TcSqd_at_aol.com wrote: > Ralph, is it your point that folding kayaks are safer and less likley to need > a roll because they are less likely to capsize, easier to re-enter than a > hardshell or both? Only having done rescues in hard shells I would think a > foldable would be tougher to re-enter, just simply because of a lack of bulk > heads and the danger of swamping. A couple of observations here: 1. Anyone who goes out in a folding kayak without air flotation bags filling most of the underdeck fore and aft section might as well go around with a hole in the hull. The same goes for hardshells without bulkheads and plastic kayaks with bulkheads. A folding kayak will float with sufficient freeboard for emptying the boat only if it has such airbags. Built in sponsons alone are not enough. 2. Folding kayaks do benefit from having airtubes along their sides in the sense that having flotation there keeps the boat stable even when water is sloshing around inside. Unlike a hardshell in which the cockpit is flooded and should be emptied before moving on or it will be very unstable, a folding kayak will move along nicely with a flooded cockpit (need those end airbags though). Try it and you will see the difference between a flooded hardshell and a flooded folding kayak. 3. The folding ones are quite stable and you can depend to a certain degree on that to see you through situations. And if you do capsize (anything can go over) it offers a much more stable re-entry platform than a hardshell. So you can get back in without a paddle float except in the tippier ones. > > Also I would be curious about your view on sponsons making it easier or not > significantly impacting a roll. I would think if they help keep a boat upright > they would also "help" keep a boat upside down. I did not realize that the > Khatsalano was designed to be operated without sponsons. I know the K-1 and > Light and the Raid 2 use sponsons. In ordinary paddling in most folding kayaks, the sponsoned part of the boat is not touching the water as it is high up. However, if the boat is upside down, the boat does rest on the sponsons. To a degree there is resistance to re-submerging the boat because that means driving a sponson underwater. Again, you have to try it too see the relative resistance. It is not like sinking a balloon but toward that phenomenon. The Khats has one version in which you can use or not use the sponsons. 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/ ***************************************************************************Received on Fri Feb 12 1999 - 11:33:51 PST
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