Re: [Paddlewise] Bulkheads

On Fri, 9 Oct 1998, Alex Ferguson wrote:

> >   - Scott 
> > Sorry, but I have to disagree.  In my
> > experience stock bulkheads can be pretty substantial in
> > weight - especially in the British boats. 
> 
> Sorry, I was forgetting you were talking about British boats 
> which seem to built like battleships. Here the seat is often 
> the aft bulkhead so what ever weight that would be, it is 
> doing two jobs. A thin foam-glass laminate (which is usually 
> used by those who know) is very light and very strong and 
> used for the forebulkhead.

Pygmy kayaks have a very thin 4mm plywood sheet that can be glassed or
simply coated with epoxy to create the bulkhead. Very strong and
lightweight. I agree that well designed bulkheads can be very light and
strong.

> 
> > While it is true that the hatches are not that heavy, the bulkheads that
> > go with them often are.  
> 
> See above, wrong if correctly done.
> 
> >   I truly believe that the non-hatches and bulkhead kayaks with airbags
> > are substantially lighter.  I know that my Artic Hawk is!
> 
> OK, do you paddle with anything else like spare clothing, 
> lunch, spare water and then if like my partner and me, a 
> stove or thermos, a pair of sneakers, binoculars, camera, 
> first aid etc., where do you put them - in a dry bag? Then just 
> how tightly does the dry bag and air bag fit and fill the 
> "hole"? A properly designed bulkheaded boat with decent 
> sized hatches and properly fitting neoprene covers will be 
> easy to load, light and have the very minimum of water in it 
> if capsized. You can NEVER reduce the flooded volume of 
> an airbagged boat to that of properly bulkheaded boat - and I 
> don't mean one of those with the aft bulkhead a foot behind 
> the seat either, very poor design.
> 

Sorry Alex, but I think this is wrong. A non-bulkheaded boat with airbags
will have substantially less water than a bulkheaded boat with the use of
a sea sock. I would not recommend that anyone use simply airbags in a
non-bulkheaded boat, because airbags can too easily float out if they are
not properly inflated to make a tight fit. 


> And while we're talking of loading, how do you get things 
> (that last tin of baked beans) into those little corners like the 
> stern or between bags if you are loading from the cockpit? 
> And unloading, either load specially or totally unload to find 
> the peanut butter (or some such) for lunch (the item you 
> though no one would want today).
> 
With a little bit of practice and forethought, it easy to load both big
and small items into the deepest, darkest corners of the boat. At least, I
never have any trouble.

Cheers,
kevin

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