More cheesy DIY gear

I bought a broken Olympus Stylus Tough 6000 camera and repaired it enough that it's useable, and now it's my on-the-water camera (see shots I've taken with it at flickr.com).  The camera's supposed to be waterproof, but it doesn't float, so I made a PFD for it.

The camera's PFD

The float is an inflatable arm band for little kids to swim with.  It has two independently inflatable chambers that can be easily separated at one end, which makes it more versatile for DIY projects.  A pair of these cost 50¢ at Thriftown; the plastic snap was from REI (< $1); the snap is attached to a split ring which is attached to a grommet that came from a salvaged grommet kit.  (The grommet wasn't such a good idea--it's already starting to corrode.)  The snap can be on the camera's leash or on the camera case's leash.

A cheap watertight box

The case is for a Snap Sights 35mm camera, re-purposed to be a simple watertight box.  It keeps the camera from getting knocked around, and keeps the camera from getting any wetter than it has to.  The leash that came with it wasn't long enough to be useful, and was replaced with a nylon boot lace and a spare cord lock.  The Snap Sights case could also be used for the emergency cell phone, snacks, a first aid kit, a small towel, or whatever else needs to be kept handy and dry.

Kayak camping on the delta, and boat-in campsite maps

I've started making a Google map of places to camp in and around the Sacramento--San Joaquin River delta.  The object is to make it easier to plan a multi-day paddling trip thru the delta or down the Sacto River, and like that.  So far I've plotted about four dozen potential campsites (both public and private), but I still have to verify most of them.  Since it seems likely that some have gone out of business, are closed or offer limited services because of budget cuts (e.g. Brannan Island), have stopped catering to the non-RV crowd, or are too far from the water for portage, etc., I suppose the list will become shorter.

Cropped screen capture.  This is the link to the actual map.

The map also includes a few marinas, wrecks, places to stop for a break, grocery and convenience stores, bait shops, and other places that might be of interest to me, and maybe to you.  I haven't included "stealth" campsites--yet--because I don't know where any are, and, of course, I don't want to encourage irresponsible paddlers to camp there.  If you know of a stealth site on the map, let me know (maybe using Google map coordinates) so that I'll be able to warn campers away from them.

A few of the spots ones listed were swiped from Dan Arbuckle's Google map at his Delta Dreamer blog.
To make up for that I'll include a link to Headwaters Kayaks, his shop in Lodi.

Let me know if you can't access the map, or if the icons don't show up, or if I've got some things wrong.  And please let me know if it's useful.

There's a second map for boat-in campsites of northern California.
This one is even less complete than the other map, but it may be of use to someone.

Boat-in campsites

Various delta-bay-kayak-paddling-whatever links:
Petaluma Paddlers
BASK (Bay Area Sea Kayakers)
A Sac Bee article about a project to photograph all of the Sacramento River
Nautical charts for the bay and delta areas --the links you want will be about half-way down the page
The new location for the SF Bay area wind map
Kayak Fishing Magazine's California resource list

Some local paddler's Meetup groups:

the Lodi Paddle Club
Northern California Kayaks - Suisun City
Sacramento Paddle Pushers
Sacramento Sea Kayakers
I'll add more meetups, yahoo groups, etc., if there is any interest.