Subject: RE: [baidarka] finished!
From: Michael Camilleri (branzmtc@branz.org.nz)
Date: Wed Oct 03 2001 - 17:54:54 EDT
Changing the hull profile or depth like some people have suggested is a
drastic, one-way measure, with no certainty that the change will be
worthwhile. I have been dithering for weeks about just moving the foot brace
on my new baidarka!
Here is some lateral thinking...
Some ballast low down, and getting your butt as low as possible are the
first things to try.
If you want to test out what changing the hull profile will do to the
stability then I suggest you try strapping some long strips of foam, or thin
plastic pipe(s) (sealed at the ends) around about the waterline. This will
be roughly equivalent to adding a hard chine to the hull at that point. You
can experiment with the amount of bouyancy, position, and fore/center/aft
distribution. If this does what you want, then open up the skin on the deck
and insert foam strips as sponsons on top of the ribs/stringers to give a
similar change in the hull bouyancy profile. The existing skin should still
close with perhaps only minor modification.
IMO, the only thing that could be worse than having an unpaddleable kayak,
is to then expend a whole lot of effort trying to fix it and STILL have an
unpaddleable kayak...
As a last resort, you might make a single bladed paddle, and attach an
outrigger to the kayak - I seem to recall seeing somewhere a picture of some
Inuit children playing in such a kayak.
Cheers!
Michael Camilleri
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