A Tale of Two Screens

Magnets are cool. They aren't too cool around memory cards or smartphones or computers or video screens, but otherwise they're a lot of fun. They can make most anyone want to know more about Physics. It's Magic that one a little piece of metal can make another little piece of metal spin and twist and jump off a table to attach to the first piece.

Living in a van is living in a metal box. Metal that reacts to Magnetism. Hmmm...

K&J Magnetics is The Bomb. They sell magnets of all shapes and sizes, and strengths. And the strengths are listed! Our initial foray into magnetics consisted of sampling Home Depot's offerings, which quickly proved to be pretty much useless. We found that we like the BYO42, a 2"x1/4"/1/8" bar that is easily sewn into a fabric pocket. It has a Pull Force of 10.34 lbs, enough to hold a lot of nylon fabric.

One of our goals was  to be able to open the side and rear doors for flow through ventilation, with screens over both openings to keep the flying teeth out. We cut up a tent that we recently retired after 20+ years of use. For our first iteration Sharon went to a local shoemaker to sew some magnets in, but his long experience with leather turned out to be completely untranslatable to a thinner material.

Fortunately, our friend Barbara stepped up and offered to implement iteration 2! And she quickly proved to be well up to the task, delivering a reworked rear screen that is a vast improvement over the earlier version. It hangs lower over the bumper to better keep it from blowing open, and wider to allow us to attach the magnets and leave room to close the doors with it in place.

When Barbara went to re-implement the side screen, no one could find it! But we had another recently retired screen room that proved perfect for the side, giving us a zipper for making for easy entry and egress. It even has some ties if we want to just tie the opening open. And the magnets sewn into the fabric makes it easy to put up the whole shebang and keep it there.

We no longer are limited to Colorado and Wyoming, where there aren't enough mosquitoes and no-see-ums to be bothered by. The first test may well be our final road test next month down in St. Pete.

The rear screen hides everything below the bed

Barbara's artistry shines through all of her work

The side screen easily covers the wide doorway

Barbara's signature touch

Sharon is ready for bug-free camping

The bike/SUP drawer

The drawer that replaced the Big Black Box turned out pretty well. It holds its weight nicely, the plastic boxes fit snugly, so they won't easily get thrown around, and some velcro angle brackets left over from our old VW Sportwagen are handy to ensure that if the need arises.

Sharon loves her water sports. I don't want to tow 20+' of kayaks all over. I successfully paddled around on a SUP during our Baja Un-cruise. Ergo, we need to travel with a couple of inflatable SUPs, along with our bikes.

So I now have an Tribal Boards inflatable SUP, and Sharon will buy her own in April when it arrives. Mine currently fits on top of the three storage bins, but there isn't room there for two. So the bikes will move to an outside rack when we are toting the SUPs. But putting the SUPs in the bike area means dragging them over the axle brackets that are screwed into the floor.

To avoid the angled lifting, and because the first drawer came out so nice, I ordered another set of 40" drawer slides. To hold the bikes, the slide has to be longer than the first one, since my bike is a lot longer than four feet, and extends into the area between the wheel wells. So the shelf is 51" long for Sharon's bike, and 58" long for mine. Another issue is the height of the bed over the bikes, and my handlebars. If I mound the bike axle on the shelf normally, my stem won't clear the bed. Oops! So the front of the shelf is lower than the back to provide enough height clearance for my bike, while also making sure the axle is above the sides of the drawer so I can insert and remove the axle from the bracket. Otherwise it's the same as the first drawer. Since it will be fully extended to put the bikes on and take them off, I have to be doubly sure the far end is secure.

Making sure the bikes will fit on the shelf

The bikes fit snugly, but they fit!

Note the axle brackets just clear the sides of the drawer

Tribal Board! Quail Roost and Manatees!

I photographed the HEAL Great PV Paddle events from the initial one in 2012, and then the others in 2013, 2014, 2015, and the final one in 2016. I kayaked the first annual Crystal River Rendezvous of 50+ SUPers kayaking the Crystal River and Rainbow River. And for all this, and many other outings I've always been in my kayak with my Canon camera in a dry bag. SUPs looked nice, and my brother-in-law Tim, a life-long surfer and avid SUPer, was always respectful of my preference for sitting low in my yak and taking pictures from there.

Our Sprinter van is 23'8" long, and our kayak trailer is another 20+ feet.

Yaks and SUP ready for trailering

It's kinda fun that every turn or even lane change is a careful process making sure no curbs, tires, or other vehicles are hurt in the process. We took back roads down to Quail Roost RV Park in Crystal River, about 7 miles north of town. Google Maps says it can be done in 3 hours, but we avoided the interstates and meandered through the smaller highways, and did it in about 4. The RV Park was surprisingly nice, and they gave us an overflow spot that was so nice we'll ask for it again! 

After the long drive we wanted to stretch our legs and so we hopped back into Ernie T and drove to ride the Withlacoochee Bay Trail and enjoy a FL West Coast sunset afterwards. The trail parallels the Cross Florida Barge Canal, and the paved trail features some a native landscape of cedars and pines and marshland with a nice viewing spot of the Gulf at one end. The no-see-ums were hungry, so our time watching the sunset wasn't overly long, but long enough to find most of the unseen locals. 

Sunset along the canal near Inglis FL

Saturday morning was chilly (for us), in the upper 40s, but we hooked up our trailer for Chassahowitzka River, where we put in for a lovely 9 mile paddle. After exploring a side channel until the water ran out, we tried to reach the Gulf, but as we entered the open marsh of the National Wildlife Refuge the fierce winds at our back reminded us that we would eventually have to return across the open water. We turned short of the Gulf, and struggled against the wind on the return, though the trees on the river bank provided a sufficient break for most of the paddle. And we got to see manatees and birds and otters and turtles along with the gorgeous scenery, so overall it was a great trip.

We showered back at the RV Park before heading right back for an incredible early dinner at Peck's Old Port Cove, a seafood restaurant on the water near the end of the Ozello Trail. Grouper was the fish of the day, and between the crab chowder and the crab-stuffed blackened grouper was a culinary delight. On the way home, we stopped at John Brown Park to watch the sunset.

Sunday we met Muna at Crystal River Kayak Company for a manatee paddle. I broke out my brand new inflatable SUP, Sharon was on her foam SUP, and Muna rented a kayak. We got to see several manatees, though they were almost all in the waterways and not in their protected areas. Which was just as well, as the crowd around Three Sisters Spring was far more than reasonable. We headed behind a nearby island and explored a little channel undisturbed by the scrambling minions. The wind made the paddle to the channel pretty easy, and the return trip was more of a workout. We took a break for Muna to try out our SUPs, which she adapted to immediately and found them more amenable than a kayak. I, on the other hand, hadn't pumped up my SUP quite enough, and after paddling from the knees most of the trip I did manage to stand long enough for Sharon to get a picture of my butt before I went for a swim. (Sharon was kind enough to blame the board's softness for making it harder for me, but there is also the bigger issue of my lack of balance.)

Manatee and her baby alongside my new board

Muna joined us for a celebratory lunch at Blackwater Fins, a sister restaurant of Peck's with a different menu but at least equally delicious. Their crab bisque was the best ever. Ozello Trail is now one of my favorite roads in Florida!

Muna and Sharon at Blackwater Fins

More pictures of the weekend are here.