Re: [Paddlewise] She Needs Good Design (was She Needed a Rudder)

From: "Keith W Robertson" <news_at_fachwen.org>

> I saw a Nigel Foster boat once with a similar system - but they used such a
> thin cable it easily got bent and then was useless. A friend has a
> Silhouette an has removed the mechanism altogether.

Could be one of the older Netherlands-built models.

> The only weakness is if the skeg gets jammed - usually launching from a
> beach where something gets in-between the skeg and the skeg box - you go to
> deploy the skeg and the slider moves - but you bend the wire... 8-(

One reason I prefer the line and cleat - I can "pump" the line and the thing usually
clears.

> ...You then can't use the skeg very well at all. Thankfully it cannot get
> jammed on the water. Remember to retract it near rocks or when landing!
> (Skegs UP!)

Since it is extremely rare that I used the rudder on my older Solstice, I am not
in the habit of doing that.  Hence, I usually forget to retract the skeg on the
Ellesmere.  No damage yet.

 
> Both myself and my partner have had the cable bend and render it useless
> ONCE! Now we instinctively, carefully and GENTLY check out the system
> immediately after launching, if it's stuck we don't try to force it but get
> someone to pull the skeg free from the back of the boat, this has fixed the
> problem every time so far, though it does not happen often at all.

I paddle solo so often, that's not an option for me.  

> VCP have now refined the system (copying a KayakSport design) where the
> slider system at the end you use has a very solid hollow tube which slides
> back and forth - with the flexible cable held inside this tube and the
> control 'knob' screwed through the tube to grip the cable. This does away
> with the old support rod which lay parallel to the bendy cable. The flexible
> cable is now not visible at this end at all. This means it would be
> virtually impossible to bend the cable at the cockpit end of the boat

That sounds like the kind of thing that Ed described for the next year's Explorer.
Perhaps they've just upgraded to follow what VCP is doing.

> As for outfitters finding them failing often - the same happens here in
> North Wales - beginners hammer the kit and throw all sorts of abuse at them,
> usually accidentally! If you looked at boats that people owned themselves -
> I think you'd find that the failure rate would be much lower... I think most
> of Nigel's hire fleet has the older cord and cleat system which can stand
> abuse by beginners a lot better!

In this case, it was the kayaks he's sold that fail.  Ed's rentals are line and cleat
like Nigel's.





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