09/24 - 10/02 - Lake Powell 2010

No prop change for us on our CD22 from Yellowstone to Powell to sea level. Yellowstone close to home so less goodies to bring. Powell a little further and more stuff in the boat and sea level generally means a long cruise with max load. End up with a max of about 20 mph and never desired more speed. Would rather have had more time in the past to do even more displacement speed cruising.
 
I take my 22' out on Powell every month of the year, rain, snow, or shine. I've learned a lot about the Lake over the last 3 years. Can't promise to make the annual C-Brats round up there but would be happy to provide info and answer questions if I can.

Will try and post some pics in my gallery.

Westfield 11: There are many storage areas in Page. I suggest Antelope Recreation on Coppermine Rd. http://www.lakepowellstorage.com/ Cost is $95/mo for a covered space and about $135 for an enclosed spot.
 
I just received my Stan Jones Lake Powell map yesterday. Although I've been to points on Lake Powell I never realized how large and sprawling a body it is. Still awaiting arival of the cruising guide that has been recommended here.

If we go out in September we'll probably stay for a few weeks. We're eagerly following this thread.

Harper
 
I just found this on Seattle craigslist. It will make someone a good deal on a beginner kayak.
Terry

Pelican Pursuit 10' Kayak - $200 (Seatac Airport)

10 Foot Pelican Pursuit 100 Kayak. Solid blue. TWO AVAILABLE. Great kayak for beginners! It is short and wide, so it minimizes tipping. It comes with water proof hatch, carrying/hanging hooks and an oar. I only used mine only three times, the other only used twice, and am now moving away from the ocean. We are the original owners and they were very well taken care of. They are two years old. There is a kayak car carrier and spray skirt for one. Please contact if you are interested in one or both. 2 minutes from the airport. $200 cash for one or $400 both. Cash or money order. These retail new for $350 each.

sale-jezby-1642838405@craigslist.org
 
OK, just sent an email to the seller, we WANT these, will come and get today if he is home!

Rock-C":1ddc898v said:
I just found this on Seattle craigslist. It will make someone a good deal on a beginner kayak.
Terry

Pelican Pursuit 10' Kayak - $200 (Seatac Airport)

10 Foot Pelican Pursuit 100 Kayak. Solid blue. TWO AVAILABLE. Great kayak for beginners! It is short and wide, so it minimizes tipping. It comes with water proof hatch, carrying/hanging hooks and an oar. I only used mine only three times, the other only used twice, and am now moving away from the ocean. We are the original owners and they were very well taken care of. They are two years old. There is a kayak car carrier and spray skirt for one. Please contact if you are interested in one or both. 2 minutes from the airport. $200 cash for one or $400 both. Cash or money order. These retail new for $350 each.

sale-jezby-1642838405@craigslist.org
Click to expand...
 
The Walmart site to store price is $299, and there would be sales tax, so two for $400, right here right now, seems to be pretty good. However the Craigslist seller has not called or emailed in response to my email yet. So how can Academy Sports sell this item for $100 less than Walmart??

Discovery":161xmgnp said:
Maybe they (Pelican 100's) retail for $350 each in Seattle, but here in Texas the every day price is $199 at Academy Sports. That is without the paddles. So it sounds like a good deal. Also no tax on the private sale.
http://www.academy.com/index.php?page=content&target=products/outdoors/marine/kayaks
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I was reading the water predictions for San Diego this year and I thought to go look at the Lake Powell water data. Looks like 9 ft higher than last year at this time. Good news for the Castle Rock cutoff and our September cruise, eh?

Some of the lake walls are vertical, which would mean each foot of elevation would be the same amount of water increase, but most of the lake shores are sloped pretty flat, so every foot it goes up takes a lot more water than the previous foot.

For instance, the lake is 56% full, but only 80 ft down from max. If it had vertical walls everywhere, 50% full would mean a lake in the 160 ft depth range, but of course we know it goes several hundred feet in places.

Even though the snow pack is a little better than average this year, it doesn't come near making up for a decade long drought. We'll still have moderate rationing here in SoCal.

-Jeff
 
The total snowpack for all drainages feeding Lake Powell is at 84% of average for April 2nd. The El Nino system put more snow in the southern drainages but less in the north.
 
Looks like we will be returning to our place in AZ in about May ... with "Katmai" in tow. (Yeah!!!) If we're there in September there is a Very good chance I(we?) will be amongst "the Group." (I'm quietly working in that direction.)

During a recent conversation with the Admiral about Powell, I mentioned the lake level, the Warm Spring's cutoff, etc. Sandy asked what the lake level was at Hite ... and my response: "...it's the same as Wahweap, but the building are now farther from the water..." didn't go over very well. Did I miss something?

Best,
Casey
 
Casey":1aitfoyv said:
Looks like we will be returning to our place in AZ in about May ... with "Katmai" in tow. (Yeah!!!) If we're there in September there is a Very good chance I(we?) will be amongst "the Group." (I'm quietly working in that direction.)

During a recent conversation with the Admiral about Powell, I mentioned the lake level, the Warm Spring's cutoff, etc. Sandy asked what the lake level was at Hite ... and my response: "...it's the same as Wahweap, but the building are now farther from the water..." didn't go over very well. Did I miss something?

Best,
Casey
Click to expand...

How long have you two been married??? The proper answer is: "The level is up, DEAR."

8)
 
Following up on the prop discussion relative to smaller engines on CD-25's.

Frequent Sea has a Honda 130 and was performing fairly well with a 3-blade 14X13 prop.

The engine was mounted a bit low on the transom with the permatrim maybe 1-1/2 to 2 inches below the hull.

We raised the engine one notch on the mounting bracket and that brought the permatrim/anti-ventilation plate very close to optimal position.

As for the prop we dropped down to a 14X11.

Result? I think we are tweaking every bit out of the little Honda now that we can get and it seems to be running much more efficiently.

WOT rpm increased from about 5000 to 5800, speed increased to about 22-23 mph. This with full water and fuel tanks and fully loaded with lots o' stuff. Didn't have much time on the water last trip but seems like we were doing around 15-17 mph at around 5000 rpm. Not bad for fully loaded on a 130 hp engine.

This result is close to what I was hoping for. What I didn't realize or expect was a fairly marked improvement in response and handling. At slower cruise just on plane the boat does not wallow around when you hit rougher water, take a hard turn or hit the soup from way too many boats in a hurry in close quarters. It stays up on plane, responds quickly to a little extra throttle, just handles better. Also the motor feels like it's happier. Before it always felt and sounded like it was laboring a bit. Now it just runs right out and feels smoother somehow. It seems to want the motor trimmed all the way down now but I don't have to use as much tab. I know these last comments are not really hard, quantitative performance stats, but I don't really know how else to describe the change in handling. It's good. I like it.

I still think it's just remarkable how well this little Honda 130 does at this elevation and with this much boat. Since we putt around at displacement speed most of the time any way it's working out pretty well, and when you show up at the gas dock for 30-35 gallons after a 150 mile cruise it's REALLY sweet!
 
Lets get the dates together for the Sept Powell run. Looks like we will put in at Bullfrog.
 
Chris made a post back on page one of this thread and he said Sep 25 for the Oak Canyon rendevous. He said he'd be pulling out on Oct 1 or 2. I plan to more or less match his schedule.

I like his idea of not setting another rendevous obligation also. Good to be flexible. People who've just missed the Sep 25 date looking for us on the lake could almost certainly catch up with someone at Dangling Rope any time near that date. Whenever a group's near there, people are constantly popping in and out of that marina for fuel, ice cream, ice, etc.

-Jeff
 
Communication on Lake Powell can be difficult--the VHF range is limited by the canyons. There is one cell tower which has good Verizon signals many places on the middle of the lake.

I wonder if you might have one person who would give his cell number to the others who might want to catch up with the group and a message could be left on that one phone's answering message?

We were with the group at Oak Creek Canyon, and had to leave to meet relitatives, Two days later we wanted to rejoin the group--and met several other C Dories who also wanted to join up and could not find the main group of C Dories, despite frequent radio requests on Channel 16.
 
Whenever we are in sight of Navajo Mountatin, I will probably connect to C-Brats and post an update...PM if you want our cell as well, I think exchanging cell numbers by PM is a great idea.
 
There are also a cell antennas on the lodge at bullfrog painted red to hide them from sight. I believe these are AT&T towers. Sometime it is easier to get a text message to go, it will send as soon as it catches a signal.
 
Our carrier pigeons have worked great - the most reliable we nickname ATeeNTee.
 
Right near the middle of the lake, where the Escalante arm branches off (or maybe it was just south of there where the San Juan arm branches) I got great AT&T iPhone reception last year. I think it was the Escalante. I remember drifting for a while there two years ago near "Thataway" Bob and his wife while everyone caught up on phone traffic. Could it have been three years?

-Jeff
 
We are starting our planning for the Lake Powell trip and need advice about Navionics charts. We have a Raymarine C-80 chart plotter and it appears that the Hot Maps West edition is the one we need but is there a significant difference between the Hot Maps, Hot maps Gold, and Hot maps Premium as far as Lake Powell charts are concerned? Plus, do we need to get the latest, 2010, edition or will a 2009, 2008 edition be OK?

Thanks for your advice.
 
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