Thank you!
La Shin I would classify your ww kayak as a “point and shoot” kind of boat. Meaning that when you get it up to speed after 4 or 5 strokes it should be “able to hold a line” if you continue to actively paddle it. While all ww boats are designed to turn, the earlier models, like your river runner, are much “faster” than the current crop of creekers and river runners.
Paddling against the current is going to expose any flaws in your technique but it will also help you hone your technique for the forward stroke.
Try this: Paddle your boat aggressively (up to speed) and then let it spin out. Count the number of rotations after you stop paddling. 2+ is pretty normal for a ww boat. That’s your boat’s natural inclination but there is no reason you can’t learn to control the spin and propel the boat forward. In fact, your boat should track pretty well when compared to other more modern ww or “river” kayaks. Assuming you keep the distances short and avoid the windy days, your boat could work. It will just take more effort to learn in it than a boat that is designed to go straight.
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Kayakhank is spot on. I also at times use my sea kayaks on twisty rivers, but those of us with time in our boats over many years and whether on a large body of water of a ‘twisty’ river, have learned to “read the water” and it’s not learned overnight. Sometimes when learning, it’s the mistakes you make and ending up in the water that makes the best teachers. Been there, done that! It will come in time and miles.
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Thanks! I’ll give that powering up, watching the spin thing a try next time I take it out. I just put a removable skeg on it today. That should help some. I put it fairly in the center so that it doesn’t so much act as a rudder, as it would a keel. And I agree that as a beginner my paddling technique leaves a lot to the imagination and it will take time and practice.
If you put in the center, it will just be a pivot point. It will not really offer any directional stability. It will cause the kayak to be blown less sideways, but that is not the problem you are describing.
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Spot on. Put the skeg as far back as you can but still below the waterline. Less likely to get damaged there too.
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OEM Skegs and rudders are designed to kick up if they hit an obstacle. If they cannot do this then there is the likelihood that they will either break or possibly capsize you. A fixed skeg will also make it extremely difficult if you have to drag your boat over an obstacle or walk it through a shallow spot.
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Lots of choices, a 8"x2" diagonal board glued to the bottom for a skeg, I have used. Strapped on fin keel, I have used too. Up to your immagination and gorella glue.
I have a flexible thick black rubber skeg that attaches under my hull via straps that clip to my deck lines for my Feathercraft folding kayaks. Not very large but makes a huge difference in correcting weathercocking and can’t be damaged by hitting anything. I have seen home-made versions of this cut and shaped from rubber stock but usually mounted to some sort of slotted structure affixed to the hull.
I bought this and attached it a foot behind where I would sit. My other kayak has a skeg and I find that it is too far back and is a problem in headwinds. I can’t remove this skeg while I’m on the water, but I can remove it to transport the kayak. Going to have to do. I don’t do tiny Rivers enough to justify getting a better kayak or a rudder.
Just this morning, I tested a temporary skeg just like the one pictured above. It worked wonderfully. I no longer have trouble tracking my whitewater boat when paddling on flat water. Perhaps I will one day get a second boat dedicated to flat water. But until then, this handy removable skeg solves my tracking problem for about $20. It takes considerably less space to store than a second boat. I used two NRS tie down straps and a rectangular piece of neoprene to keep the fin base in place.
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How did you attach it to your kayak? Does it include an adhesive base?
It’s funny how if you take a little bit of time and drill down on a topic, you find out that the answers are so simple. I used 100% silicone adhesive. I even found that the " Marine" adhesive was still just 100% silicone, but it cost four times as much. So far, solid as a rock.
For mine, I did not want to permanently install a skeg to my whitewater kayak. While the skeg helps with tracking, the boat is pretty slow as it plows through flat water. My wife can quickly and easily move faster than me in her rec kayak (Dagger Zydeco 9). I wanted to be able to quickly remove the entire skeg and baseplate and still use my boat on whitewater.
I cut four inch long slits in the base that the fin slides into to thread the tie down straps through. I used a dremel tool with a cut off wheel to cut the slits but the flexible plastic was pretty easy to cut. I imagine a sharp exacto knife or a hammer with a large flat blade screwdriver would do just as well.
I attached a photo showing where I cut the slits as well as with it installed.
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The hull of your boat is designed for shallow running water. It has a flat profile with little or no keel to keep it going straight, keels are not needed when moving on a running stream and can be a hindrance in shallow water. They are necessary in open water to propel the boat forward as you paddle and keep it tracking straight. With the hull you have on that boat, your paddle strokes and the wind can push your boat in any direction other than straight ahead. You go around in circles because there is nothing to make you go straight.
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There are two ways to deal with this next time. You will have to learn how to constantly correct the boat with your paddles, or get a boat with a hull designed for open water. There are hull designs that are more of a hybrid that will work well in both conditions but in general you need a hull around 12 feet or longer with sealed flotation and a some portion of the hull with a keel or hard chines. Reading reviews on paddling.com can give you an understanding of what to look for.
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You can’t just add a skeg to a Kayak. Unlike rudder systems, skegs are an integral park of the original hull design. This is a clue that your boat would not benefit from a skeg or the hull would be designed for it. You could try adding a rudder system but they are expensive and do not work on all hulls. It would be better to spend the money on a second boat for open water or a hybrid design. Edited: I see now that you can add a strap on “skeg” (true skegs can be raised and lowered from the cockpit) but I stand by the above nevertheless.
Don’t get discouraged, you are certainly not the first paddler to learn about differing boat designs by spinning in circles. It is very common and many paddlers have multiple boats within the first few paddling seasons.
I see you are getting a lot of comments about having the wrong boat, but I don’t think that is necessarily true. I have friends who are a family of four (two older adults and their two 20-something kids). They all four have the same boat and one spare, so five Perception Dancers, an older white water boat very similar to yours. The kids experienced some frustration when they were younger, in trying to get the boat to go straight, but now they are good at it. They sometimes let their friends paddle one of the boats, and the friends all have trouble. The answer for you is this: it just takes some time and experience to make these boats go straight, but it is definitely possible.
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Yes, that’s the predominant comment. I just need to learn to be a better paddler. Thank you and all comments are appreciated. I’m still learning and I appreciate everybody’s input.
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I did all the research on how to apply the skeg and basically it came down to silicone. It’s dry now and pretty firmly on there. I’m sure if I hit a log just right or an oyster bar, I’ll end up one day with it gone.
Your kayak bottom looks a lot like my River runner dimensions bottom. I’m no super duper paddler so being able to take off the skeg when I need to is enough for me. I don’t worry about drag.
Thanks! I do have a qcc 600 for open water, but I was taking this one out for a test run. I was just trying to go somewhere nearby where I wouldn’t have to paddle upstream. I was shocked after sea kayaking for Miles without any problems, other than muscle cramps, to find that I couldn’t make this one go straight! I knew the wind was a problem because I’d encountered that with the qcc, but this was so far beyond anything I’d ever experienced, I was dumbfounded.
Since Florida doesn’t have to deal with Rocky streams, I put the removable skeg on it and will save it for kayaking on calm Rivers. Haven’t had it out since I put the skeg on it. My group does mostly ocean kayaking. But at least now I have something to take down 17 runs on the Hillsboro River with it s fallen trees and giant alligators.