Julio wrote, > >A while back when we were discussing the design of a self righting kayak >for disabled people someone came with the idea of using a water ballast, >but then the problem was that as soon as the ballast cylinder hit the >water it would fail to exert the vertical force required to complete >the last 90 degrees of the recovery. > >I assume that the form of the life rafts is such that it is very >unstable when sitting on its side, and the water in the pockets >would right it up before it drains out. In the case of a kayak with >water pockets, it would probably like to rest on its side without >righting up. Therefore lead ballast (or CB Rocks) seem to be the >only useful type of ballast for sea kayaks. The Givens raft is supposed to be 100% self righting. I have written to them asking if the same concept used on their raft could be used on kayak. If it could then deploying such a device would make the kayak easy to renter and stable in any conditions. If the fabric was not bulky (no idea from the advertising what it is like) it might be a useful addition for extreme conditions sinc it alos appears to slow drift. > >As a side note, Derek Hutchinson shows a picture of a canister >attached to the inner surface of the keel of a kayak designed to hold >ballast. See? Even Derek Hutchinson sponsors Canadian Ballast Rocks, Inc.! :-) That damned Derek. Always stealing my rocks.:-) > >The last issue of Sea Kayaker talks has an evaluation of a life saving >raft. I haven't gotten that issue yet but am looking forward to it from what has been said already. Rex wrote some good comments of hypothermia and I was looking at some survival suits but they looked so bulky that anyone using one would probably be immobilized. Does anyone have experience with them? Hank wrote about barf bags and and I really like the idea although I am not sure if it is best to barf into the same bag you are swimming in. :-) Jack wrote about one person Navy life rafts but those did not seem to be among the rafts tested by The Aviation Consumer in 1994. Jack, are those test results on the web or do I have to do the snail mail begging thing? It sounds like the Navy's rafts were better designed than the FAA approved rafts. Cheers, John Winters Redwing Designs Specialists in Human Powered Watercraft http://home.ican.net/~735769/ *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************Received on Mon Mar 09 1998 - 03:06:01 PST
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