Hi everyone,

Have very much enjoyed your forum and learned a lot of useful things during the building of "Bob the boat" a few years ago.  Many thanks for all the tips and useful information.

My current question is this.  I have an opportunity to take Bob down the main Salmon from Corn Creek to Carey Creek 2nd week of August this year.  It will be a raft supported trip with more experienced people who have run the river many times, and I will be lightly loaded, just me and a guide in the boat.  

To me this feels like about as well supported as I could be to try this.  I've run the Skagit from above Marblemount to Mt Vernon, and several sections of the Yakima River, and feel comfortable managing those rivers fishing for steelhead salmon and trout, but haven't run anything with waves as large as I understand the Main Salmon will have.

As you can see Bob is a Don Hill 16 foot x 48 inch of pretty standard construction.  The yellow tubes are lashed through the scupper holes to provide some flotation (and, side-benefit often make it easier to step in and out of the boat).  I've never tested the flotation but am considering swamping Bob in a calm lake and seeing how it might help.

My question is, is it reasonable for a moderately skilled non-expert to run this section of the river in an open boat at the likely flows this summer?  I don't want to be the guy who makes the trip a huge chore for everyone by having problems that could have been reliably predicted, but on the other hand, I don't want to pass up what seems like a pretty optimal set up for giving this a try and learning a bunch because I'm being overly cautious.

Side question, would you bring an anchoring set up for this trip? I was thinking to go without an anchor and removing that hardware for cleaner lines.

Many thanks in advance for your thoughts.

ying