Re: [Paddlewise] Cockpit Covers

> Caution note: in very heavy or sustained rains, you can pick up enough
> rainwater in a cockpit to collapse your rack

I've heard that fallacy too. Over enough days maybe but 
taking 6" of rain over night on a single, that's about 2" of 
water in the cockpit. Remember the opening is a lot smaller 
than the floor area of a standard (not folding) kayak. 

I would expect to be able to sit in my cockpit in my kayak on 
the roof without the kayak, the rack or the car suffering. If not 
something is built a bit light. Two more kayaks (3 all 
together on the rack) would just about equal my weight. I've 
carried 3 kayaks and a friend is trying to figure getting 5 on 
her rack for along trip. Does that put a couple of gallons of 
water into perspective?

If the rain gets much heavier over night you'll be wanting to 
be in the kayak because of the flooding and you'll be able to 
paddle round the car. Seal-launch off the rack :-)

> cockpit sea kayaks on top of (I think it was a) Toyota Corolla managed to
> buckle the roof columns.

Rust? Prone to that. Plus very large cockpits?

>  With lesser amounts of water, you can develop
> hydraulic rams which, when the car stops quickly, can blow out your forward
> bulkhead --- or, in non-bulkheaded boats, the bow!

>From one NZ manufacturer (so he said), they get two sumo 
wrestlers, one at each end and tip the kayak back and forth. 
If the bulkheads survive that model is accepted for import to 
Japan - his were.

Alex
--
----------------------------------------------------
Alex Ferguson      a.ferguson_at_chem.canterbury.ac.nz
Electronics Workshop, Chem Dept, Univ of Canterbury
Christchurch, New Zealand
***************************************************************************
PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List
Submissions:     paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net
Subscriptions:   paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net
Website:         http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/
***************************************************************************