Re: [Paddlewise] American Boat and Yacht Council guidance H-29 and the end of low rear decks

What is the ABYC doing "regulating" touring kayaks without input from 
kayakers?  ABYC does many good things for power boating standatds. but this 
is ridiculous.  The basis for safe hull design for canoes and kayaks is 
very different from that needed for power boats.

This sucks.

-- 
Dave Kruger
Astoria, OR

Brian Curtiss wrote:
> American Boat and Yacht Council guidance H-29 (recently revised) states 
> the the maximum capacity of a touring kayak is defined as the load that 
> results in 2.5" freeboard, where freeboard is defined as the distance 
> between the waterline in calm water and the lowest point of water 
> ingress (which is at the back of the coaming in most designs).  This 
> already seems to be impacting boat design here in the U.S.: the August 
> issue of Sea Kayaker reviews the Suka (a new Greenland-style kayak) by 
> Current designs; the designer states: "...the Suka's design is compliant 
> with the American Boat and Yacht Council guidance H-29...."; the 
> reviewers commented "...the height of the back deck prevents full 
> laybacks."; and the designer responded: "While the reviewers noted full 
> laybacks were inhibited by the height of the back deck and cockpit 
> coaming, this is an unfortunate result of designs that are compliant 
> with the American Boat and Yacht Council's guidance H-29."  So now we 
> have a Greenland-style kayak that doesn't allow a full layback.
> 
> Are U.S. (and manufacturers in other countries) required to follow 
> H-29?  Are there any kayak designers on the American Boat and Yacht 
> Council's H-29 committee or were any involved in reviewing H-29?  I 
> suppose we have it better that the canoe folks who now, in addition to 
> freeboard requirements, also have minimum width requirements (based on a 
> proportion of length).
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