After whipping up a one sheet skiff described in one of the previous blogs it was time to test it out on the water.
The Googong Reservoir is one of the main water catchments for drinking water in the ACT. The build-up of water created by the Googong Dam makes for an impressive man-made water body covering 1,720 acres.
Although water contact with humans and animals is not allowed boating is permitted provided there is no use of fossil fuel motors. This makes for a massive area to explore and as part of the Namadji National Park, the area is filled with land and aquatic wildlife.
Initially, the plan was to pose for photos and get out of there but it didn't take long to wonder what was around the next corner, how fast I could get the boat to row, and suddenly I had a couple of kilometres under my belt. Very enjoyable boating.
Although this is a man-made waterbody this is a perfect example of the nearly infinite amount of inland waterways found throughout this country. Inland or on the seas, lifejackets save lives. On this day we used the Axis Waist Belt PFD which may not seem like much but is a solid reserve of floatation if deployed.
The boat evidently worked out quite nicely but I did feel that the sides of the boat could be a bit deeper to give more freeboard. Given the limitations of one sheet of plywood, this means the boat would be slightly skinnier but a fair compromise. I should probably note that this is possibly more attuned to my situation weighing in personally at 110kg.
While I did bring a Minn Kota 45lb trolling motor to see how the boat goes with an outboard I forgot the screws which attach the battery to the motor... Given how well the boat rowed I'm sure it would have been fine with the outboard. Although we do not recommend it, the flat bottom of these boats makes it very easy to get up on the plane which means some people love to strap massive outboards on the transom.