> Stability comes from > the center of gravity changing at a slower rate with heel angle than the shift > in the > center of bouyancy. If the water is free to move, the center of gravity > shifts faster > than would a dead load. This reduces or eliminates stability. Internal > sponsons > don't kick in until the heel angle is relatively high and most of the water > has already > moved. I would not argue much with the above except to say that if the rear bulkhead wraps around the thighs up to the knees there really is a significant reduction the the waters ability to move (after all your own presence in the boat creates a baffle.) If the boat is wide enough (say 25 inches) there can be a lot of liters of air out laterally. In some sense you are in a hard shell sea sock (or pod) if you take it to the extremes. I would also not claim that this is the "best" way to design a kayak. There are tradeoffs for everything. Such a design adds weight, reduces storage accessible to the paddler and restricts the size of people that can use the boat and is hard to construct which means that such boats would be more expensive than if simpler bulkhead construction was used. I do know from experience that the boat in question is reasonably stable when the center compartment is totally flooded. I am also familiar with the fact that this is not the case with other kayaks that I own. ------ End of Forwarded Message *************************************************************************** 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 Sun Dec 23 2001 - 22:03:57 PST
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