Subject: RE: baidarka tumblehome
From: Peter A. Chopelas (pac@premier1.net)
Date: Wed Dec 06 2000 - 16:44:51 EST
Jim,
After observing my daughter in the kayak I built her with tumblehome there
is an advantage for smaller paddlers.
It reduces the reach of the paddler and reduces the chance of banging your
fingers on the gunwales. I would think that it also makes it easier to
roll up from the inverted position as well.
So you are right, make the hull fairly stable and feel good up to a point,
than WHOOPS, over you go. In fact you saw that on my daughter's boat if
you remember when she was reaching for the dock, and went over.
Fortunately she was able to right herself on her own since she just
grasped the dock as the hull flipped.
The first stringer down from the gunwale effectively becomes the gunwale
since it is the widest point on the hull. So you end up with the effect of
a shallow narrow hull, but with the volume of a much bigger kayak. It also
sheds beam waves better than a hull without tumble home since the widest
part of the hull is just above water line.
Do not forget the most important part, it looks real slick. After all if
it looks good, it has got to go good too, right? For a lot of the factory
kayaks I think often their first motivation is to get the kayak off the
showroom floor, if you can't sell it then you are out of business.
Unfortunately this is a reality of staying in business and you can not
depend on the knowledge of the buyer to get them to pick your product.
Peter
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