July 2009
Bamboo Keel Bar
I am an Aussie living in Malaysia and a keen kayaker. We use folding kayaks which are skin on frame construction, which can be dismantled and packed into a bag for transporting. We have a group of people in the region who meet regularly for expeditions.
One recent 4 day expedition was to Lake Toba, which is a large crater lake in Sumatra. At the airport I had inadvertently left my Leatherman Pro in my carry on luggage, which was picked up in a security scan. They wanted to confiscate it but after much pleading I convinced them to take it on board separately and return it to me at the other end.
When we reached Lake Toba and were assembling the kayaks, one of the girls discovered she had somehow left one of the vital keel bars behind; the kayak was useless without it. We were in a pretty remote place and it was late in the day.
We scouted around and found a piece of bamboo of the right size. The only tool we had was the Leatherman which we used to cut, shape and modify the piece of bamboo until it fitted into the place of the missing keel bar. Assembly completed, we set off the next day and the kayak performed flawlessly throughout the 4 days of the expedition, including a fantastic storm which tested the strength of the bamboo bar thoroughly.
Lucky I did not lose the Leatherman at the airport. I now have the Charge TTi.
Geoff F.
Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
OK, you voyeur, you. Enough of reading other people's stories. It's time you told your own tale of gripping heroism or even just neat DIY'ism. We know there's a Shakespeare in you somewhere. Don't make us use the Steens to find it.