A few of the 57 kayaks I tried out at the West Coast Sea Kayak Symposium had the Seal Line rudder system. I'm by no means an expert on this system but I think it is a move in the right direction in several respects. The shaped blade was very effective at turning the kayaks even though it is a relatively small blade and had a very high aspect ratio (which in flat rudder blades will stall at a much shallower angle and become ineffective beyond their stall angle). I think the fact that you have a solid foot pedal at the balls of your foot is superior to rudder pedals that hinge at your heel (which I think are superior to sliding pedals). The heel hinged pedals let one get the thighs (quads) involved in the stroke but not the calf muscles as well. A solid pedal at the balls of the feet (or one that pivots at the ball) lets you use both quads and calves to help power the kayak. Because of the low mounting of the blade's pivot point the blade of the Seal Line rudder extended as deep into the water as most of those rudders mounted higher (and with the pivot point above the stern to allow them to pivot to horizontal on the deck). This lower mounting may also mean less rudder flexing and that may have been partly responsible for the more positive feel and responsiveness I felt with the Seal Line rudder. If the rudder housing extends below the waterline (as was the case on the kayaks I tested with the Seal Line rudder) it is not possible to entirely remove the "rudder" from the water even when it is up. On a coast with lots of floating kelp this (like any near vertical stern) may make it very difficult to back up in kelp. I'll let the early adopters test the Seal Line rudder out for a year or more before recommending it (to those who insist on having a rudder). Any new product is bound to have some bugs that need to be worked out. Alex, I don't see any great advantage to not drilling through the hull to mount the foot/rudder pedals as long as the screws aren't below the waterline all the time (slight extra drag would be my objection there). We've drilled through the hull just below (or through) the seam for over 20 years now (on well over 1000 kayaks) and have yet to hear of any leaks at the footbrace mount in any of them at all. We do drill the holes undersized and use a gasket between the hull and the footpedal. The gasket may just be overkill (but why take a chance). One companies kayaks I saw at the symposium had the Keeper foot pedals simply glued to the inside of the hull with plenty of 3M 5200 adhesive/caulk. This might work real well but again I'd have to wait and see for some time before even considering converting to that method. We don't like changing things that have not caused us any problems in the past. What are your objections to screws through the hull Alex? Matt Broze http://www.marinerkayaks.com *************************************************************************** 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 Fri Oct 05 2001 - 01:01:34 PDT
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