Succesful Maiden Voyage

Well after spending many nights reading here, i finally took the ODC420 out for it's maiden voyage this weekend. Went with an experienced tuber to show me the ropes. IT WAS A BLAST !! Walking backwards in the fins took a few minutes to get used to, and my entrance into the tube was less than graceful, but i made it !! Then i had to figure out how to not go in cirlces and get her moving in a straight line. After about an hour or so we were tooling around the pond with ease, and picking some bass to boot !
Two points i'd like to share. First, I had the most sucess 'trolling' a yum dinger along the edge. With all the float tube mods i've read about on here, somebody has to come up with a rear view mirror because my sides are killing me from always turning around to make sure i wasn't going to crash into something !! Of course this is tongue in cheek.
Second, and this was serious to me, was on my second voyage, while out after dinner, the temperature started to drop and the air pressure was diving. At one point i noticed i was having a little trouble moving along. When i looked down i noticed my lap was full of water, i was sinking ! The air in the bladders decreased a LOT to the point where they were very soft. I had to pull ashore and just blow a couple of puffs in there and i was back in shape. It reminded me that even though your in a beautiful, quiet place, you should always be paying attention to what is going on. Luckily i was along the edge so it wasn't a problem, but if was in the middle of the pond, i would have been VERY nervous. the life vest was money well spent already, just to have that thought in my mind.

SORRY to be so long winded. Tubing is a GAS !!!

Jim

First times are like that, I had to contain myself so I didn't write something even longer than you did. Glad you had fun! Great tube choice too btw
Always be mindful of the temperature, Cold will decrease your air pressure, and hot will increase it. I'm starting to learn that myself. As for the turning around part, that part you'll get used to, unless you come up with that rearview mirror idea, I'm sure we'd all like to see one!

awesome report on your first tube sesion!!!! And yeah, that mirror idea has popped my mind a few times LOL

Congrats on the maiden voyage. Aside from springing a leak, the change in temperature is the main reason I carry a pump while tubing.

I think everyone has gone thru that. On my first launch i slipped and my tube went into the water away from me. Luckily my co-pilot @socalfishkilla had already launched and helped me retrieve my tube. Close call. My launches now a days are more succesful. After a few outings my steering and control of my float tube are second nature. Like riding a bike. Good luck. Tight lines.

awesome glad u had a fun time out there everything will get better and alot more fun

Congrats on the fun on the water. Take a few self-portraits and post!

Wow, thanks for the kind words !! I thought about shooting a video, but i was afraid it would end up on 'Americas funniest home videos' So i passed !!! I'll probably shoot one in the futre though . I have to be honest, the ODC420 was kind of an impulse buy at the time, i didn't know the first thing about them at the time other than i have a friend who has a tube and said i should get one. I got it brand new for $125 and after doing some reading on it and seeing the original price i figured ' this sounds like a deal to me' !! Glad i bought it becuase it does seem to get a lot of positive reviews. I have no idea how i'm going to get any work done around the house this summer or any guitars built because i'm going to want to sneak down to one of the local ponds as often as i can !!

Unless you're dragging your float out of the water after swimming the freestyle for the past 100 yards, and having that on video, yeah..otherwise, there's no way we can make fun of you..or can we?