Builders' Forum Archives

Re: Bad Backs and Kayakin

Posted by J.Schott on Jan 31, 2006

Chris, sorry to hear about your back. As a veteran of spinal torture, I can sympathize with your pain. My experience has been similar to the rest of the group with the exception of having surgery to correct my problem due to muscle atrophe. I found that resting did nothing but make me worse. In the three months leading up to surgery, I kept working on my boats to keep me moving and to keep my mind occupied. Building the boats was therapy for me. My secret was to get the boats up off the ground so I didn't have to lean over them. I also sat on a barstool with my feet on the floor while working. I took the ch17 for a paddle 2 weeks before going under the knife and it actually made it feel a lot better. As Mark said, there are ways to get kayaks loaded without lifting the whole boat. I load our double single-handed by placing the stern on a pad, lifting the bow to the rack and then sliding it up on the truck. Hope you feel better soon.

In Response to: Re: Bad Backs and Kayakin by Mark Camp on Jan 31, 2006