I decided to ride down to Springfield on the weekend after labor day and race sailboats with my dad. I had to take a fair amount of stuff and I needed to carry it. I have a touring bike with racks and a trailer seemed like a bit too much. The natural answer: Pannier Bags.
I have a problem buying things if I think I can make them. So I drew up some plans:
It makes perfect sense to me.
I also have trouble buying materials if I can use stuff that I already have. I needed a large swath of material and I happened to have an old sail laying around. I had already made a messenger bag out of this material a while ago (perhaps a future post?) and it was very durable and water resistant. I also had some lumber tie-down straps to strap the whole thing together.
The original mainsail from Lightning #13956 has been reduced to this.
I dimensioned it around a grocery bag so I can use it for food shopping in the future. I ripped some wooden strips from an old futon frame to use as stiffeners to keep the bag from going into the wheel. The velcro was from some kayak roof-mount tie-down straps that were abandoned at my old work.
I started making the bags a couple days before the trip, so there wasn’t much testing time. With a few well placed toe-straps the bags fit nicely without hitting my feet.
As far as the trip went, I think it took me 81/2 hours to get down to Springfield with a stop in Corvallis for lunch. I meant to take pictures at the regatta, but I didn’t. My dad found my camera and took one picture of me in action.
Yep. Holding the boat. Tough job.
Wait, thats not very exciting. I’ll get better pics next time.
Matt
