5/7/19 – Today is Kit Shirley’s 3rd birthday! She celebrated by eating cupcakes with her friends and listening to her favorite musician, Bob Marley. The crew also made Kit a treasure map, which led her on a fun scavenger hunt around Sawbill – thanks team!
Another cause for celebration was the annual opening of the Sawbill Beach Club! A quick dip was followed by a toasty sauna.
-Clare
May 6, 2019 – Yesterday evening we watched as a steady north wind blew the remaining floating chunk of slushy ice south to Sawbill’s outlet at Sawbill creek. Kawishiwi and Baker Lakes are also out. Brule and Alton are still locked up with ice. Welcome to paddling season!
-Dan
5/3/19 – Cold and snowy would aptly summarize the past few days, but lucky for us the tides seemed to have shifted, at least for now. Current conditions include sunshine, a steady warm breeze, and a temperature of 45 degrees. We still have a few inches of snow on the ground, but it is dwindling fast. -Jessica
4/30/19 – It seems we have the dubious distinction this morning of having received the most snow in the spring storm yesterday! With just short of 16 inches falling throughout the day, we had to scramble to dig out the shovels we had stored away for the year. While we practice patience waiting for it to melt, we are focusing on cleaning our indoor spaces, repairing gear, pricing new inventory, and of course utilizing our wood fired sauna to boost morale.
While the forecast is calling for a high around 38 degrees for the next few days, things should warm up again on Friday. Once the weather turns back in our favor melting happens quickly up here. We are hoping to be on the water around the end of the first week of May. Stay tuned!
-Clare
4/28/19 – Measuring the ice is a time honored tradition for new Sawbill crewmembers. This week we welcomed Allison, a recent graduate of UW Eau Claire, for her first season at Sawbill.
It’s been sunny and windy, two key components of ice out, although it has been getting down to 27 degrees at night still.
As of this morning, the ice is measuring at 11 inches thick, with roughly 3 of those inches being clear ice. The rest is a sloppy mix of slush, candled ice, and water.
The crew did an ice-out check on a couple of lakes in the area yesterday evening. It’s a tough job, but someone’s gotta do it. They report that Baker lake is officially ice free and Crescent lake is not far behind.
Happy Spring!
-Clare
4/26/19 – The lake is finally starting to show signs of melting. The last few days we’ve noticed quite a bit of slush on the lake along with the steady growth of open water near the Sawbill Creek outlet. Yesterday we measured 17 inches from the bottom of the ice to the top of the slush. About 8 of those inches were clear ice, while the top 9 inches seemed to be candled and slushy. -Jessica
4/21/2019 – Kit and Huckleberry led a tour down to the lake and along the lake path today. Follow along as they show the current snow depths and how a large puddle is forming on Sawbill Lake. Ice out should be happening in a number of days.
-Dan
4/16/19 – Last week I was in Minneapolis to attend the NCAA Final Four with my mom and Grandpa. My 93 year old grandfather has been attending the Final Four for 50 years. He was a high school administrator and coach in Montana for many years. My mom has been attending Final Fours with him for the past 25 years. With the event being held just down the road this year it was a good opportunity to join them.
While in Minneapolis, I had the great fortune of getting together with Sawbill Alum, Pat Nash, who I worked with in 2009. Also joining in the improptu reunion were my brother in law Adam Hansen, of considerable Sawbill fame, and Lisa Burtch and their almost-one-year-old son Louis. Good times!
-Dan
4/12/2019 – In order to keep our fleet of rental canoes new and in great condition, we regularly sell off our used stock. It has been a long standing Sawbill tradition to pass along our canoes in as good of condition as we can. We strive for them to have the most functionality, longest (after) life and beauty that we can. To that end, each time a canoe is rented we provide a comprehensive tutorial to our customers on canoe-care best practices while paddling the wilderness. We also complete timely and professional repairs as needed. We think these canoes are a great value and will provide many years of paddling joy…. and no stress about getting the first scratch. See current availability here.
Kevlar is a composite material manufactured as a woven fabric. It is lightweight and very durable. Using vinyl ester or epoxy resins, layers of kevlar are laminated together inside of the boat mold and hooked up to a vacuum bag system to evenly distribute the resin and remove any excess. This allows the canoes to be constructed using the minimal amount of materials necessary to achieve ultra lightweight and structural integrity.
We rent most of our kevlar canoes for three seasons before selling them. A few are kept for a fourth season if they end up getting stuck on the bottom of the stack and don’t get used as much – or if it’s a less popular model. Prior to sale, we install new external kevlar skid plates to the bow and stern. These skid plates are custom formed to match the lines of the boat in order to provide protection in the high wear spots without excess material.
A fresh coat of resin is applied to the bottom of the canoe. This resin layer fills in all of the scratches and results in a smooth shiny finish. The areas above the fresh resin are finished with a layer of marine varnish to provide UV protection. Any other necessary repairs are also completed to return the canoe to full functionality. Any deviation from this procedure will be noted on the sale listing.
Canoes are priced based on age and condition. Price is typically reduced for older canoes and for any patches that may have been applied.
Royalex was a long standing go-to canoe construction material. It is durable, relatively light and paddles well in both rivers and lakes. The ABS plastic material was discontinued a few years ago, leaving a gap in the canoe market. After a few years of R&D, Equif Canoes developed a new ABS plastic laminate they have dubbed T-Formex. Sawbill will carry a handful of T-Formex constructed canoes, made by Wenonah in the 2019 season.
Due to the great durability of the these materials, we keep boats constructed of Royalex/T-Formex for a few years longer before selling them. Like their kevlar counterparts, we install external kevlar skid plates. We also touch up any scuffed paint and treat with 303 Protectant.
-Dan
4/12/2019 – Kit, Huckleberry and I went for a walk around the campground yesterday before this late spring storm rolled through and dropped five inches of fresh snow. While there are patches of bare ground cropping up, 12 – 24 inches of snow cover predominates. The crusty surface is strong enough to hold an adult making traversing the woods a joy. -Dan
