Kit
– Last Updated: Dec-03-08 10:52 AM EST –
http://www.superiorkayaks.com/superiorkayaks001.htm
Go to the online store and building supplies.
Another opinion on the Looksha skeg
A former girlfriend of mine had a Looksha Sport with their skeg system. Bottom line, it’s the worst system I’ve ever seen. When it’s not deployed, it sticks straight out from the stern, rather than sitting on the deck. That makes it:
A) a hazard, as it’s sticking out when your can run into
B) a pain, as it’s constantly getting hung up on things
C) unreliable, as it gets bent easily and frequently, then it doesn’t work when you need it.
Judging by their website, it looks like this skeg system died (good riddance), as their current boats come with either a rudder or nothing.
Tahnks, but $175…
… is a bit too much for this boat.
Yup - helps
If I lean back it tracks better with less weathercocking. Not sure anything less than 10-15 lb would be enough though and for day paddles I hardly carry anything but a couple of quarts of water in the back or front near me within easy reach. Plus my idea with this boat was to have something in the 40lb range, so adding weight sort of defeats the purpose, unless I just do it while on the water.
On the other hand, when “loaded” I think it will behave better since it only has a stern hatch and that would do the trick of submerging the stern enough to make it even.
You might be surprised how a little
weight makes all the difference. I was test paddling a kayak in about 20 mph winds and it was leecocking so bad that I almost could not turn it upwind much less keep it on track. I went back and but 3 qt jug up in the bow (all the way forward) and tried it again. It was not only easy to turn upwind, it was almost completely nuetral when paddling a straight line on all points of the wind. The trick is to get what weight you use as far back or as far forward as possible. It is kind of a lever arm affect. Moving 150 lbs back an inch is about the same as moving 10 lbs back 15 inches. Of course your kayak is on the short side so you may not have the distance available to get a good effect with a smaller weight.
Mark
I always thought the Smarttrack rudder
in a skeg box was a neat way to make a skeg. I don’t know how well it works but the idea of a strong stainless spring so the deployment mechanism can’t get jammed made sense.