Re: Turning a pax 180 deg

Posted by LeeG on Jan 27, 2006

oh right, it comes with a skeg and not a rudder which makes a straight tracking hard to turn kayak even harder to turn. Ok,,so the challenge is a tradeoff between losing speed and making a tight turn in a short distance then regaining speed or maintaining speed while making the tightest turn. Get a stop watch and discover which method works best using a buoy to practice on. Somewhere there's a turning radius that works best for time/speed. Learn to do a quick bow rudder on the opposite side of your lean,,with low freeboard, low rocker and the sharp sheer on the aft deck I don't think you'll get much more of a turn by leaning the Pax18, it' takes rocker and some usable freeboard/flare to get a turn out of a lean. Leaning the 18 far puts that sharp aft deck edge in the water which won't slide sideways easily. Boats with molded compound hulls with or without rocker can pivot more easily than four panel hulls as the ends can slide around to make the turn easier. The same can happen with a four panel hull if there's some rocker AND the ends aren't too pinched and there's some freeboard to lean on.

In Response to: Re: Turning a pax 180 deg by LeeG on Jan 26, 2006

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