Canoe Update

Just thought I'd mention, before I went to Cambridge, I took the canoe up the River Stour from Catterwade to Flatford and very nice it was too. I'll probably add some notes about this and other trips in later posts.

Anyway, a couple things I thought you might be interested in:

The canoe is an Old Town Pack made of the very durable Royalex material. It very tough and flexible but shows up scratches and scrapes. Also, like most other plastics, the sun can make it go dull so I've invested in a couple of spray bottles of 303 Aerospace Protectant. 

Sounds highly technical but what exactly is it I hear you say? Well, it's probably the best UV protectant you can find on the market developed in the US of A for the aerospace and aviation industries. It protects plastics, vinyls, rubber, leather and the like from UV rays but also brings them up to an as-new finish - just what you would want if you were an astronaut buzzing about in your space shuttle. Apparently it also works well on more mundane things like boats, cars, motorbikes, garden furniture, etc etc. It's not cheap (well, it wouldn't be) but works like nothing else I have ever found. Try it and see for yourself.

Anyway, a quick spray and buffing has brought the canoe up like new. 

I might try it on the Landy - it could help when I'm preparing to re-enter my parking space.

Now the bad news. After my trip up the Stour, while I was putting canoe on the Landy roof, it slipped to one side and, when I got home, I found the wicker seat had been damaged by the roof rack. 

Oh dear I thought to myself. That doesn't look very nice but I mustn't cry over split milk. Find a solution. Rather than buying a replacement at great cost, I have decided to re-upholster (?) it myself with interwoven black nylon webbing. I've only had enough time to work out how to do it so I will report back on progress. Such fun!