on at about 11:00 Ieuan led the way as he was the last person to run it, there are two portages at the beginning of the river, and then just after them there is the first fall and slide. we all had a look at it and decided on the order to run it, Ieuan went first and i followed, behind me there was Mike and then Beth and the Lee i had a good line and then hit the wall above the drop which sent me to the left. the falling bit was easy and then i had to make sure i kept my edge lifted however i caught and edge and went over just above the slide. i rolled up on the lip of the slide. then in the pool of the slide we noticed something had happened as there was only myself, Lee and Beth, it turned out mike had taken a swim.. and ieuan was helping him out, Beth went to get out and help whilst me and Lee compared rivers we had paddled and waited for mikes boat to come down.after all this we carried on with the rest of the river mike was fine just tired from swimming and his boat had a dent in the back end of it, the next few drops were good however there were quite a lot of trees in the river, the secound to last drop, had a quite flat lead in and a fair bit of tow back in the pool, good fun though.. just like to say thanks to Ieuan for leading and Beth, Mike and Lee for the paddle :) 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uj1h2PLDZCU&feature=channel_video_title