The weather gods gave a gift this weekend; sun, no small craft warnings, and air temps in the 40s. My Samba has been stashed outdoors on the screened back porch since 10/29. It’s been kept on the dock here at home and I paddled it that day before bringing it up to the house. My favorite kayak’s at the pool for the winter. Air temps have been in the 20s at night a number of times.
Before loading the kayak, I checked the skeg operation and it would only go down halfway. It worked fine previously and I had hosed out the skeg box when I brought the boat up for winter storage. I could see nothing inside the skeg box to interfere with it. Sprayed some T-9 on the slider control, but it was still balky. Attached a pull string, just in case.
After I launched, the slider wouldn’t slide at all. Back to shore, flipped the boat over and pulled out the skeg using the string, then put the kayak back in the water.
Paddled for about 15 minutes and when I tried the slider again, it worked and the skeg moved up and down with no issues. I’m baffled.
I have the kayak in my living room for the night. The cable looks fine; no kinks or misalignment and the skeg box looks clean. Skeg operates normally.
I’ve had mine freeze up before. If it worked later on I’d guess it was already partially frozen then thawed while in the water. Now if my skeg is stuck when I put in during cold periods, I take note but don’t bother with it until I’ve been paddling a while. It usually comes free like yours seems to have.
Am beginning to think that was the issue. Now that the boat’s been sitting in a nice warm environment, the skeg moves freely. Makes me wonder if there some sort of lubricant involved which hardens in the cold.
A fun part of the trip were the cars ahead of me on the way home carrying Christmas trees on their roofs while I had a kayak.
I can’t remember I have had this happen to me, though I have taken several camping trips where the kayaks have been glaced over with ice on the morning of the second day. However, some people say that it happens when you rinse the kayak with fresh water and it later freezes. When you get on the sea, salt water with a lower melting point starts thawing the fresh water. Or the water is simply warmer than the air so the ice thaws, salt water or not.
Under the right circumstances a skeg can freeze up in cold enough temps because just enough water gets into the slider area that then freezes in wind. A not so subtle hint you are in that scenario is when a coating of ice is also forming you your deck from splash. I have had it happen.
I found it best to just not drop the skeg when the temps were near that point, and go with the old BCU idea that you should be able to paddle without it anyway. That way it wasn’t a stuck issue when I pulled out. Honestly, even in my hardier days when the air temps were into the 20’s I hardly ever paddled anywhere too challenging anyway. A more open crossing on occasion, but spent most of that time on smaller portions of rivers where there was some wind shelter.
@Celia said:
Under the right circumstances a skeg can freeze up in cold enough temps because just enough water gets into the slider area that then freezes in wind. A not so subtle hint you are in that scenario is when a coating of ice is also forming you your deck from splash. I have had it happen.
That’s why I’m baffled. The kayak hasn’t seen water for over a month. Just sitting next to my firewood in the porch. Cold, but not wet. The skeg continues to works perfectly - indoors. Think I’ll drop a line to Eddyline for some feedback.
Right now we have freezing fog so waiting for that to lift before moving the boat outdoors and heading out. Where, I don’t know yet but with the arctic blast and lake effect snows starting up in a couple of days, might be a while before I see liquid water outdoors.
Practice without using a skeg (or rudder) in windy conditions should be universal. Stuff happens.
A big positive is that I had never installed a pull string on a skeg before. Handy to have and definitely will add it to my other kayak. The hole is predrilled on the skeg, which makes it even easier.
@PaddleDog52 said:
You may think it’s dry inside. Doesn’t take much to freeze something like that.
Indeed, and the places where water accumulates don’t tend to dry out quickly either. Especially when it’s cold and damp outside.
@Rookie said:
A big positive is that I had never installed a pull string on a skeg before. Handy to have and definitely will add it to my other kayak.
Not a bad idea. My Sirocco has one but Assateague doesn’t. I should add one.
I’d guess that there was water (turned ice) up inside your skeg cable tube. It wouldn’t take much and on every design I’ve seem so far there’s nothing preventing water infiltration up/down the tube.
If you’re planning on doing more cold weather paddling and it isn’t a big hassle to bring your boat inside the night before, I’d say that’s a pretty darn good solution to the problem.
If you’re planning on doing more cold weather paddling and it isn’t a big hassle to bring your boat inside the night before, I’d say that’s a pretty darn good solution to the problem.
A definite possibility, even though the only way I can bring it in is around the house and through the front sliding glass doors. I imagine kayaks slide easily on snow?
Fog never lifted until after 12:30 p.m., which didn’t leave much time as dusk approaches around 4 p.m. So I enjoyed a new experience: ice breaking at home. While the ice has pretty patterns, the sound is alarming and it really gets spooky when you think you’re headed for open water but it’s really ice covered by a thin layer of water. It was fun to watch the water bubble up through tiny pockets in the ice yards away.
@Rookie said:
I imagine kayaks slide easily on snow?
Oh yes. Absolutely! I like when there’s some snow between my truck and the water because then I can load up the boat at the truck and drag it like a pulk sled with almost zero effort.
Fog never lifted until after 12:30 p.m., which didn’t leave much time as dusk approaches around 4 p.m. So I enjoyed a new experience: ice breaking at home. While the ice has pretty patterns, the sound is alarming and it really gets spooky when you think you’re headed for open water but it’s really ice covered by a thin layer of water. It was fun to watch the water bubble up through tiny pockets in the ice yards away.
Funny you mentioned freezing fog in an earlier post. I think it was last winter that I encountered this for the first time ever while driving home from a visit with my parents. It didn’t seem that cold but it was quite foggy. It kept freezing on my windshield to the point that I went through almost a jug of washer fluid in just over an hour of driving. I thought I might have coined the phrase “freezing fog” that night, but I guess it’s already a thing.
Paddling in ice is great fun, just don’t get carried away if you value your boat and paddle(s). I have some gelcoat cracks in my Assateague from some of my early adventures with 1/2" or so ice. The hull was flexing in front of the forward bulkhead but not where the bulkhead itself is mounted. This is part of the reason I bought a second plastic boat.
The ice also eats wooden paddles for dinner, looking like a crazed beaver got at it. Even if not that thick, the edges are strong and sharp. I do prefer a GP when paddling in ice over a light Euro though because it has some clout to break through the ice without slipping off and away. It’s also easier to roll with, which is handy when you’d rather not to be upside down for long.
@Sparky961 Good to know about the snow. I miss the comfort of my foam footbrace and convenience of an underdeck bag. Nice winter projects so long as I can get the kayak inside.
Not sure if I want to make a habit of playing ice-breaker. The sound on thermoform sounds like the boat is splitting apart.
@Rookie Sorry, didn’t catch the details. Much Christmas now and I am late on almost all of it.
But yeah, per above posts there will be small places in there that can freeze and not thaw for a long time. Maybe blow some deicer in there, like the kind used for car locks, before paddling? That is if you can find the stuff, since current model cars now all lack an actual lock mechanism that can ice over.
@Celia
The holidays do have a way of sneaking up. On the other hand, the solstice is 16 days away and that means we’ll start getting more daylight each day.
I sent an email to Eddyline this morning asking if they used a lubricant in the skeg. In less than five minutes I had my answer:
they do, but it’s formulated not to freeze or get gummy. I’m to get back in touch if the issue continues.
The deicer is a good idea; I’ve seen it at the local hardware stores and using a deicer might pinpoint the problem area. Also have an electrical outlet in my porch so Plan B could be my hair dryer.
I love my thermoform boats for all sorts of reasons, but one disadvantage, maybe the only one, is that in temperatures below freezing the plastic can become brittle and prone to cracking. I would definitely not recommend ice-breaking!
One thing about low temps (<0C 32F) conditions that freeze up the control systems, the paddling window is very small in my neck of the woods. It is over now in fact. Photo of My last day this season 12/2. 40sF. Ice forming.
@Paatit said:
One thing about low temps (<0C 32F) conditions that freeze up the control systems, the paddling window is very small in my neck of the woods. It is over now in fact. Photo of My last day this season 12/2. 40sF. Ice forming. !
Looks similar to conditions here, which, alas, have changed dramatically. Gale warnings on all five Great Lakes, wind gusts of 52+ mph, air temps in the 20s and 15" of snow forecast. Our warm spell is over.
Paddling in ice can be sketchy and best and seriously dangerous at worst. It doesn’t take much ice to support a kayak and make it difficult to impossible to make headway. As little as 3/8" can do it. Even thinner ice makes it difficult to maneuver. Pack ice is definitely bad news (been there, done that) and should be avoided at all cost. Perhaps the worst case is sheet ice that’s thick enough to get trapped beneath. I understand that this can be an issue on slow-moving rivers, but I haven’t encountered it personally.
My one and only attempt at paddling through pack ice - after getting iced out of a harbor that had been clear when we left - resulted in a lot of scary sounds coming from the (fiberglass) hull, but no damage at all. However, it shredded the edges of my paddle, like Sparky mentioned above. It’s nasty stuff and there’s no point in trying to paddle through it. Stay away.
