RE: [Paddlewise] Sponson stuff

Mike asked:
<SNIP>>>>>>>Has anyone stood up in a heavily loaded kayak? is it
particularly difficult to balance?

Is 100 lb cargo much of an upper limit on typical loads? (I've never
weighed all my gear)  It sounds high to me.<<<<<<

Back when we began selling the first Mariner, around 1981, a competitor
started telling everybody how tippy it was. It was pretty tippy too being
all of 20.5" wide. For comparison, some thought it more stable than a
Nordkapp, but I thought it wasn't quite as stable as a Nordkapp. Anyway,
that store had a photo contest where all of the photo contest entries were
posted in their store. So I stuck about 50 pounds of rocks in the Mariner
under the float bags one cold November day and Cam shot up a roll of film of
me standing in that kayak. I was prepared to get wet with a wetsuit under my
clothes but never got wet. Because of the wind I had to stand up and get
back down to paddle back out (to good picture range) many times too.

Incidentally: On the same roll of film Cam took that day there is a picture
of me inflating one of the homemade sponsons I had made (from float bags
inflated inside sleeping bag stuff sacks). I had sewn webbing and buckles on
to the stuff sacks to affix these inflatable "sponsons" to each side of the
kayak. I even had a strap in the middle to buckle the sponsons together
under the kayak and so I could pull them down into the water for increasing
the stability. I was testing the sponson concept for the self-rescue
possibilities (and for the possibility of stabilizing the kayak for sleeping
or spending the night in it). This picture is what is known as "prior art"
in the patent game. It and several other prior uses of "sponsons" on kayaks
that are documented well prior to Sponsonman having applied for a patent on
his sponsons pretty much renders the patent useless. (It was so poorly
written as to be virtually worthless already). If anybody would like to "do
sponsons right" to make them more functional or address some of the
shortcomings of what is now available (but have been stopped by the idea
that sponsons are already patented) probably has little to worry about
(besides Tim's wrath, legal threats, and never ending written diatribes
anywhere he can't be stopped). But, even then he is more likely to skewer
himself with his own pen than damage his intended target.

But, I digress. Back to Mike's other question: 100 pounds seems like a
pretty light load to me. "Now where did I pack that kitchen sink?" Five
gallons of water weighs 40 pounds and I've often added more water than that
to my already 100 plus pound load for a trip of a week or more.

Without checking Mike's math, I'll stick my neck out and say that his
conclusions sound about right to me as to the relative stability of the
different ways of stabilizing a kayak that I have experienced.

Matt Broze
http://www.marinerkayaks.com


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