I rented a Cobra Tourer, today, for a Paddle in the Monterey Harbor, Aquarium area. I liked it. It did seem to have weather helm. Whenever the wind blew from the side more than 45 degrees from my direction of travel, the boat wanted to turn into the wind. I asked a couple of kayakers if it looked like the boat had more freeboard in the rear than the front, with negative replies. Matt and/or John, is it likely that some weight inside the rear hatch might correct this? I'm assuming that weather helm is probably due to too much windage to the rear of the boat and/or not enough lateral resistance by the underwater parts of the rear of the boat. In both cases it would seem that sinking the rear a little might help? -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dave Flory, San Jose, CA. daflory_at_pacbell.net ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Speak softly and study Aikido, then you won't need a big stick. ©2000 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
On Tue, 20 Jun 2000, Dave Flory wrote: > Matt and/or John, is it likely that some weight inside > the rear hatch might correct this? I'm assuming that weather helm is > probably due to too much windage to the rear of the boat and/or not > enough lateral resistance by the underwater parts of the rear of the > boat. In both cases it would seem that sinking the rear a little might help? think of your boat as a giant weathervane. The heavy or less windage end will turn upwind. The lighter, more windage end will turn downwind. Skegs, weight distribution, freeboard, stuff on the deck, will all effect how the boat behaves in the wind. I used to race canoes, with dual sliding seats. It's possible to adjust the trim of the canoes, while underway, to get the wind to help keep the boat on the desired course instead of having to steer. *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
Dave asked: >>Matt and/or John, is it likely that some weight inside the rear hatch might correct this? I'm assuming that weather helm is probably due to too much windage to the rear of the boat and/or not enough lateral resistance by the underwater parts of the rear of the boat. In both cases it would seem that sinking the rear a little might help?<< You have the general idea of what is going on. Consider both ends of the kayak and add the water pressure differences along the hull of a moving boat for an even better picture. Adding weight towards the stern will certainly help for the reasons you stated but adding weight will also add a little more drag (both friction and wave making) and seriously slow acceleration. Shifting existing weight (as our sliding seat does) reduces much of the adding weight problem but top speed is still reduced a bit just by putting the hull out of trim even without any weight increase. Best if the kayak balances the forces when at trim and moving forward. We traded a strong weather helm when going in reverse for little or no weather helm going forward. We think it was a very good trade considering the relative amount of time one spends going each direction (but all trades also have their costs). At the last minute I choose not to use one of my own kayaks when entered in a fun skills race at a West Coast Sea Kayaking Symposium when I learned, at the racers meeting, that the course included long sideways and backwards legs as part of the skills challenge. Matt Broze http://www.marinerkayaks.com *************************************************************************** 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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