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Product and Photo Gallery CULEBRA FRAMELESS CATARAFTS SMALL ROWING FRAME FOR SINGLE PERSON OPERATION This pictue shows a break down rowing frame used on the Culebra. This frame is built by NRS. The mesh sling system is built by JPW. The sling system can stand alone if one wants to paddle the boat with gear. The frame is tied to the grommet strip on the inside of the boat, so there is no need to have extra D rings. On the front and back there is an optional net that can be used for cargo, or a passenger can place his feet in the mesh net. Some weight is necessary to counterbalance the load of the oars person who is sitting back of center on an oar seat. We have the parts at our shop to make this frame. We recomend 8 ft oars wih this setup. This is an idea that many of our customers wanted to see developed, so this boat could be more versatile. STRAIGHT AHEAD SHOT OF THE BOAT AT PILLOW ROCK ON THE UPPER GAULEY This is a photo of the 10 ft long Culebra. The new production model is now 11 ft long, 65 inches wide, and weighs 46 lbs. It rolls up into a package that can be smaller than 33 X 12 X 24, depending on how well you roll it. Remember to take the cam straps off between the cross tubes and the main tubes. PROFILE SHOT AT PILLOW ROCK ON THE UPPER GAULEY This photo will give you an idea of how much flotation the 10-foot boat had in extremely aerated water. It also shows more of a side view of the cross tubes and how they attach with grommet strips to the main tubes at the top of the main tube. DRAWING OF THE CULEBRA WITH THE PARTS NAMED There are two 3d perspectives here. One has the foot cups visible, and the other has a foot brace/rest pillow visible. The foot brace/rest is used as a foot rest for the back leg, or as a brace to push against with the back foot. The d ring cross thwart attachment system is not shown. Use these drawings to aid in the assembly of a Culebra Frameless Cataraft. The drawing associated with the picture is the same as the 3 d perspective shown above. This drawing will give the assembler a gereral name recognition of the parts so the instructions are easier. Please follow these directions in order. Some may have to be printed in landscape if you want to have a hard copy to read while working on the assembly. Click first on General Grommet Strip Assembly Instructions . This will tell you how the grommet strips should look and how they should be laced together. All grommet strips lace together in the same manner. Click on Part 1 to see how to lace the floor to the main tube. Click on Part 2 to see how to attach the cross tube to the floor. Click on part 3 to see how the cam straps attach between the D rings on the Cross Tubes and the Main Tubes. Click on Part 4 to see how to lace the Cross Tube grommet strip to the Main Tube grommet strip. Remember to inflate the main tube after lacing all the grommet strips. Then tighten the cam straps. Finally inflate the Cross Tubes last. This pulls the whole boat together tightly. Remove the Cam Straps during transport of the boat so they do not wear a hole in the boat. This Culebra was custom built for the Gresham Oregon Search and Rescue. Our customers looked at the Culebra handle configuration and came to the conclusion that this would be the best swift water rescue boat they could get only if it had some more handles in a different location. The custom lettering on the side of the boat is another option that we are capable of. CULEBRA SKIRTS THE HOLE IN CRYSTAL This is the Picture of the standard 11 ft long Culebra as it skirts the hole in crystal. We paddled this boat down the Grand Canyon in late August of 2003. This new version weighs 46 lbs. When it is assembled, and rolled up, it packs up into 33 X 12 X 24 inches or less, depending on how good you roll it The only rapids that the boat did not run were badger, horn creek, and lava falls. The boat not only performed excellent with people learning how to do it, (we were all beginners at this point) but it was instrumental in rescuing 2 oars, and a flipped cutthroat out of eddies. This picture is of John and Elise. This is Elise's 2nd full day on the Culebra, and it is Johns first. On this day the Culebra under their direction successfully ran the drop at Specter Rapid that flipped the cutthroat. Then they were able to rescue the Cutthroat that had become stuck in an eddy only half way down the rapid on the right. We were all gatefull for this accomplishment. It has amazed me how easy it was for paddlers to grasp the concept, wedge themselves in, and perform difficult tasks that seemed routine to them. The learning curve on this boat is amazing. Be carefull with it. It is easy to get over confident. CULEBRA ROW FRAME IN OPERATION WITH ONE PERSON In this photo you can see how just one 5-gal jug of water can do a very good job of counterbalancing my 200-LB body. I regret that I did not get the picture of the boat without the jug. It just did not feel that uncomfortable rowing. The boat uses 7 1/2 ft oars and it was real easy to row. If interested contact me about how to purchase the parts and set this up. There no extra boat hardware was needed for this setup. The frame is tied to the grommet strip inside the boat with 4 short cam straps, and the basket was tied to the boat at the cross tube grommet strip. Of course there would need to be some modification if a rig to flip situation were to exist. My Daughter Kate took pictures of the boat, and my son Joey helped me make the basket and put the frame together on Saturday. So on Sunday we just had to do a little float down the river. From this picture you can see how the basket on the front makes a great footrest. At one point we had a small cooler in there also with some goodies. I see no reason why an adult could not sit in front where the kids were. The boat rows exceptionally well. At only 11 ft long it really handles like a dream. We are all excited to try it out on some other trips. CULEBRA ROW FRAME PICTURE TOP VIEW Please note that the frame fits very snuggly in between the cross tubes. It is tied to the grommet strip with short cam straps. This also shows the basket tied to the cross tube grommet strip. RIGGING AT BADGER RAPID IN THE GRAND At Lees Ferry we just did not have time to rig the brand new Culebra that we brought with us, so I did it at Badger creek (actually Jackass creek) the second morning. I have had some practice with assembly. It only took me about an hour to lace it up properly. After that, we never changed or adjusted the rigging. However we do recommend checking the rigging when the boat is first inflated, and after it is used a couple of days. One other reason why I decided to rig it on the river was to demonstrate how easy it could be done. The boat is only 46 lbs and it comes in 5 pieces not counting the lacing. It fits much easier into an airplane, or on a Horse pack When it is in pieces. Remember to check the parts list and parts that come with your boat before going to a remote location to rig. JAKES MULTIPLE PORTAGE OF KWAUNT It was so much fun to have Jake as my paddling partner at Kwagunt rapid. Especially since he did all the work of carrying it up to the top of the rapid. We must have run this 5 times. We did not design the handles to be there for inflated portage, but it sure works well. What a fun day it was. ENTERING KWAGUNT GOING FOR THE HOLE #1 The following pictures are a sequence of Jack and Jake going for the hole in Kwagunt. This is not a small hole, but it is not the monster that Dave and Jake hit later at Basalt either. It was just a lot of fun, and amazing to me how well the boat handles. BEFORE HITTING THE REVERSAL IN KWAGUNT #2 Notice how the water is pushing on the front cross tube. It is not running over. The boat is about to climb out of the hole and because it has a raised floor, and cross tubes, it acts like a cat. CLEARING THE HOLE IN KWAGUNT #3 The reversal pushes the boat side ways. It looks as if we may get turned and fall back into the hole and flip. This is what you would expect a raft to do...... EXITING THE HOLE IN KWAGUNT #4 The boat is a bit sideways, Jack is taking a power stroke to straighten it out. Jake is a bit off balance because he just went through the meat of the hole a bit sideways. There were no swimmers we wedged ourselves in tightly. After this rapid was run a number of times, Dave and Jake became our best product testers to date. They bombed every hole and big wave they could. It was fun to watch them get thrashed in a couple of them, like Basalt, and Socdolager. I love this picture. It shows the extreme of what our customers are willing to do to play in the ourdoors. The ice gives it a nice touch. WILDERNESS AWARE RESCUE CULEBRA This craft was designed by the folks at Wilderness Aware in Buena Vista, Co. They are using it now on the Salt River as a rescue craft. It can be paddled, or rowed with a simple row frame. It is a stretched version of the rescue culebra 13 ft long , but the cockpit is in the middle of the tubes. This allows for rescue of swimmers on each end. There are some changes on this model over previous models. They include an extended mesh platform that has foam floats in the front and back. The mesh can be moved to an up position for the use as a larger cargo sling. The foot cups are replaced with 2 foam foot thwarts. Have a look at an actual rescue here. |
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Phone (505) 334 8748 - Fax (505) 334 1901 - info@jpwinc.com |
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