Our club just purchased a Feathercraft Khatsalano. Even with the strap-on skeg (no rudder), it weathercocks quite severely, even in a light wind. We were paddling it unloaded. This happened to several of us. Three questions: Loaded, would it track better? (We will try this soon.) My sense is that the weight of the paddler causes the frame to buckles slightly under the cockpit, increasing the rocker. Fully loaded, the boat would straighten out and might track better. Would the Khatsalano S version perform differently? FYI, we are all experienced paddlers, paddling NDK kayaks, several times a week. Thanks for any help. Josh Teitelbaum Terra Santa Kayak Expeditions Herzliya Israel *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
On Feb 6, 2008 6:07 AM, Joshua Teitelbaum <teitelba_at_post.tau.ac.il> wrote: > Our club just purchased a Feathercraft Khatsalano. Even with the strap-on > skeg (no rudder), it weathercocks quite severely, even in a light wind. We > were paddling it unloaded. This happened to several of us. > > Three questions: > > Loaded, would it track better? (We will try this soon.) Properly loaded, it does - I always find I need to carry weight in the stern. Don't put anything heavy in the bow, load all heavy stuff in the stern, and if you are paddling unloaded, carry some ballast in the stern - a gallon of water works well (contained in a bottle, not flooding the boat!!!). *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
[Please remove all old content that is not pertinent to your reply including old headers and footers. It's list policy.... this post was modified to meet policy] Josh, The Khats does weathercock. I prefer to have my skeg on and a bit of ballast in the rear. It is by far my most maneuverable sea kayak and quite speedy. Doug Simpson, the designer, told me he designed it to carry the load in the rear to balance it out. With enough heavy stuff in back it runs ok in a crosswind, but still I'm sweeping and doing draw strokes to keep it on line. The S version requires you keep the sponsons inflated, the standard version you can choose between inflated and not inflated, which alters the performance profile. That is why I prefer the standard version. Have fun, it is a great boat. Cheers, Rob G Our club just purchased a Feathercraft Khatsalano. Even with the strap-on skeg (no rudder), it weathercocks quite severely, even in a light wind. We were paddling it unloaded. This happened to several of us. Josh Teitelbaum pondered: Three questions: Loaded, would it track better? (We will try this soon.) My sense is that the weight of the paddler causes the frame to buckles slightly under the cockpit, increasing the rocker. Fully loaded, the boat would straighten out and might track better. Would the Khatsalano S version perform differently? FYI, we are all experienced paddlers, paddling NDK kayaks, several times a week. Thanks for any help. Josh Teitelbaum *************************************************************************** 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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