Following the departing cockpit cover thread, try the Palm neoprene cockpit cover. A little pricier than others, but it's tight, solid and crosswind proof. (Also not that easy to get the bloody thing on, but when it's on, it stays on!) Also stays tight as a drum, and keeps virutally all the water out of a boat in heavy rains. Caution note: in very heavy or sustained rains, you can pick up enough rainwater in a cockpit to collapse your rack --- not to get back on that subject! --- and even your roof. Only saw it happen once, but two large cockpit sea kayaks on top of (I think it was a) Toyota Corolla managed to buckle the roof columns. 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! So cockpit covers are not just for fuel economy or to keep the critters out. Jack Martin *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************
JCMARTIN43_at_aol.com wrote: > Caution note: in very heavy or sustained rains, you can pick up enough > rainwater in a cockpit to collapse your rack --- not to get back on that > subject! --- and even your roof. Only saw it happen once, but two large > cockpit sea kayaks on top of (I think it was a) Toyota Corolla managed to > buckle the roof columns. 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! Amen, on the amount of water. I once left on my roofrack a double Klepper without its spray cover. It was on the car overnight during a torrential rainstorm. When I went out the next morning, the car which was on an inclined driveway alongside a friend's house was down on its back springs as if I were carrying a load of concrete. I tried climbing up to pump water but it was taking too much time. Luckily the guy we were staying with was built like Burl Ives and just took the boat off the roof, water and all, spilling a lot of the water out as he did. No damage to the car, rack or boat but I have heard of Klepper breaking frame parts when a swamped one is hauled on to a large motor boat. ralph diaz ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Ralph Diaz . . . Folding Kayaker newsletter PO Box 0754, New York, NY 10024 Tel: 212-724-5069; E-mail: rdiaz_at_ix.netcom.com "Where's your sea kayak?"----"It's in the bag." ----------------------------------------------------------------------- *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************
> 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/ ***************************************************************************
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