Just a quick question for anyone who has used a Pacific Action Sail on a QCC 700X Kayak. I have a kevlar carbon fiber layup (the deck “oil cans” quite a bit) is this something you would recommend? Has anyone had any issues? And finally do you recommend the 1 or 1.5 sail?
Thank you ever so much for your responses! I want to make an informed purchase before I lay down a couple Benjemin’s.
Don’t know about beam
of QCC (it’s 23" I think), but on my 24.5" Seaward Tyee 1 sq. meter felt enough most of the time. In winds stronger than 9-10 knots I had to use greenland paddle for balance, touching the water on leeward side (paddling becomes unnecessary at that wind). Euro paddle doesn’t work as an outrigger same well as a GP. Read the discussion on http://www.watertribe.com/Discussion/Default.aspx may be few pages back. They use PA extensively. You might need to reinforce the deck from inside in some spots, just in case.
Put a thick minicell base on it
It’ll spread the force on the deck.
…and it will also protect
the deck against the abrasion. Good tip. Some people wrap the cam bases of PA in closed cell foam. Have to note that PA is merely a downwind sail, so don’t keep your hopes high. It only works with wind in the rear 70-80 degrees quarter(from each side). A lot of downwind drift if you try using it in a 90-degree crosswind.
The minicell is a great idea.
I think my sail is the one meter. I didn’t want to put the hardware on my 700 so I put 4" loops of cord thru the deck fittings just ahead of the hatch, the straps go thru the loops and around the deck line. It’s just barely wide enough. Also when I replaced the deck lines I left a 2" loop at the fittings nearest the cockpit, they provide a place to anchor the sail or my deck bag. I used clear packing tape where the sail sets to protect the finish, but after reading this I’ll zip tie some closed cell to the base.
Thanks
SYOTR
Randy
Few layers of packing tape
worked for me for a couple of months. It wasn’t even a good packing tape - just a roll from 99 cent store, to be honest. The factory suggests using “rock guard tape” from auto stores.
One more tip - if you 100% decided to drill the holes for those anchor brackets, take a break and visit the nearest marine store. PA anchor plates use a single screw and the plate tends to rotate around it. They are now stainless (was plastic before), but still a single screw. Footman’s loop like this one means more holes to drill, but is more reliable:
http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10001&storeId=11151&partNumber=533893&langId=-1
oil canning on a soft deck
oil canning on a soft deck is a common problem with light lay-up kayaks.
Not sure what QCC is like but after fitting more than 15 sails to sea kayaks I believe that no amount of padding (minicell or other) will prevent oil canning in a decent breeze.
You could create a shaped stiff plate to go under the sail’s masts or you could reinforce the deck.
I have always reinforced the deck from the inside of the kayak. I use epoxy, good fibreglass and a bit of dowel or PVC to create a ridge and reinforce it structurally. Before that I cracked a couple of kayak’s decks and realized that just wasn’t worth skipping that modification. You probably still want to protect the gelcoat of the kayak where the knuckles rest on the deck. Really heavy duty adhesive tape does the job ( I mean something stiffer the duck tape).
For a different type of sail set up you can check: http://gnarlydognews.blogspot.com/2009/03/shop-diy-sea-kayak-sail.html
Foam on the outside
is only to prevent the abrasion. Reinforcing the deck from inside (most people add extra layers of fiberglass) is a different thing. Both kayaks that I tried PA on, had quite a heavy lay-up, there was no oil-caning and I didn’t bother with deck reinforcing.
Yes, Flat Earth sail looks like a better performing product, I particularly like lower center of effort. The size of a standard (or medium) PA is 1 sq.m, small one is 0.8 and large one is 1.2. I’ve been eying it for some time and read that blog, just didn’t want to mention it since he asked about PA only. People should know more about FE, now that there is a dealer in WA.