I checked out Peter Carter's website. \ I'm glad he addressed the free surface (sloshing) issue with a flooded cockpit. This is often (most always) overlooked when discussing kayak stability. I have been wondering what to do about this in my boat, a Romany Explorer. The Romany has a bit of a flat bottom, and in rough water, with the cockpit flooded, the sloshing motion becomes very unstablilizing. Do I reduce cockpit volume? Add baffles? A sea sock? Or, trade it in on a Nordkapp Jubilee? I am not certain that the problem with instability with the flooded cockpit is due to the volume as the shape of the hull. I don't experience the sloshing (free surface) in my Falcon 18 as so unstabilizing. Carter writes (http://www.mpx.com.au/~pcarter/Voyager.html): > To meet those requirements requires a cockpit of minimum volume. The best way > to achieve that is not with the bulkheads of conventional craft but with an > integrated cockpit: seat and bulkhead in one piece, and sealed to the deck. This is an interesting solution. I was thinking about gluing something in the floor of the cockpit to reduce the sloshing and further reduce the cockpit volume. Doing that however would preclude being able to carry the watertight zip-bag. Carter also states that nothing should be carried in the cockpit. I have been carrying things in my cockpit inside of a waterproof bag (Voyager-zipped bag). It can indeed get in the way. But, I don't like stuff strapped on deck either. Carter also posits that the re-enter and roll is a necessary skill. Forget Paddle floats Carter says. What about the situation when even with a perfected re-enter and roll, there is an injury? Wouldn't you want a paddle float alternative? I don't know how ambitious an assignment it is to add the re-entry and roll to the repertoire. I think Doug Lloyd posted about this issue some time ago. Can someone address experience with the sea sock as a means to reduce "free surface," or slosh? Is the re-enter and roll hampered by the sea sock? Can the sea sock be fastened to the forward bulkhead to facilitate re-enterering? Robert *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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