O Great Wise-folks of Paddling! I have revitalized my father's Aerius II with the purchase of a new Long Haul hull, which by the way, I'm very happy with (however, I haven't had it on the water yet, which is frozen solid here in Central Pennsylvania) but it fits on the frame really well and appears very well built. I plan to mostly sail and paddle solo in Lake Erie and other open water, which means I'm looking into spraydecks. Because I feel like I might like to take a passenger on occasion, and being a frugal guy I think I should get a double spraydeck with two "person hatches" and just plug the front hatch up when I'm solo. However, then I realize that I don't really know where I'm gonna want to sit in the boat to trim it out correctly for sailing or paddling (which might be two different spots, eh?) So, Question 1a is: where do folks who solo sail an A II like to sit? Question 1b is: where do folks who solo paddle an A II like to sit? Question 1c is: does a solo spray deck allow any bow-stern position flexibility? Does it need to? Question 1d is: am I dreaming if I think I'm going to make a double spraydeck work for either solo sailing or paddling? When sailing an Aerius II with the Klepper S4 rig, I read in Ralph Diaz's great book that the standard Klepper rudder isn't so good. So, Question 2a is: does anyone have any experience with the "Balanced" rudder blade from Long Haul Products? Questino 2b is: does anyone have any other suggestions for sailing blades for the Aerius II? Thanks for any responses to this long post, I've enjoyed reading the list for the few weeks that I've been a member! Cheers, Matt *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
----- Original Message ----- From: "Matt Poese" <matt_at_sabine.acs.psu.edu> Matt, > > Question 1a is: where do folks who solo sail an A II like to sit? It varies. You can sit in the rear seat or you can have a solo seat that is about a foot or so in front of that normal rear position. > > Question 1b is: where do folks who solo paddle an A II like to sit? In solo paddling you really should sit in a position forward of the rear seat for better trim. If you are only making a beer run across a small lake to a general store then you could paddle from the rear seat. It is not as efficient as the solo position. > > Question 1c is: does a solo spray deck allow any bow-stern position > flexibility? Does it need to? A solo spray deck pretty much puts you in a set position with very little adjustment fore and aft. > > Question 1d is: am I dreaming if I think I'm going to make a double > spraydeck work for either solo sailing or paddling? Here is an idea. If conditions are not too severe, do you paddling and sailing with the cockpit open with no spraydeck and position yourself whereever you want in the boat in terms of either the rear seat or slightly forward. If conditions are severe then lay down the double spraydeck and sail or paddle from the rear position. You can load the front seat area with some ballast (water jugs) for greater trim. Spraydecks are too expensive to have both a solo and a double version although know of people who have both. > > > When sailing an Aerius II with the Klepper S4 rig, I read in Ralph > Diaz's great book that the standard Klepper rudder isn't so good. So, > > Question 2a is: does anyone have any experience with the "Balanced" rudder > blade from Long Haul Products? I haven't but I believe it is a valid balanced rudder and should work. You could also just take the standard Klepper rudder and turn it around so that it is kind of a balanced rudder. Pop out the rivet that is holding the rudder to the rudder plate. Turn the rudder around so it rear is now facing forward. Get a stainless bolt and nut to replace that rivet that was discarded. This way you can switch from the Klepper rudder being in its ordinary or balanced mode as you wish. The downside is that the Klepper rudder in its balanced-like position won't flip out of the water as high as it does in its ordinary position. But you could play with the modification to get it to come out a bit higher. > > Questino 2b is: does anyone have any other suggestions for sailing blades > for the Aerius II? I just gave it to you. ralph diaz-- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Ralph Diaz . . . Folding Kayaker newsletter PO Box 0754, New York, NY 10024 Tel: 212-724-5069; E-mail: rdiaz_at_ix.netcom.com "Where's your sea kayak?"----"It's in the bag." ----------------------------------------------------------------------- *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
In a message dated 1/7/2002 5:33:01 PM Pacific Standard Time, matt_at_sabine.acs.psu.edu writes: > I plan to mostly sail and paddle solo in Lake Erie and other open > water, which means I'm looking into spraydecks. Because I feel like I > might like to take a passenger on occasion, and being a frugal guy I think > I should get a double spraydeck with two "person hatches" and just plug > the front hatch up when I'm solo. I have a Klepper Aerius II, I use a Balogh Batwing rig with a 32 sq. ft. sail mounted midships behind the front paddler and sometime schooner-rig it with a 24 sq. ft. sail in the front. I also use the outriggers. I sail it from the rear sea when I am solo and also when I have a passenger in the front. Usually I don't use the spray deck but when I do, I only use the two hatch version and cover the front hatch. It works well solo from the rear seat in light winds say 15 mph or less but as the winds increase it begins to leecock and gets harder to sail upwind, at about 25 mph I have trouble making progress upwind. It would then be necessary to have a front passenger or to put ballast in the front. For solo sailing, I have been thinking of moving the the midships mast aft and putting a seat in the middle solo location. > > Question 1a is: where do folks who solo sail an A II like to sit? > For light winds it doesn't matter, for strong winds it's best trim the hull and use ballast or sit in the middle. > Question 1b is: where do folks who solo paddle an A II like to sit? > For little or no wind wind it doesn't matter much, the midship position is better for strong winds or use ballast to trim the hull. > Question 1c is: does a solo spray deck allow any bow-stern position > flexibility? Does it need to? > I don't know, I don't have one. > Question 1d is: am I dreaming if I think I'm going to make a double > spraydeck work for either solo sailing or paddling? Probably, but most of the time I don't use a spraydeck. > > When sailing an Aerius II with the Klepper S4 rig, I read in Ralph > Diaz's great book that the standard Klepper rudder isn't so good. So, > > Question 2a is: does anyone have any experience with the "Balanced" rudder > blade from Long Haul Products? > That's what I use, it works well but you can also reverse the Klepper rudder blade to make a balanced rudder, I tried that too, it works fine. Ralph Diaz described the method in his newsletter at one time. It's a good idea to attach a line or bungie to the rudder to make sure it stays down and forward. Ralph describes that as well somewhere. > Questino 2b is: does anyone have any other suggestions for sailing blades > for the Aerius II? > I'm not sure what a "sailing blade" is. A different rudder blade? A leeboard? Tony Niilus *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0 : Thu Aug 21 2025 - 16:33:26 PDT