This discussion sure turned lively - and I think I have a pretty good idea how the group feels about regulation. I don't like it much myself, but I think there are times when some rules just make sense. We do put basic safety features on other equipment that is used for sports, and people don't seem to find it very intrusive. Safety bindings on skis come to mind. I still think it makes sense to require built-in flotation in all new recreational kayaks, and it is not a terribly difficult ting to accomplish from an engineering standpoint. All it would take is to attach closed cell foam to the inside of the hull along each side. Since recreational boats are built relatively wide for stability, there is room enough next to the seat(s). Such a piece of foam could be molded for an exact fit - and the needed mold would cost a small fraction of the cost of the mold for the hull. My suggestion is to mandate flotation as part of a safety standard for new recreational boats, and the flotation would be installed by the manufacturer when the boat is built. I would not support any attempt to enforce the standards by on-water inspections. It is simply too difficult to legislate what is approved flotation and what is not. For existing boats I think our best bet is to try to educate the users. I would also not support a paddler competence certificate. The enforcement would be too intrusive and the usefulness questionable. We can probably agree that a boat with flotation is safer than one without. I do not buy the argument that adding flotation will make people take more chances and thus become less safe. How much faster do you ski because of your safety bindings? Placing the flotation in the cavity under the gunwales (or where the gunwales would be if there were any) is reasonably convenient from a production standpoint. It will provide the needed flotation, and it will contribute quite a lot to the boat's stability once it has been swamped. Most folding kayaks come with flotation configured the way I suggest, and the flotation has proven effective. I have built folding canoes and kayaks with side flotation for years and have first hand experience with the benefits. It is hard to understand why recreational hard boats should not have the same benefits. In more specialized higher performance boats I would not support the mandated flotation that I'd like to see in recreational boats. Because the users are much better informed there is less of a need. And such a mandate would restrict designs too much. Alv Elvestad Pakboats *************************************************************************** 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 4/17/2002 4:53:50 PM Eastern Standard Time, SCANSPORT_at_CONNRIVER.NET writes: > ... Most folding kayaks come with flotation configured the way I suggest, > and the flotation has proven effective. I have built folding canoes and > kayaks with side flotation for years and have first hand experience with > the benefits. It is hard to understand why recreational hard boats should > not have the same benefits. In more specialized higher performance boats I > would not support the mandated flotation that I'd like to see in > recreational boats. Because the users are much better informed there is > less of a need. And such a mandate would restrict designs too much. ... Alv, I've been following your description with interest. But let's face it, manufacturers originally introduced inflatable side tubes into some of their folding kayak models mainly merely to ease the process of assembly, by allowing the frame to be built inside the skin without having to achieve lateral tension in the skin at the same time -- the latter being provided after the sponsons are inflated. In order not to lose too much interior space, this often made the boats beamier, giving the impression (!) of "recreational boats." There are people out there who prefer more slender boats. There are manufacturers who still provide such boats. It would appear that what you're proposing is that these boats be legislated out of the production line-up? Inbuilt floatation, if it is to be effective, requires, according to Archimedes that a good amount of interior space must be filled out by it. That space is lost to stowage capacity. But what about gear carried in dry bags, which, once the boat starts to flood, also reduces the floodable volume? In fact, a long distance paddler is likely to be blocking a considerably greater volume of the boat's interior in this way! (The additional floatation that sponsons happen to provide is a nice side benefit (although only once the boat is completely flooded and when does that ever happen in practice in a decked canoe or kayak?!?) and let's assume that the greater manufacturing tolerances (and hence building cost reductions) made possible by these inflatable tubes are also a side-benefit and not a design feature.) When I grew up in the more slender folding boat variety, we used to stuff cheap plastic soccer balls into the ends of the frame during assembly. That was in the days before PFDs and other safety measures that have been legislated into our life (most of these measures are sensible and their legislation does not affect me since I was practicing them anyway). The soccer balls were perfectly effective and sufficient to provide enough floatation to self-rescue even if the boat had been completely flooded (highly unlikely in reality in a decked canoe / kayak). Furthermore, the floatation in the ends made for much better boat control when running a partially flooded boat before the waves while trying to get back to shore ... I'm a sea paddler, the increase in the risk of broaching in a partly flooded boat WITHOUT something to keep the water from sloshing into the ends is a very real problem -- one rarely recognized or discussed and one NOT solved by sponsons. If you wish to push for legislation that makes floatation mandatory, then let's do so in a way that keeps the paddler responsible. Edi Hans Pawlata already recognized and publicized the fact in 1928 that it's not the boat that is seaworthy, but only the combination of boat and paddler. By all means make it mandatory that the paddler is properly equipped and that s/he properly deploys the equipment ... but let's not push for legislation, which only covers half of the potential problems, or should we also mandate floatation built into the ends of sea boats and padding built into the stems of white water boats and should we mandate flexible coamings and deck construction that does not break the paddler's back when a breaker sweeps over him, or ... It remains an obvious fact that boats with some inbuilt floatation -- like Pakboats -- present an advantage to the safety conscious paddler since s/he does not have to add quite so much floatation themselves. Having said that, you would not catch me putting out to sea without a whole lot more floatation stuffed AND strapped into the hull of my boat than that provided as standard on the current crop of folders of whatever stripe. Best regards, Ralph Ralph_at_PouchBoats.com www.PouchBoats.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/ ***************************************************************************
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