Tallpine said:
That's a lot of travel time in a boat that small even assuming you have smooth sailing. Have you ever done this trip before and do you know what to expect in terms of camping spots, fuel supply and such.
Ive run a 16 mile stretch of this river up to the Canadian Border twice from Bonner's Ferry. It sucks because the fishing gets really good just as Border Patrol starts hollering to turn your *** around.... I'm not first-hand familiar with the Canadian side but talking to some locals and Canadians makes it seem fairly straight forward. Should be lots of shore camping by then, especially with the ridiculously small snow-pack we got this year.
I should probably mention at this point that I will be following a 1752 with a 50 hp on it that concerns me a bit about fuel. It also has a 24 gallon fuel cell. From what Ive been told and can mostly confirm on the internet, there arent any jaunts between available gas much longer than 30 miles. He (my father) can haul a lot of the heavier stuff and I'm mostly hauling a large tent and fishing gear. I figure 2 6 Gallon cans will easily cover that distance with plenty of margin for error. I read the 18hp eats about 2 gallons an hour at cruise, I wont need nearly that much rpm to push the 14' at 8-10mph.
This will be my longest small craft trip. Ive done some 40 mile days in and out of the Chesapeake Bay in a 13' Whaler but that's pretty open water. Even most of the brackish rivers had good depth and little to collide with, aside from other boaters. The Kootenai river winds and deepens and shallows and has rocks and crayfish in it. I secured 2 weeks off work so there really isn't a huge rush to get to Kootenay Lake. 4 days up and 4 days back would still give us 6 days on the Lake. I don't think 30 miles a day is pushing it much.
Maybe I'm being Naive about this so please let me know if there is a part of my thought process that I need to reconsider.
Heres a few pics of that 12 footer that I think I'm done messing with (For now). I beefed the hell out of the Transom with some .125 6061 Plate and new wood, to make running the 18 hp a little more feasible. Im thinking of further bracing the transom to the gunwales with some 1" tube, not real sure that's necessary yet. I need to extend the cables on the transom trolling motor so I can get the battery right up in the nose. That, along with a cooler and anchor, will probably keep the front end down(I think). The previous owner stated he had to put his grandson as far forward as possible to use more than 1/3 throttle. This should be fun....