[Paddlewise] Sea Kayak Tracking

Passing this on (with the author's permission).  Seemed lucid and likely to
draw the techies out of the woodwork.

-- 
Dave Kruger
Astoria, OR
--

Subject:  Re:   Help - Sea Kayak tracking
          Date: 14 May 1999 16:03:04 GMT
          From: lkfjr_at_aol.com (LKFJR)

Over the years we have discovered more than one cause of poor tracking in
composite boats (for plastic all bets are off because of tendency of hull
to
deform from heat, etc.). 

1.  Beginners frequently have a strong side and need to develop the
requisite
symmetry in the forward stroke; they also can sit to one side and create a
slight lean to hull. The stroke causes boat to track to one side while
off-center sitting cause random off-track directionality.

2. Most boats will weathercock in moderate to strong winds but at differnt
specific velocities depending on boat model and to varying degrees. This
produces off-track directionality, but always determined by wind direction
and
is not consistently to one side.

3. Some boat models are built from moulds that introduce an asymmetry.
Usually
this is only slight and is easily corrected by paddler who adjusts his/her
stroke to accommodate the off-tracking. You'd be very surprised if I told
you
the names of some of these boats that demonstrated this slight deficiency.
The
fact that it goes largely unnoticed is testimony to the ease with which it
can
be accommodated. I had a couple of customers who once actually set up plumb
lines and levels to demonstrate how far off one of the high performance
boats'
hulls were. But they paddled fine which is always the test, isn't it? The
only
way to test for this is to have a variety of paddlers test it under calm,
no
wave conditions and see if they have the same result.

4. There is at least one high end composite model that had a rudder
installed
on it that caused a definite off-track veering. I had one so I know. I kept
wondering why it was veering (rudder was up) and could not figure it out
until
a customer noticed the rudder attachment extended down into water by a
couple
of inches and was causing a small rooster tail as I paddled along. Since it
is
nearly impossible to mount the rudder base in exactly the center of the
stern
transom, this was causing the boat to always go left. The only solution was
to
either install a different rudder base or grind it down so it did not
extend
into the water. I have since explained this to 3 other owners of the same
model
with the same rudder and they were greatly relieved to learn it was not
their
poor paddling after all. The mfr. has since modified the rudder. So, I'd
check
out the rudder attachment base to see if your rudder extends down into the
water.

5. If you had a folding boat, I'd say you had one sponson inflated more
than
the other to an extreme degree or you had something (like a float bag)
deforming the hull to produce an asymmetry that causes the veering to one
side
consistently.

6. Fianlly, I recall a Lake Superior trip to Isle Royale and one in our
party
had discovered a leak in his hull where the moulded-in skeg (Nordkapp HM)
was
below the waterline. He attempted a quick repair with a piece of duct tape.
Within a few minutes of leaving to continue ourtrip, he started complaining
about the boat's veering off to one side. After a few derogatory remarks
about
his lopsided personality being translated into his paddling technique, I
noticed that the tape had come partially loose and about two inches of it
was
trailing through the water on one side of skeg. This was all that was need
to
cause the boat to veer off strongly to one side. Pretty amazing to see the
ruddering effect of a little piece of duct tape at the right locationon the
boat's hull.

Well, there are our reasons that boats don't track straight. You might
really
have a problem but first you need to check out your paddling technique by
having others paddle your boat and you paddle others' boats.

Good luck!

Ken Fink
Poseidon Kayak Imports
Walpole, Maine
207-644-8329
***************************************************************************
PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List
Submissions:     paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net
Subscriptions:   paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net
Website:         http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/
***************************************************************************