my experience is limited
just passing on what I’ve heard other folks do on skegged kayaks to unstuck it. I tried unsticking a friends skeg in 50degree water with 1’ waves with a sharp knife and after a few attempts (while in my kayak) I gave up as my hands were getting numb. Holding a sharp knife with numb hands doesn’t work for long.
I don’t think a dangling 4" string of 1/16" polyester covered Spectra would affect “performance” at all.
I did paddle a plastic TEmpest 170 with a broken skeg once. The clamp over the housing at the skeg box was broken so every movement of the slider simply moved the housing and not the skeg. Going out into the waves and wind it wasn’t particularly problematic. I kept adjusting it wondering why it wasn’t changing the response.
On the way back I had the waves off the stern quarter and the wind straight off the beam. It was not a happy trip, I pretty much gave up holding my prefered course and made two big tacks back. The design needs a skeg.
There’s a material used in dinghys that might help to keep rocks out, I’ve got it in my Chatham 16. Imagine a stiff plastic 1 1/4" wide with adhesive on one side and 3/16" long fibers on the other.
Nick Schade had made a few strip wood kayaks with an off center skeg to keep pebbles from getting ground in during surf launches. He says it works.
normally
if the skeg is stuck you can’t move the control–every time I take off from the beach I test the skeg—if it won’t go down I stop and unstick it with my knife
i carry a Metolious nut tool
from Rock climbing…designed to pull pieces of gear out of cracks in the rock…i got a titanium one so not corrosion-able…
Island kayaks also has the skeg offset on one of their boats so that it does not jam AND it makes it easier to pack the stern since the skeg box is not in the way…
r
Depends on load.
My experience, of course.
At about 260 lb load, body weight plus gear, it tracks pretty well and isn’t too susceptible to weather cocking.
From about 230 lb and down, tracking decreases and weather cocking increases.
In flat water, the skeg will completely eliminate weather cocking. In about 1.5 ft and up of chop with wind, and only about 230 lbs load, I’ve found the boat weather cocks persistently even with the skeg down. I think it’s because of the shallow long skeg which works great in flat water, but not much bite in chop. A Nordkapp Jubilee for example in the exact same wind and chop will weather cock without skeg but corrects for me much more easily with strokes. Also the deep skeg on the Jubilee will completely eliminate the weather cocking in those conditions and even bring you to lee cocking if you deploy it too far. Don’t throw it down fast either in a beam wind, or you’ll experience some tipping :).
Don’t know if you’re thinking about Greenland style rolling, but the Tempests and Chathams re the only plastic boats I can think of with low enough rear deck and coaming for really comfy layback rolls.
As others mentioned, as for tracking, that improves with paddling experience. Ability to turn quickly and easily is the positive tradeoff for trackability. Easy turning is most valuable in 3+ ft rough water, tight places, and rescues.
For large lakes, point A to point B, and if you’re not specifically playing in 3+ ft rough water, sounds like some extra tracking might be valuable to you. For stiffer tracking, maybe a little more speed, and still good rough water handling, you might consider some of the plastic Valey boats. Don’t know if they’re in your area.
If you go fiberglass, of course, then the possibilities increase.
My only beef with the T170 is if it isn’t loaded down enough, it weather cocks too much in wind with chop, even with the skeg down. Better paddlers may disagree.
I day tour and don’t race. I don’t find that much difference in hull speed or efficiency between the boats I’ve paddled. As long as I’m in the 16 ft or longer and 22 inch or narrower hull range, I think the paddle and paddler probably make a lot more difference than the boat in touring speed and efficiency. Other characteristics are much more important to me.
Paul