We got our little Walker Bay 8’ dingy in the water yesterday and let me just say it was a complete and utter FAILURE (but fun).
I’m glad the canal was empty and no one saw me get stuck in the middle. Carl had to end up walking up the canal to jump in and show me how it’s done. HA! He couldn’t sail the bloody thing either! I’m sure the bigger boat will be easier right?
Well we aren’t complete morons, well maybe we are. The previous owners or the manufactures put the top of the middle seat on wrong and it buckled a little. The middle seat is where the removable keel goes thru. You remove the keel when using the dingy as a row boat or with a motor. So we opted not to jam the thing in, bad idea! Real sailors should know that you’ll get pushed sideways without it.
So we sailed to the other side of the bank, had to get out and push it up wind in the scary snake grass. Missed the exit point by over 100 feet, the brave Captain made the matey (me) walk thru more snakey grass back to the boat to retrieve the keel. And VOILA we sailed!!!
And what is the moral of this story? If your product comes with extra parts, use them or you’ll look like a idiot!
We love this little dingy and got it at a good price (thanks ebay). We are going to invest in some tubes for the sides to make it more stable. I was able to lift it on top of my car all by myself, she’s a light little thing. It’s going to be perfect to take to the beach. It’s going to be a tight squeeze with all of us on board but the size and weight is perfect. The only negative so far is that I have sit on floor of the boat in order to sail and my butt gets wet.
A- walker bay
You can check out the walker bay sail kits here. The dingy, sail kits and tubes are all sold separately.
Carly
