On 28 Jun 2004 at 22:03, Peter Treby wrote: > One negative with all the heavy gear in the stern is that some heavy > gear will be out at the very stern, offending the aim usually > advocated for maximum manoevrability, of having heavy gear located in > the centre of the boat, and leaving the ends light. In fact, this point makes the 2:1 ratio questionable as a guide. I could probably come up with a kayak and gear arrangement that achieves the identical balance with 1:1 weight simply by judicious choice of which gear goes where. However, it would not necessarily snap around due to rotational inertia about the vertical axis. 2:1 may only apply if we are rigorous about placing the load in a certain way - massive items near the cockpit and light objects near the ends. But then, sometimes ballasting with weight in the ends can have a useful damping effect on pitching. I've been thinking of this on the weekend - if we rely on weight distribution to minimize need for a skeg/rudder, we risk goofing and not being able to adjust on the water. If we rig a sliding seat to correct on the fly, we have simply replaced one form of mechanism that can fail with another. Regardless of goofs, I know that my kayak needs slightly different skeg settings for wind on the starboard or port bow versus wind on the quarters. Given the simplicity of the most basic skeg designs (rope and cleat rather than silly little sliders and Bowden cables), I don't see much point in avoiding them. The skeg box's blockage of the stern storage area is a minor annoyance IMHO. Mike BTW, Nimbus (Rainforest Designs) kayaks all have sliding seats. *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************Received on Mon Jun 28 2004 - 10:29:57 PDT
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