Boat Newb

Daryk, I'm glad you get my point. I'll probably get it online as it'll cost me that much in gas to drive to the nearest testing site. That's something else to add salt to the wound. If I can't make it to one if their far away classes which usually get cancelled due to lack of interest I gladly pay $20 to take the online version of a free class. Nice of them isn't it?

With the exception of inconvenience in general, taking time off of work, and driving 2+ hours to the testing site, yes, it should be easy to get.

Right, but if they're going to enact a new law pertaining to the operation of something, set the cutoff age at the birth year of 16 year olds of the enactment year, not after I've put in several hundred hours and miles behind the wheel of a boat for 5ish years then decide out of the blue that I need to pay to go take a safety course and then acquire a certificate before I can operate a boat that I've already been operating accident free for 5ish years.

Lol. I can't remember if I've complained about this before, but I'm 28 and I just don't understand the boaters certification law. They enacted it January 1st 2005, 10 days before my 21st birthday. It states that anyone born on or after January 1st 1984 has to take this before they can operate a motorized vessel on Missouri waters, etc. I was born January 11th 1984. Now why they didn't pick a start year that would've started with everyone turning 15 or 16 of the enacted year, I don't know. I had been running boats around Stockton Lake since long before January 1st of 2005. So since I was "in the mood" I politely called and asked to see if there was a reasoning behind the selected 1984 year. I heard some unrecognizable mumbling and the line disconnected. I assumed it was a phone issue so I called back and nope, apparently the lady meant to hang up on me as this time she clearly stated that it wasn't open for discussion and hung up again. Lol. I was just asking a question. So, don't call them and expect an answer or anything for that matter. I guess I would assume that they get a lot or have gotten a lot of calls about it and they're just cranky, but I just wanna know why. I understand the purpose of certification as the knowledge is needed, but why pick a year that most people would already have operating knowledge by then?

I didn't sink, flip, or get my feet wet so I guess not bad. I could've used a longer paddle though. I started at the ramp by the military cemetery and went upstream to the first big bend where the log jam is then down to the boathouse and back. It was hot!

If anyone wants to, call or text me @ 417-669-1415 in the morning.

But I borrowed a Pungo Classic from a friend and want to go float in the morning. I figured I'd go to the Ozark park or the ramp under 65 and start there. Maybe around 8am. Anyone else want to partake in my maden voyage?

Where is blue man grill?

Fishing and swimming are fine. County has a checkpoint there and it has helped weed out the trash.

I can't decide. For the price of the kayak I'm looking at I can pick up a 14ft Lowe flat bottom with a trailer and titles. I really want something I can take the wife and baby on and we can run up and down taneycomo or bull shoals, etc. How much trolling motor and battery would I need for an afternoon on Taneycomo or what small outboard would you guys suggest? How hard would it be to paddle it around lake Springfield?

If it's so hard to get a title for a boat and motor in Missouri then why are their so many boats and motors for sale around the area with no titles?

So I stopped by Ozark Mountain Trading Company in Ozark today and checked out kayaks. Bruce and I discussed my uses and my size and mutually decided that the Perception Pescador 12 footer would be a good choice. I like the options and being able to stretch out and the look of it. I'm going to schedule an appointment to take it and a couple of others down to the Ozark park and try them out hopefully next week.

You can always go to Fellows Lake if you don't like Lake Springfields rules.

Thats 1 reason I was looking at canoes. The room is nice. Unless I can sell some stuff, my budget is quite small. No more than i assume I'm going to get to go, I may just stick to borrowing for now. I hate borrowing stuff from people, but it's the most feasible option at the moment. Great post by the way!!! Does anyone in the Springfield area have a kayak that I can borrow for a few weeks/months?

She's 6'2"ish and 180.

We borrowed a tandem kayak once from a friend and did fairly well together in it with the exception that I thought I was lowering the rear fin (or whatever it's called) when I was actually raising it so we had to fight tracking a little. And it was a little snug for our tall frames.

How about the Ascend A10??? Kayaks are starting to interest me the more I read about them. I'm 6'4" and 250+. What would you guys recommend? I'll be mostly on calm water such as Lake Springfield/James River and/or Taneycomo. I'd like to try to fish from it, but it will be very rare. Mainly just paddling around. I'm going to go by the new Kayak place in Ozark when I get time. Who knows when that will be.

Did someone break it? I can't get it to load on FireFox or IE.

I drive by the new Ozark store every morning. I need to stop by there. I hope they've got some good discounts because I've got quite the low spending limit.

I'm 6'4" and 255 and she's not far behind me. lol.

Probably a dumb question, but are they hard to maneuver by yourself? I'm in a boat mood again and have come across a few that I'm interested in. I'd get a kayak, but my wife wants to go occasionally and she doesn't care much for a tandem kayak and we're both giants so a canoe just works best. We'll probably be spending most of our time in the James River/Lake Springfield area.

So I've been talking to a couple of my Christian County deputy friends and they said it's not legally enforceable, they aren't looking forward to getting calls from the residents about it, and they don't know how they got the no trespassing signs that say Christian County Sheriff on them, but they didn't come from the sheriffs dept. Fish all you want.

Oh I can tell you all about the troubles of Linden from the law side. I'm not sure how far down the road goes on the west side before it's not a public road anymore.

Jeff Harris is our conservation agent for Christian County. I haven't had time to call him today. 417-880-4952

This is an interesting read on a similar topic: http://www.lebanondailyrecord.com/online_features/article_a1f75fba-9ddb-11e0-a89e-001a4bcf6878.html