Dear all I'm an australian sea kayaker returning to the online kayaking world after 3 years away from the online and real sea kayaking world. I've been listening in for a little while and would like to post the folowing question. I have a plastic skerray sea kayak. I'm thinking of mounting a locally designed and successful sail on it. It uses a universal joint mounted on the deck to which the mast will be attached. To date it has been used only on fibreglass boats that I am aware of. I'm concerned about the pressure on the plastic deck and imagine that some sort of reinforcing will be needed, maybe a plate of stainless steel, or simply a sheet of kayak plastic, bolted to the deck. Does anyone have any experience of this, or any suggestions? nick gill Nicholas Gill School of Geography and Oceanography University of NSW Australian Defence Force Academy Canberra ACT 2600 Ph. 02 6268 8317 Mob. 041 7659440 Fax 02 6268 8313 Email: n-gill_at_adfa.edu.au *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************
> Dear all > I have a plastic skerray sea kayak. I'm thinking of mounting a locally > designed and successful sail on it. It uses a universal joint mounted on > the deck to which the mast will be attached. To date it has been used only > on fibreglass boats that I am aware of. I'm concerned about the > pressure on > the plastic deck and imagine that some sort of reinforcing will be needed, > maybe a plate of stainless steel, or simply a sheet of kayak plastic, > bolted to the deck. Does anyone have any experience of this, or any > suggestions? > > nick gill > Nick I made a mast step for my plastic P&H Capella last year, to mount a sail along the lines of the Tasmanian sail design (modified from Laurie Ford/Grant Hyland/Jeff Jennings sail patterns :http://www.vision.net.au/~jennings/sail/sail.html) and have so far had no problems. My step heavily reinforces the deck. I first layed up a couple of layers of GRP under the deck about a foot wide, and two and a half feet long, from the front of the cockpit coaming to about eight inches forward of the step location (which roughly is over my ankles sat in the cockpit). Once this had cured it was removed from the inside of the boat and the same length of ~eight inch diameter plastic drain pipe (which had had its top cut off to form a u-tube) was layed fore and aft on the (inside of cockpit side) glass sheet. Another couple of layers of glass were applied over the sheet and U tube and sanded smooth. This assembly formed a rigid knee tube with a wide flange, and the deck and this assembly were then drilled with 22mm holes to accept six inches of brass pipe mounted vertically (the step itself). I cut a thread on the top of the brass step pipe and then glassed this into the knee tube assembly so that 2mm of the thread would protrude through the deck. The deck and knee tube assembly was then drilled with eight holes in two lines of four spaced to be just inside the tube, and two 1cm strips of brass the same length were similarly drilled as backing strips. All the holes in the deck were smeared with silicon sealant and the whole assembly was bolted under the deck with brass nuts & bolts and the brass strips inside the knee tube. Finally I cut a circular piece of ~ 3mm brass plate and filed one side to fit the shape of the deck over the protruding threaded 2mm of step, cut a threaded hole in it, smeared the underside with silicon sealant and screwed it onto the protruding end of the step. The result is very stiff - much stiffer than just bolting a flat plate under the deck. If I step my sail on land sitting in the boat side on to a stiff wind, and sheet it in, some flexing of the deck is noticable which was initially a concern, but in the water the boat just heels over and I've yet to detect any movement of the deck. The bonus is knee tube storage space .... and being constructed from scrap odds and sods lying around the workshop, cost minimal. HTH Cheers Colin Calder 57º19'N 2º10'W *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************
At 04:45 PM 1/12/99 +1100, Nick Gill wrote: >Dear all > >I'm an australian sea kayaker returning to the online kayaking world after >3 years away from the online and real sea kayaking world. I've been... Hey Nick, Welcome back!!! Oh so long ago I was a newbie and lurker on Wavelength when you hooked me with your story about being left behind in heavy seas by experienced kayakers during a club paddle. It's nice to see your name on the list again. Bill Ridlon Southern Maine Sea Kayaking Network *************************************************************************** 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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