The ocean is the greatest asset on our planet.

We should call our home Water, not Earth.  

Hi,
My name is Ray and I live in Adelaide, South Australia.  Adelaide is a cosmopolitan city of about 1.3 million people and enjoys a mediterranean climate similar to that of Los Angeles.  Within 30 minutes drive from my home, I have access to white sandy beaches, salt water estuaries, man-made tidal lakes and mangrove flats.  One hour's drive and I have access to Australia's longest river, the River Murray.

is this the world's best local fishing site?

Feeding time calculator

My kayak is old but professionally built from GRP.  I am its third owner and it has seen a lot of hard use from all three owners.  It is, however, sturdily built and very stable. 

DIMENSIONS: Length :   13 feet Width :     2 feet Weight :  42 lbs.   FISHING MODIFICATIONS.

I do all of the design and construction myself because I enjoy the intellectual challenge of design and the physical challenge of construction.  Besides, it saves me money.  OK, my finished product may not be to professional standard but it works and if I don't like an aspect of it, I can change it.

As the kayak was originally designed for white-water use it had two knee pads in the cockpit so that the paddler could "lock" into the kayak.  I cut these off to give more room for my knees. 

Two tackle boxes are bolted onto the front of the cockpit to bring my tackle within easy reach and to provide a mounting place for the fish finder.

The blunt bow and stern have been reshaped with body filler and fibreglass to improve the hull performance and to reduce the effort on my old muscles. 

An aluminium rudder has been attached using automotive body filler and fibreglass resin.  
Aluminium pedals and foot rest complete the steering mechanism. 

Why fit a rudder to a kayak designed to turn easily you may ask?  I wanted the rods to be within easy reach but found that when turning without a rudder, the paddle would sometimes strike them.  Normal forward paddling was OK and so I fitted a rudder to avoid damaging my reels with the paddle.   One day I hope to hook into something so big that I will need the rudder to help keep it under control.

A two rod holder is fitted in front of the cockpit.    The first one crumpled badly on the first decent strike and so "back to the ol' drawing board".  Aluminium plates under the deck help distribute the loads from the rods.

A triple-A-battery powered fish finder spies on the underwater world for me.  It is simple to operate and does not need a large external battery. A sandwich bag keeps the paddle splash off.

The paddle stowage is just aluminium strap bent to shape.

The anchor is a home-made grapnel made of half inch iron rod.   A plywood line-holder near the cockpit allows me to set the length of the anchor cord and keeps the cord neat at all times.  A ring on a lanyard allows me to bring the anchor alongside for deck stowage.