From: "Keith W Robertson" <news_at_fachwen.org> > You need a cable / slider controlled skeg for this to work well - not > the cord and cleat system... Ya know Keith, this sounds like an example of a badly designed system generating the opinion. I spent five days paddling an NDK Explorer in the past month and compared the skeg to that on my Boreal Designs Ellesmere. The Explorer uses a VCP skeg, as I understand it. If my only experience in life was with such VCP skegs, I'd agree with your comment that you need a slider. The Ellesmere uses a skeg _very_ similar to the VCP, however, it's been improved. In the Ellesmere, the two disks on the side of the skeg are larger in diameter. This means that there is more leverage for the controls and lower forces required to use it.. It also means that the control line has to move further for a given degree of deployment. While the Explorer had the line move less than three inches from fully retracted to fully deployed, the Ellesmere allows more like five inches (both "measurements" by eyeball, so they are inexact). This means that the Ellesmere allows a finer degree of control even with the line and cleat system. There's more to it. The skeg in both designs is retracted by a pair of bungie cords. The bungies and the control line all come out to the upper deck through the same hole. The Explorer has the line and bungies coming forward, the line to a pulley and the bungies to a fitting on the centerline of the rear deck. This means that they compete for space in the hole. BD changed that so the bungies come up and route to a fitting to the rear of the hole while the control line runs forward through a pulley. This means that they don't interfere with each other. There is a _huge_ difference in the amount of friction present. With my Ellesmere, I can easily set any angle or degree of deployment I want. With the Explorer, I got fed up with the thing and either left it up or released it fully; it wasn't worth the annoyance to fiddle with it. I had emailed Boreal Designs about their skeg and asked about the report in Sea Kayaker's review that they were redesigning it. They responded that after reviewing the designs on the British kayaks (and probably the rate of failure*) they found their own system adequate and were not going to adopt the slider system. This past weekend, I was up to visit Rockwood Outfitters, the folks who manufacture the Nigel Foster kayaks for Walden. They had one on show. I spoke with one of the partners in Rockwood and he told me that they had redesigned the skeg on that kayak so that it works better and is easier to make. It was somewhat more rigid (playing with it by hand - no water nearby) than the VCP style. I doubt it would vibrate at speed like the VCP style. It is not a long fin like the VCP, but a smallish, rounded triangle that adds less than four inches to the draft. It is also a different plastic, not ABS like the VCP style. This looks like a good design. Over time I'm becoming more convinced that bad design influences opinions on skegs and rudders more than the potential performance or utility of a good product. Mike * The failure rate of the sliders appears to be higher than they'd like you to believe. When I spoke to Ed at Explore Kayaking, the Canadian importer of NDK kayaks, he said that he doesn't recommend the current slider because they fail too often. He also said that NDK is reviewing the design and is toying with a different slider - one that dispenses with the rod. It is bending of the rod that causes the system to jam. Replacing the rod is a maintenance headache. *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Mon Sep 24 2001 - 11:33:39 PDT
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