Has anyone had much experience paddling and outfitting a NW coast skinboat - baidarka? Any advice on how to deal with packing supplies for camping?
They’re The "Load Carriers…"
of the skin boat world, unless you want the big Umiak. Should get a copy of Wolfgang Brinks’ book on Baidarka. Use drybags and float bags. Still need to figure where the different weight bags go to affect trim. Use a hook stick to push the the lighter bags towards the end (stick to retrieve as well). Make sure these are under the float bags. Once you gear is in place, blow up the float bags to lock the gear in place. The float bags lock the weight near keel. Better stability and won’t affect your bracing and rolling negatively.
You may also want to consider a dry sock, tough I have never used one. Scott B uses one on his mariner (no bulkheads) and he swears by it.
sing
Attach lines to your drybags
– Last Updated: May-16-05 1:52 PM EST –
Good advice from sing.
Just one additional little bit of info: I use a paddle to push, slide, or poke the bags into the bow and stern. I also attach lines to my dry bags before loading them into my SOF -- this makes it much, much easier to pull them out later.
Dan
http://www.westcoastpaddler.com
*****
Just a thought…
Building on the clothesline setup that Brian Nystrom has in his webshots, what about tying in D-rings every so often? Easy insertion, easy extraction. The only problem I can see with this is if you use drybags that are longer than the internal height; they might bind up on the return ride out.
Jim
Good point
– Last Updated: May-17-05 1:42 AM EST –
I always load my dry bags in the SOF with the handle end of the bag pointing toward the cockpit (and a line attached to the handle) so that they will pull out easier. I have had a couple of experiences when something in the bag expanded after being pushed into place. When I went to retrieve it, the bag hung up on the deck beams or ribs -- it took a bit of finagling with a paddle to get them out.
Now, I always make certain that I've purged as much air out of the bag as I can when packing items that hold a lot of air, such as fleece clothing. I picked up a couple of the Seal Line Kodiak Tapered bags for the bow and stern -- they fit well in the boat and they have a purge valve for releasing air. It's handy to have a few smaller dry bags for poking into small spaces left between larger dry bags.
I also have some dry bags that I picked up a couple of years ago at a dive shop -- I don't know who manufactured them but I think the were a promo item for a dive equipment manufacturer called TUSA. The nice thing about these bags for the SOF is that they are rectangular in shape and do not have a round bottom. If I fold clothing and carefully pack other items, they are very flat when filled, making them easy to pack in and out of the rear of my SOF. If anyone knows of a source for this style of dry bag, please let me know as I've been unable to find them again.
Dan
http://www.westcoastpaddler.com
*****