I purchased a Northstar Landick2 canoe from Some Beach Outfitters earlier this year. I’ve paddled the boat a few times and I enjoy its potential. Part of its potential is outfitting it the way that I enjoy best. Not being a purist and focusing on paddle racing, I realized I didn’t enjoy the boat without a rudder. While I can paddle it without one, I know it’ll be faster when I can focus on forward strokes. This brings me to today. Llama Racks out of Kansas City is the best local place to have a rudder installed. Ryan and Ryan have been serving the Midwest paddlers well. I’m nervous to put any new holes in my new boat, so I would pay somebody to do it that has done hundreds of rudders. I had an appointment for today.
I went to my dad’s house on Friday night since I’m from St. Louis. Dad’s by himself now, so visiting him is great for his mental health and I really like hanging out with him. We had a nice evening catching up on life and just being together in person. I asked dad if he wanted to make the trip with me to Llama Racks to drop off the boat on Saturday. Then we could hang out before picking up the boat approximately 2 hours later. Dad agreed.
Boat before heading out to KC.
The drive from dad’s house to Llama Racks was approximately 45 minutes. When we arrived, I knew it was the right place based on the boats and vehicles in the driveway. We parked and met Ryan. We discussed boats and Llama Racks. Before I left, I realized I would be purchasing different ends to my rack to help haul the boat. An ATM was in my future.
With the boat settled, Dad and I took off on a leisurely drive to nearby Missouri City, Missouri. Dad has previously gone there during the MR340 to get near the bank and cheer us on. Its a bit out of the way and I wanted to check it out. I was hoping there would be a coffee shop we could sit at and spend the morning. It turns out its a very small town. There were several small houses, but no retail business I could see. We went by the river, but there is a train track between the town and the river. Dad said they did have to find their way to the river.
This trip was a bust, but I was spending time with dad. We drove leisurely back to Liberty, Missouri to wait. We stumbled upon a small market around the town square. Dad and I walked around and purchased a few food items for later. Last measure was to get a bit of coffee. We tried a gas station and it didn’t have coffee. Finally we went to Culver’s drive through. They had coffee, but it took about 15 minutes after we ordered before it came out.
While in line, we got the call that the boat was ready. With coffee in hand, we headed back to Llama Racks. There, I reviewed the rudder install. It was exactly what I hoped it would be. Then Ryan finished building the “Humunga” ends that would go on my existing Llama rack. He test fit them till they were perfect and adjusted them to fit the Landick.
Dad and I got back to the house around 2pm and the boat looked fantastic on the new rack with the rudder.
This was an ideal weekend for me. Time with Dad, and a boat project accomplished!
Hogan Haake