Re: [Paddlewise] Bulkheads

Scott Ives wrote:
> 
> Geez folks, it looks like I started a growing new thread by accident!
> My only point to Alex, was that there is much to be said for bulkhead
> free boats if they have proper airbags. [snip]

> Alex wondered about the contents in the boat, well this doesn't have
> to be a problem.  You can use dry bags for most stuff, and small plastic
> boxes (ie. Pelican) for the awkwardly shaped or sharp stuff.

Alex's point about bulkheads-and-hatches allowing every cranny to be
used still is valid, nonetheless, because dry bags are roundish, leaving
gaps when stashed adjacent to each other, and it's tough to make good
use of the ends of a bulkhead-less boat.  Even tapered drybags (I stuff
mine with spare clothes/sleeping bag) leave substantial gaps, which can
be filled from an adjacent hatch, if you have one.

> As far as
> shifting, I haven't taken any expeditions yet, but I think you could
> easily place all the stuff in first, then blow up the air bags, as
> needed, to function as corks.  The bags are tapered, so it would lock
> all the stuff in the bow and stern ends.

*Not the case,* unless you have a system of bungies or ties which form a
barrier for the wedge-shaped air bags to rest against.  In a capsize in
serious waters, *the air bags will work loose* as water surges in and
out of the cockpit.  Try it in small surf or on a weather beach with
2-foot seas running.

In my nonbulkheaded, rudderless Pygmy, I use a sea sock with a 2-inch
piece of close-fitting dense ethafoam (?) on my side of the sock, jammed
up against the footpegs, to secure the load forward.  To the rear, I
have a bungie, permanently anchored on one end to a D-ring, which
threads through two other D-rings and snaps to a 4th one to form a
figure-eight barrier.  Holds big stuff in, but little items would slip
past it.

On a stitch-and-glue boat, the hatch can be the piece of deck produced
when you saber-saw the hole (strip of plywood and neoprene gasket added
inside; two or three straps on top), and the bulkhead can be
epoxy-saturated 1/8 inch marine plywood.  I seriously doubt a
hatch/bulkhead of this type adds much more than a pound to the boat. 
Alex will know, because he builds boats like this, I believe.

All of the above notwithstanding, I like my non-bulkheaded Pygmy, and
get a special private joy from lifting one end high and listening to the
cascade of gear tumble to the center of the boat for unloading.

-- 
Dave Kruger
Astoria, OR

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