externaly mounted removable skeg?

is there such a thing?

Here ya go!
OK, you may not be able to get this but it looks “interesting.”



http://www.canoeingdownunder.com.au/found.php?ProdID=327



-SP

Older Looksha Sport"s
by Necky use to have an external drop down skeg. My wife’s boat has one. Maybe you could contact them and see if they still have any in stock.

For what?
I made one for an old poly kayak that wouldn’t track two seconds.

What is the application?

T

Removable - how?

– Last Updated: Mar-14-09 10:52 PM EST –

You can have one like Eric linked to. Or you can have like a fin on a surfboard under the stern rather than behind it. The "removalble" part on the fin is once you get out of the kayak - some just snap in and out of their "box". And you can have small and big ones, depending on what you want to do. Not very cheap though - I could not find a box/fin for less than $40+ and you need to cut the boat in the general case to install the box, though it is easier than a drop-down understern skeg since there are no cables...

Being in a situation like this with one of my boats, I just test-paddled it today for a first time with a skeg that I made out of some piece of plastic and glued with household goop. Without the skeg, the boat would be very maneuverable with loose stern and planted bow but would not glide in a straight line, would weathercock and would zig-zag too much on every forward stroks (being only 13 ft waterline if not less and with very little in the way of a built-in edge in the rear).

This transforms the boat quite a bit - goes straight now, when I stop paddling it continues straigh too. Edging still works surprisingly well for not too tight turns and directional control. For a first time now I can do an effective bow rudder in this boat - without the skeg it would mostly slide sideways instead of turn since the bow was well planted and the stern loose...

This skeg actually worked really good for edging directional control. I could "slalom" zig-zag after I stop paddling for half a dozen times even if I change course by as much as 30 degrees from the initial direction each time. And if I level the boat - it continues straight... In my other kayaks I could not do that, skegs or not - they would just continue to turn the way they started initially after the first leaned turn and to change direction I would need a sweep stroke or a paddle-rudder application.

But I think my next step might be a pull-up skeg though. May be I should make the skeg smaller to see what happens (now it's about as big as a fully deployed Tempest 170 skeg, but thinner and more hydrodynamic). And from the Tempest I remember I seldom used full skeg though I often used may be half-deployed...

As much as a full-time skeg seems good for most things I tried today (and it cost me probably $1 and 20 minutes to make), it makes this short boat hard to turn quickly. And I can't just sit in it on the sand and push to get in the water - got to get my feet wet or find a dock or a rock to step from...

ya
same old poly yak

Here’s a good one
http://www.feathercraft.com/accessories/misc.php



you can remove it when you don’t need it.

True, but it was a horrible design
I cannot imagine installing that abomination on a kayak.

Just bring your boat to Australia…
…so they can see if it fits. No worries. :wink: