Specific questions about the late 70s early 80s

[youpey]

I am building a diorama with a truck, a 4 wheeler and an inflatable raft. I have a couple of questions about how things were typically. I would like the diorama to represent the era correctly. 

 

1. For the inflatable raft, would 2 adults typically wear a life vests when going on the raft on a calm lake?

2. Would those same 2 adults likely wear a helmet on a small 4 wheeler? 

3. In this era, would ores on an inflatable raft be made of wood or plastic or metal?

 

Any help is greatly appreciated 

Edited June 10, 2021 by youpey

[Jim B]

I'm not sure about the construction of the raft oars (probably wood), but I don't think people typically wore life vests or helmets back then.  Heck, most people didn't even wear seatbelts.

[Xingu]

1. If you couldn't swim, you probably wore a life vest.

2. wore a helmet on my 3-wheeler, but a lot of folks didn't.

3. There have always been wood ores, not sure when plastic oars became readily available.

[Plowboy]

1 no

2 no

3 more than likely wood or aluminum. 

Edited June 10, 2021 by Plowboy

[Bainford]

The  4 wheeler didn't exist until 1982 when Suzuki released the first one, and would be extremely uncommon until later in the decade. In the early 80s, the 3 wheeler was still king.

[espo]

#1 People were not thinking about safety the way we do today. Any White Water Rafting you would want a safety vest even in those times. #3 The wooden Ore was slowly going away being replaced by both aluminum or aluminum and plastic combined Ores.  

[youpey]

53 minutes ago, Bainford said:

The  4 wheeler didn't exist until 1982 when Suzuki released the first one, and would be extremely uncommon until later in the decade. In the early 80s, the 3 wheeler was still king.

This is the 4 wheeler i built. Looks like its ok in the time period 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honda_Odyssey_(ATV)

[Bainford]

Just now, youpey said:

This is the 4 wheeler i built. Looks like its ok in the time period 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honda_Odyssey_(ATV)

Ah, right. Honda Odyssey. I was thinking conventional ATV, which is a very different machine.

[youpey]

3 minutes ago, Bainford said:

Ah, right. Honda Odyssey. I was thinking conventional ATV, which is a very different machine.

It came with the revell ridge runner set from the 80s. Its an incredible kit. 

I wish fhey would release it again

[Dave Van]

Nobody I knew wore life vests

I never wore a helmet on my Honda Trail 70

Ours were wood.

Not suggesting any of these were the right thing to do!!! 

[Oldcarfan27]

Depends, how much beer have they been drinking?

[Rodent]

3 hours ago, Oldcarfan27 said:

Depends, how much beer have they been drinking?

Yeah, that. And other beverages and adult "cigarettes". I live near to the lower American River and I have been amazed at how many folks don't wear life jackets when they go rafting. The rented rafts come with life jackets. There are "free" life jackets at all of the popular launching points, adult and child sized. Take one, throw it on the ground when you get out of the river and they get cleaned and returned to the launching points. It's the law that children wear them, but it seems that most don't. This pic was taken in 2016 at one of the most popular launch points during a Rafters Gone Wild day. You can see how many life jackets are in use. Apologies in advance for posting a pic of scantily clad humans, some minors included.

It's not exactly white water rafting, but there are plenty of things to get snagged on and spit out of your raft/pool toy/inflatable kayak. There is a bit of a rapid and an abrupt turn downstream, just out of the photo a bit. There is pretty much no water (again) this year, but a rafter managed to lose his prosthetic leg there over Memorial Day. (Spoiler alert, some hobby divers found it and returned it to him).

I am sure that Espo (and others) know where this pic was taken.

[espo]

1 hour ago, Rodent said:

Yeah, that. And other beverages and adult "cigarettes". I live near to the lower American River and I have been amazed at how many folks don't wear life jackets when they go rafting. The rented rafts come with life jackets. There are "free" life jackets at all of the popular launching points, adult and child sized. Take one, throw it on the ground when you get out of the river and they get cleaned and returned to the launching points. It's the law that children wear them, but it seems that most don't. This pic was taken in 2016 at one of the most popular launch points during a Rafters Gone Wild day. You can see how many life jackets are in use. Apologies in advance for posting a pic of scantily clad humans, some minors included.

It's not exactly white water rafting, but there are plenty of things to get snagged on and spit out of your raft/pool toy/inflatable kayak. There is a bit of a rapid and an abrupt turn downstream, just out of the photo a bit. There is pretty much no water (again) this year, but a rafter managed to lose his prosthetic leg there over Memorial Day. (Spoiler alert, some hobby divers found it and returned it to him).

I am sure that Espo (and others) know where this pic was taken.

O ya. When my wife and I got together we lived in the Sacramento area circa '85 thru '96. We floated the American a few times. Always had a spare tube to put the cooler in and tether to the raft. Great way to spend an afternoon.  Never this crowded back then. 

[kruleworld]

We had plastic oars in the mid-late 70s.

[Casey]

Life vests in the watercraft-- usually the law for boat, but less a requirement for inflatables--, but likely not worn by the occupants, especially if it's powered by oars. We had an inflatable, two-person raft we took camping with us in the early '80s, and while we did bring life preservers with us, we rarely wore them, because we could swim and the lake allowed no motors.

Are you using the dinghy/raft from the AMT Toyota 4x4 kit, by chance?

As mentioned, 4-wheelers were not a thing until 3-wheels were on their way out. Using a 3-wheel ATV instead will lock in the early '80s time period for sure.

Use an open face helmet, which were more common that the more expensive and better full-face helmets. We had a blue sparkly one much like this which I wore riding a Yamaha Enduro 125:

[youpey]

7 hours ago, Casey said:

Life vests in the watercraft-- usually the law for boat, but less a requirement for inflatables--, but likely not worn by the occupants, especially if it's powered by oars. We had an inflatable, two-person raft we took camping with us in the early '80s, and while we did bring life preservers with us, we rarely wore them, because we could swim and the lake allowed no motors.

Are you using the dinghy/raft from the AMT Toyota 4x4 kit, by chance?

As mentioned, 4-wheelers were not a thing until 3-wheels were on their way out. Using a 3-wheel ATV instead will lock in the early '80s time period for sure.

Use an open face helmet, which were more common that the more expensive and better full-face helmets. We had a blue sparkly one much like this which I wore riding a Yamaha Enduro 125:

 

Its the raft from the toyota snap. The 4 wheeler is the one from the ridge runner set. I dont have a 3 wheeler kit