Like many kayakers these days, I carry a Greenland storm paddle as a spare on my foredeck. The placement makes it easy to grab and roll up with it if I lose my main paddle (practice!). If you do carry a storm paddle as a spare, be sure to practice the sliding stroke until you can do it without thinking. If your main paddle breaks or is lost, you might have to depend on the storm paddle to get you home. Also, put a large bead on your foremost bungie cord to hold the bungie a little off the deck and make it easy to insert the paddle from the cockpit. Regarding bulkheads, I was fortunate to buy a Romany Explorer that had had the forward bulkhead moved back at the factory. (The fellow who had ordered it had rejected it because the bulkhead was in the wrong place, but it was just right for me.) If you can wait several months, ordering a new kayak with a custom bulkhead placement is by far the easiest way to go. If it weren't for the extra six inches or so, I don't think I could get my tarp poles into the boat. Speaking of Romanys, last weekend a 1996 Explorer went for $1775 at the used kayak auction at Midwest Mountaineering's Outdoor Expo. It must have been in storage most of that time, because it had hardly a scratch on it. On the other hand, the new Romanys in the store had coamings that were set too low to get a spray skirt under, a flaw for which I returned my first Romany in 1995. Chuck Holst *************************************************************************** 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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