[Paddlewise] Loading & handling

On day trips my Mariner Elan seems to be very sensitive to loading.  In 15
mph wind I can change from weathercocking to neutral just by moving 1 qt of
water from under my front bungee to right behind my seat. That is about a 3
ft movement. My kayak does not have a sliding seat, nor rudder, nor skeg. I
have spent a lot of time working out seat location and gear loading to keep
the kayak neutral and still be able to enter kayak without having to slide
in from the rear deck. The best I can do is to set up the kayak so it has a
slight lee-cock quartering into the wind and a slight weather-cock when
quartering downwind.  Straight broadside seems to be neutral.  I also
noticed that I need more weight in front (or less in back) when paddling in
waves compared to flat water(both at same wind speed) to get to the neutral
handling point.  I had similar experience with my Arctic Hawk.  


I am planning a multi-day camping trip with the Elan. I am concerned about
loading the kayak so it starts out balanced and maintains the balance as I
consume water and food.  I can do some tests pre-trip to determine the
initial loading but I do have a couple of questions.

1. Is this sensitivity to loading typical of other kayaks or am I just
imagining things?  (Several paddlers have said that they never have noticed
this kind of thing.  Some say they pay attention to not putting everything
heavy in one end, but do not worry about loading same each time)

2. Do I need to test balance at each days expected water and food amount or
can I just make sure I take approximate equal amounts of water out of front
and back each day assuming I have a neutral kayak at the start of trip.

3. Do I even need to worry about exactly matching weight loss front and
rear once I have a neutral starting load. (Change in water balance is small
in comparison to total load in the kayak).  This would save lots of testing
and/or filling refilling water containers each day.

4. Is there a way of marking the kayak for a visual check of balance at
different total loadings?  I was thinking of front and back lines on kayak
side that would be equal distance from water when kayak was balanced. 
Distance to water would change with loading, but would maintaining equal
distance for the two lines indicate kayak should still be balanced?  Being
a mile out in open water with waves breaking over the kayak is not a good
time to realize you messed up the loading.

--- Mark Arnold
--- mjamja_at_earthlink.net
--- EarthLink: The #1 provider of the Real Internet.


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