RE: [Paddlewise] Cockpit Yada Yada

See comments in text below.

Matt Broze
http://www.marinerkayaks.com



> -----Original Message-----
> From: Doug Lloyd [mailto:dlloyd_at_telus.net]
> Sent: Sunday, January 21, 2001 12:09 AM
> To: PaddleWise_at_paddlewise.net; Matt Broze
> Subject: Cockpit Yada Yada
>
>
> Matt wrote:
>
> <<<<
> Try tightening the shock cord that goes around the cockpit rim. Be sure
> and
> loosen it again if the spraydeck may be used by novices later.
> Call Rich at Snapdragon (425)957-3575. I'm sure he could tell you (and
> make
> you one just like it). He was one of Chris's sponsors. Chris told me he
> did
> the whole trip with the one spraydeck so it held up well.
> >>>>
>
> Like, if it didn't, he's gonna say something negative about one of his
> sponsors? Oh Matt, you are like so yesterday.

I don't know, but suspect that sponsorship meant he got his spraydeck for
free. I'm sure if he wasn't happy with it he would have gotten something
else as soon as feasible. Chris strikes me as an extremely honest
individual. I think you owe him an apology.
>
> <<<<
> An implosion bar
> is a bar that is inside a closed pocket across the front of the deck.
> Its
> ends rest on either side of the cockpit rim about 1/2 way from your
> belly to
> the front of the cockpit. It helps prevent the deck from being forced
> into
> the cockpit enough by a breaker to pull the shock cord off the coaming
> rim.
> >>>>
>
> Hey Matt and gang, I know some kayaks that need an implosion bar under
> their vacuum bagged fiberglass decks :-)

I have heard of someone who spent several times more money repairing his
mostly chop-strand mat kayak than it cost new. Different kayaks each have
there place and limitations. Reasonable folks make lots of trade-offs to
best fit their perceived needs.

>
> <<<<
> I have thought of (but never tried) putting a plastic or aluminum plate
> that
> fits around the front of the cockpit rim and supports the spraydeck
> against
> implosion. It would become a hard plate filling in the front of the
> cockpit
> area. It would essentially convert a large cockpit into a small cockpit.
> At
> least until you release the font of the spraydeck and then pushed it
> forward
> or lift it off the rim to remove it. Maybe a knee tube could be built
> into
> this "Ocean Cockpit Conversion" device too. Just think Doug, all the
> benefits of a small cockpit for those who think they need it, but few of
> the
> disadvantages.
> >>>>
>
> Yes Matt, an Ocean Cockpit can be a little harder to get out of quickly
> as you have implied in the past. Yes, I agree, you are right -- through
> hell and high water, I've never been sucked out of my Nordkapp...yeap,
> it's definitely harder to come out of! I love it when we agree! :-)
>
> But I feel a bit ripped off -- not the skirt (that never happens), but
> the fact that I can't indulge my consumptive technoweenie gearhead
> fetish for spending money on new paddling stuff, as I don't need one of
> these wonderful implosion bars that all the big-name paddlers are having
> to use.

Rich didn't think Chris really needed it but why take a chance. If it might
help it was probably worth taking.
>
> Well, I like my Ocean Cockpit (have I mentioned that to the list
> before?). Maybe I _don't_ need it, but aesthetically, they look better
> on a Greenland style sea boat -- and funny, I wonder where they get the
> name "Ocean Cockpit" from anyway?

Well it might just be marketing hype. More likely it came about to
distinguish it from the huge "sprint" style cockpit which was the only other
choice on an early Nordkapp.
>
> Alas my friend, I shall now keep my bias cockpit-fit hyperbole to myself
> until I get my web site up and running, whereupon I shall quote your
> previous recommendations for the Ocean Cockpit.

Huh? You talking to me? I don't recall such a recommendation.

>
> PS   My recollection with Chris prior to his NZ departure, was that he
> wanted to keep using the Nordkapp for a number of superiority reasons
> including speed and seating security, but that the development of
> sciatica put pressure on him (forgive the pun) to switch to the Romany
> (which he said turned out to be a surprizingly an increadibly great boat
> on his pre-trip training). And as far as his lack of a skeg or rudder
> with respect to your prior comment about Chris "still completing" the NZ
> trip, didn't someone on this list mention a while back that Chris said
> he would have "sold his heart" for a skeg or rudder.

Haven't you been suffering back problems lately Doug? Looks like with the
switch Chris no longer suffers from sciatica. Maybe the "ocean" cockpit is a
cause of sciatica. Chris did say during the questioning period that there
were several times when he could have benefited from the addition of a
rudder or skeg and wanted one then. However, he saw several disadvantages to
a rudder most of the time and feared it would not survive the surf landings
(one dumper early in the trip cracked the helmet he had tied to his rear
deck--I don't think he made the mistake of underestimating the surf--and not
wearing the helmet for launches and landings--again). I was surprised to
learn his kayak didn't have a skeg and asked him why. Chris mentioned the
potential gear storage space it took up that he critically needed because he
had to do long stretches between resupply points. He also said that going
solo as he did, meant he wouldn't have anyone else around to get the skeg
unstuck for him after a launch through surf. I got the impression from the
questions about this if he were to do it again he would make the same choice
of the more maneuverable kayak without add-on control devices. He felt the
maneuverability he gained with the Romany in the critical surf portions of
his trip outweighed the difficulty he had during particularly bad quartering
following seas where he at times wished he had a rudder or skeg on his boat
(but not a less maneuverable small cockpit kayak that would also delay his
exits when landing through dumping surf on steep beaches. As it was it was a
"not quick enough" exit that let the surf reclaim his kayak for the sea and
seriously smashed it up.

<SNIP>


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