-----Original Message----- From: a.ferguson [mailto:a.ferguson_at_chem.canterbury.ac.nz] Sent: Wednesday, October 07, 1998 11:05 PM To: paddlewise Subject: Re: [Paddlewise] high performance sea k >> > Also, it has no bulkheads. I just use airbags and get > the same safety margin with much less weight. > > - Scott Do you know the actual weight of two airbags? Must be very heavy bulkheads to be heavier? Hatches can be the weight of the area of the hole plus a neoprene cover. Alex >> ************************************************************************** * Once, during a class, I tried to do a T-rescue of an Aquaterra Chinook that had a flotation bag in the bow, but no bulkhead. Despite the flotation bag, I found the water in the bow made it too heavy to lift to empty the water out. The last time I saw that Chinook, the owner was paddling it several miles from Stockton Island to Red Cliff in Lake Superior's Apostle Islands. He had a two-burner Coleman stove strapped to the afterdeck, and was wearing neither a PFD or sprayskirt. Fortunately, the waves were small, and he made it back okay, but I figure he had four risk factors against him. In _Deep Trouble_ many of the accidents involved kayaks without bulkheads. Can anyone give me a good reason NOT to have bulkheads in a rigid kayak? Chuck Holst *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************
On Thu, 8 Oct 1998, Chuck Holst wrote: <snipola> > > In _Deep Trouble_ many of the accidents involved kayaks without > bulkheads. Can anyone give me a good reason NOT to have bulkheads in > a rigid kayak? > > Chuck Holst > I am building my Pygmy without bulkheads. It is easier to get bulky items into the holds when don't have bulkheads. Bulky items I like to carry are my dutch oven, and especially, my Djembe (african hand drum). Bulkheads do reduce storage space by a small and sometimes significant depending on what you carry and how you pack. Another drawback of bulkheads is a false sense of security for some folks. "I don't need airbags if I have bulkheads, right?" Wrong, if your hatches or bulkheads leak. You asked for drawbacks, and I listed a couple. But for the most part, I think bulkheads are the best choice for a majority of paddlers. I might add a stern bulhead too my boat at a later date, so that I have one compartment that will stay relatively free of sand and muck. Cheers, kevin *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************
My copy of _Deep_Trouble_ has many accidents in which the bulkhead lids poped out, which made the kayaks unrecoverable (Cleopatra's neddle). In fact, one of the grey sections of the book specifically states that there is too much hype regarding bulkheads, and that bulkhead compartments should carry floatbags in them. Some other accidents described in the same book are about floatbags that poped out of the boat through the cockpit. Floatbags must be tied, or retained by other mechanism, to prevent them from floating out of the boat. See the wavelength archive two years back, when we talk extensively about this. If floatbags are properly installed in a kayak, the boat is much safer than the ones which have bulkheads, unless the paddler installs floatbags inside the bulkhead compartments. Yes, floatbags add a lot of weight. They make my canvas boat weigh as much as a fiberglass boat when they are in. But I do not have to worry about not being able to bail water out of bulkhead compartment, as it does not have bulkheads. This is a religious subject, and comes up as often as the PFD thing. The brits defend bulkheads very strongly. The best article I have seen about the subject was a letter in Sea Kayaker about some group of brits archeologists who found a burial in Greenland. The burial had kayaks with bulheads, and the mummies had an enlarged upper lip, which shows that they must have a stiff upper lip. The conclusion was that the mummies were british, and they were the british who brought kayaks to Greenland in ancient times. Of course, the original true kayaks have bulkheads. - Julio > > In _Deep Trouble_ many of the accidents involved kayaks without > bulkheads. Can anyone give me a good reason NOT to have bulkheads in > a rigid kayak? > > Chuck Holst > *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************
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