Kayaking around Tokyo Bay vol.1 / starting kayak

　A large package arrived at my house by courier. It is the Aleut 380T, a folding kayak from the Alfeq series made by Mont-bell (No.1 outdoor goods maker in Japan). It is 3.8 m long, weighs 18 kg, and designed for one or two paddlers.

　Upon opening the box, I found aluminum pipes of various shapes and sizes and a large fabric-cover folded into a rectangular shape. The instructions said, "Leave the assembly in place for a day or so to allow the fabric-cover to acclimate to the frame, which will make the next assembly easier.“

　I see. Indeed, the fabric-cover is made of a waterproof and durable, stiff polyester fiber, so if it is folded and stored away for a long time, it is likely to get "kinks" and be difficult to reassemble next time.

　OK!

  I immediately started practicing assembling it in my small house, looking at the instruction manual.　

　There are two major steps in the assembly process. The first is to assemble the frame in the shape of a boat by connecting aluminum pipe parts, and the second is to place the assembled frame inside the fabric-cover.

   As with assembling the tent, assembling the frame is no problem if you follow the instructions correctly, but I made a number of mistakes during the assembly process and had to go back and redo the process, which in the end took 20 minutes (the instructions say '9 minutes' for the 'whole process' including the fabric cover part!).

　The next step was to press the assembled frame into the fabric-cover, which was supposed to be as simple as putting a foot in a shoe. However, I struggled to align the vertical centerlines (connecting the bow and stern) the frame and the fabric-cover . I had to align the bottom pipe of the frame with the groove (keel rail) in the bottom of the fabric-cover and push the frame forward while sliding it over the rail, but the further I went toward the bow, the more the center line became slightly off.

(This problem went away as I got used to the assembly.)

　By the time the boat finally appeared, an hour after assembly began, I was sweating a lot and my legs and feet were wobbly.

   good exercise !

(to be continued...)