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From: Product Information Department <pid_at_mec.ca>
subject: [Paddlewise] rain-filled kayaks
Date: Tue, 01 Dec 1998 14:24:43 -0800
On Wed, 2 Dec 1998, Alex Ferguson wrote:
 
> > 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. 

In browsing through the Canadian Transportation Board's marine accident
reports, you frequently come across laments that the (often deceased)
fishers and sailors failed to appreciate just how destabilizing the "free
surface effect" of water can be. (I'm no techie, but as far as I can tell
"free surface effect" is tech-talk for "sloshing".) I do remember that
water weighs about
64 lbs. per cubic foot, depending on whether it's fresh or salt. Here on
the Wet Coast, it's not uncommon to have to pump out your boat in the
morning if you've left it out on the beach without the cockpit cover. I'm
quite prepared to believe the weight and momentum of a few inches of water
in the boat could damage the boat, cause it to shear through roof rack
lines, and/or
tip the car itself under the wrong acceleration/de acelleration/turning
circumstances. And I suspect that if it did so, you could be charged with
carrying an "unsafe load" in the same way truckers are liable if stuff
blows or shears off their trucks. Most of us have a cockpit cover anyway
and it doesn't seem like a great burden to use it when you consider the
potential damage to the boat, ourselves and others.

Cheers
Philip T.
"The opinions expressed in this posting are not necessarily those of my
employer, or indeed, of any sentient being."  

****************************************
Mountain Equipment Co-op
1655 West 3rd Avenue,
Vancouver, BC, Canada V6J 1K1
Tel: 640-732-1989
Fax: 604-731-6483
email: pid_at_mec.ca

Visit our website at: http://www.mec.ca
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From: Mark Zen <canoeist_at_netbox.com>
subject: Re: [Paddlewise] rain-filled kayaks
Date: Tue, 01 Dec 1998 17:05:44 -0700
ATTN: if humor doesn't "float your boat" ;-) delete now!!

At 14:24 01-12-98 -0800, Philip T. wrote:
[sniparoo]
> I do remember that water weighs about
>64 lbs. per cubic foot, depending on whether it's fresh or salt. Here on
>the Wet Coast, it's not uncommon to have to pump out your boat in the
>morning if you've left it out on the beach without the cockpit cover. I'm
>quite prepared to believe the weight and momentum of a few inches of water
>in the boat could damage the boat, cause it to shear through roof rack
>lines, and/or tip the car itself under the wrong acceleration/
>deacelleration/turning circumstances. 
[sniparoni the paddlewise treat ;-]

i read the above, and said HUH?? 
8.6lbs/gallon or 1kg/liter
2.2lbs/kg so 64 pounds of water is 29 liters, slightly more than a cubic foot ;-)
 then i also read:

>Vancouver, BC, Canada V6J 1K1

and said, oh a canadian talking about pounds and feet ;-)

and now for the rest of the story, 'cause i'm not trying to shame philip...
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From: Lloyd Bowles <lbowles_at_bmts.com>
subject: Re: [Paddlewise] rain-filled kayaks
Date: Tue, 01 Dec 1998 22:36:30 -0500
Mark Zen wrote:
> 
> At 14:24 01-12-98 -0800, Philip T. wrote:

> > I do remember that water weighs about
> >64 lbs. per cubic foot, depending on whether it's fresh or salt.
>
> i read the above, and said HUH??
> 8.6lbs/gallon or 1kg/liter
> 2.2lbs/kg so 64 pounds of water is 29 liters, slightly more than a cubic foot ;-)
>  then i also read:
> 
> >Vancouver, BC, Canada V6J 1K1
> 
> and said, oh a canadian talking about pounds and feet ;-)

A cubic foot of fresh water is 62.4 pounds (not sure at what
temperature).  Salt water is heavier & I recall 64 pounds/cubic foot
though it will depend on the salt concentration.  Dead Sea water will be
heavier than ocean water.
Oh, I'm Canadian too, but educated before we modernized & adopted the 
metric system.

-- 
Lloyd Bowles
The Mad Canoeist
"Keep the open side up!"
http://www.fortunecity.com/greenfield/clearstreets/358/index.html
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From: Mark Zen <canoeist_at_netbox.com>
subject: Re: [Paddlewise] rain-filled kayaks
Date: Wed, 02 Dec 1998 16:16:53 -0700
ATTN: if humor doesn't "float your boat" ;-) delete now!!
this is a resend of the previous post, which left out the science part...

At 14:24 01-12-98 -0800, Philip T. wrote:
[sniparoo]
> I do remember that water weighs about
>64 lbs. per cubic foot, depending on whether it's fresh or salt. Here on
>the Wet Coast, it's not uncommon to have to pump out your boat in the
>morning if you've left it out on the beach without the cockpit cover. I'm
>quite prepared to believe the weight and momentum of a few inches of water
>in the boat could damage the boat, cause it to shear through roof rack
>lines, and/or tip the car itself under the wrong acceleration/
>deacelleration/turning circumstances. 
[sniparoni the paddlewise treat ;-]

i read the above, and said HUH?? 
8.6lbs/gallon or 1kg/liter
2.2lbs/kg so 64 pounds of water is 29 liters, slightly more than a cubic foot ;-)
 then i also read:

>Vancouver, BC, Canada V6J 1K1

and said, oh a canadian talking about pounds and feet ;-)

and now for the rest of the story, 'cause i'm not trying to shame philip...
-
-
-
my reference book [i almost got a nose bleed climbing to the top of my bookcase]
says:

water at 62oF [distilled]
1 gal = 8.32675 lbs
1 cubic foot = 62.288 lbs [~7.45 gallons] = 28.3163 liters

so, philip had the weight right, i got the liters, and still have a hard time
thinking i can fit almost seven and a half gallons in ft^3  --- so when you
hear the potomac river hit 375,000cfs, that's 2.8+MILLION gallons per second!!

mark

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