Hey. I got a Capella RM166 ( 3 layer plastic) and it seems to me that the the bow sits a bit deeper than a bow generally should, i noticed it weather cocks a fair bit(empty, in situation with little wave action but decent wind) It’s almost as if the seat is placed too far forward in the boat,but it’s actually on the more rear position of the 2 factory holes per side. Am i just imagining things?
Bow low, yes. Weathercocking, no
I’ve paddled a Capella RM166 for about a year now. The bow has always seemed to be a bit lower in the water than other boats I’ve paddled, but I think that is just the design vs. a balance issue. I weigh about 230, so that probably puts the entire boat a bit lower, but I haven’t seen much difference with 20-30 pounds of stuff in the rear hatch.
As far as weathercocking, I haven’t seen it do that to any unusual degree compared to other boats. I usually only need to drop the skeg in strong winds - I don’t even notice anything in light breezes.
weathercooks
I’ve paddled the older (two square hatches) capella RM. With my 140 pounds I can’t say that the bow sits low. As for weathercooking, the skeg is far from enough to counter the weathercooking when empty. I too would have prefered to have the seat moved backwards.
I heard this issue had been addressed on later models. But I could be wrong.
Mine is the oval hatch model
With the skeg down it goes straight as an arrow even in high winds. Going straight down-wind in waves, it does waggle back and forth but that is probably more my lack of skill as a paddler - I don’t get enough chances to paddle in serious waves or swells.
I did kink the skeg cable and was annoyed to find that the Capella skeg and cable are one integrated component - you can’t just replace the cable, you have to get the whole deal from P&H.
skeg
If you are handy you can fix it. The plastic control knob on my skeg wire turned to dust two years ago. You can’t get that…
At 180 lbs the Capella turns like a top which is great in rock gardens or guiding if you have to spin to keep an eye on people. On the straight-away it is kind of slow and will wander without correction stokes or the skeg down. I never noticed it but my wife does.
Being a British attempt at a Greenland boat she sits low in the water.
I would just accept that, the Capella is a great little boat.
It excels in horrible weather.
Glad to hear the good comments
about the Capella RM 166. After putting new garage doors on my garage, I no longer had the same amount of hanging space for kayaks. My wife said two had to go, so I sold a couple of old SOT’s we only kept for beginners.
That got me down to my Nigel Foster Shadow, a Gulfstream, my wife’s Perception Shadow, and my Seda surf boat. I haven’t paddled the GS in a while, and I realized that what I really needed was a plastic boat for rocks, caves, and those days where I didn’t want to bang up glass.
So I sold the Gulfstream and now have an opportunity to buy an almost new Capella RM at a ridiculously low price from a friend. He used to be about my size of 230 lbs and also had a Foster Shadow. He has been telling me the boat will fit very similarly to the Shadow–I haven’t gotten to try it yet.
Your words are encouraging.
good to hear
The skeg cable is actually very easy to replace,i did mine for the total cost of 3$ worth of stainless steel cable from a local shop. Good thing it was cheap because the first time i let my gf paddle the boat she landed with the skeg all the way down,kinking the cable .
How did you attack cable to skeg?
Since I’m sure I will kink the skeg cable again (although I have a new boat arriving soon and the Capella will get fewer miles on it), did you drill a hole in the skeg and then use some kind of bolt arrangement to attach a new cable to the old Capella skeg?
how-to
Here’s my tutorial to P&H skeg cable replacement.
#1 Pull the skeg/wire off the boat.
#2 Put some heat(using a heat gun or hair dryer?) to the skeg blade where the cable goes in.
#3 grab the cable with pliers/vice grips and pull the cable out ,twisting makes it easier.
#4 Aquire new cable from a cable shop, and a little round aluminum crimp-on end.
#5 Drill a hole in the skeg blade, at the very end of the hole cable goes into. The hole has to be just big enough for the crimp end to sit in.
#6 feed end of cable through the normal hole, and out the hole you drilled.
#7 Crimp the end of the cable.
#8 Slide the cable with crimp in place so the crimp sits in the hole you drilled, and epoxy the whole deal in place.
#9 let epoxy harden,and if you’re picky,file it flush.
#10 Reinstall and paddle.