After our January vacation we got back to work on our McKenziacs. Here’s Lydia freehanding dagger stripes.

Then we loaded them up for a summer-in-February trip down the San Juan. Our friend Andy joined us in his Doryak, Greta. Cricket is in McKenziac number one, Torkel, which we painted with leftover shop paint. That looked okay until we picked nicer colors for Prince and Veltie. A repaint is in order.

Brad and Andy continued over to Navajo Dam (visible in background) to check out the fishing stretch. A very pretty five or ten miles.

Then it was back to the shop to teach a ten-day Doryak course.

Paul won the boat and named it after a point in Western Grand Canyon that had been marred by developement—Guano Point.

On our last day we dragged the boats out to our local puddle, Lake Mary, for a test cruise.

Of course we brought the fleet.

Meet the Flintstones

The owl and the pussycat.

Guano heading home to Durango.

We took advantage of an insanely warm day to boat a new-to-us stretch of the Verde, launching at White Bridge.

We should have brought the chain saw. There were a few portages. Luckily the boats are very light.

Brad botched a dismount above one log and took a tumble. Best bruise ever.

Jerry Briggs’s son-in-law, Bret Clark, stopped by on his way to his first ever Grand Canyon trip, hauling a new dory he built for the trip. Bret tells a good story, much as Jerry did.

March was all about building Turtle Island, a decked Chub, for Lynne.

Cricket doing some detail work in the seat hatch.

Affixing the neoprene outer chine.

We found an excellent use for Cobras!

Boat complete. Time to paint.

While Turtle Island’s paint dries we load up for a little river trip in Glen Canyon ahead of the annual Guides Training Seminar.

Motoring up for a float down.

McKenziacs are just plain silly with a motor.

It’s a mighty pretty place.