[Paddlewise] Fwd: Re: Paddling in doubles.

Dear List,

I asked Dave Kruger some "double" questions back-channel.  He graciously 
wrote the following and it makes good sense to me to share the info on this 
list.

Bill Leonhardt


>From: "Dave Kruger" <kdruger_at_pacifier.com>
>To: "Leonhardt, William J" <wjleonhardt_at_bnl.gov>
>Subject: Re: [Paddlewise] Paddling in doubles.
>Date: Wed, 11 Jun 2003 13:38:18 -0700
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>
>Bill,
>
>It is OK if you want to forward this to the list, edited as you see fit.
>----------------------------------------------
>Bill Leonhardt asked me, back channel, to explain why we chose a Folbot
>Double and a Pygmy Double when my SO and I decided to try paddling tandem.
>He has my permission to forward this to the list if he so chooses.
>
>We acquired the Folbot in 1996, for use on an extended trip in the Queen
>Charlottes, triggered because we did not want to yard two singles overhead on
>the ferry up the Inside Passage, and then over to the Islands.  The
>overheight charges were enough incentive to invest in a double, and we
>figured it would be good for other paddling trips to places where we would
>have to fly to a distant launch point.  Turns out we only did that once, but
>the Folbot was a good boat for friends to use -- it is stable as hell, and
>easy to fit.  It gave us flexibility when others wanted to go kayak camping
>with us, but we did not use it much ourselves.
>
>We first used the Folbot in earnest on a 15-day Charlottes trip in 1998 and
>found many of the advantages Rafael has described were important to us.
>Folbot's Greenland II makes for particularly easy loading and unloading,
>because of its open cockpit construction.  However, it is a short, very beamy
>boat, and therefore slow.  Plus, having no bulkheaded compartments made for
>wet storage at times, and a reduced safety factor if we swamped.  And, the
>cheesy stock spraydeck makes launching and landing on surge beaches a PITA.
>I built an improved spraydeck incorporating hardshell-style sprayskirts (see:
>http://foldingkayaks.org/kayakmods.html#folbot_spraydeck) to help there.
>
>We learned to coordinate our paddle strokes because the seating positions are
>close.  (At first, that was a hassle; later, it was fun to do -- and we
>became better paddlestrokers because we had to pay attention to our strokes.)
>
>In Fall 2000, I built a Pygmy Osprey Double (not the Triple; see below), with
>bulkheaded compartments, but open between the front and rear cockpits.  This
>is a longer, narrower boat, with more efficient hull design.  It lets us
>paddle farther for the same effort.  It is a little less stable than the
>Folbot, but still has much greater initial stability than any single I have
>paddled.  Paddler separation is great enough that coordinated paddling is not
>required (though we do it anyway).  We chose it over their Triple because the
>Triple puts both paddlers closer to the ends, reducing the bulkheaded storage
>substantially, and making for a cramped cockpit for larger people in the
>front.  In addition, the Triple has even more open space to bail out, if
>swamped.
>
>Many of these features are common to any double.  We picked a wooden
>kit-built boat because we could get a hardshell double at about 1/2 to 1/3
>the out-of-pocket cost of an equivalent-volume composite double, not adding
>the "cost" of my time in constructing it.
>
>The Osprey Double is not a high-volume double, so on week-long ventures, we
>have to deck-load, which is easy (and safe) to do between paddlers.  Its
>smaller volume is an advantage for day trips, the unloaded vessel being a
>very fast boat.  And, its efficiency makes it easier for one person to push
>it home if the other is ill, which happened a couple times.  Finally, the
>construction method makes for a much lighter carry to and from the vehicle.
>
>I think, for the bucks spent, kit-built wood/fiberglass/epoxy composite boats
>are a real value, if you enjoy the construction process.  And, I suspect (but
>have no data to support this) they are stronger than equivalent-weight
>fiberglass/polyester composite boats.  I know the Pygmy deck and hull are far
>more rigid than those in my Eddyline composite singles.
>
>--
>Dave Kruger
>Astoria, OR
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