Cambered Decks, Windage

Posted by Dave Houser on Oct 2, 2004

Kurt,

A curved deck, or even a faceted deck, provides better vertical support than a flat deck. The worst case is some camber but not enough for strength. My heart skips a beat when doing a cowboy (scramble) self-rescue and I feel the rear deck cave in under my buns. Not usually a good time or place for a deck failure. A flat deck, like many SOF traditional designs, would be easy to install. I considered it but I like the look of the cambered deck.

Windage hmm, one of my pet comment topics. Quickly, to reduce weathercocking, lower the rear deck, lower the rear keel, raise the front deck or raise the front keel. Moving or adding weight back does all four. To reduce sideways drift, the entire above-waterline, kayak profile has to be reduced, at the price of losing comfort, cargo volume, bow floatation over waves, ease of rolling, compromises.

I have not heard any good reasons for recessing the front coaming. Comments I have heard about hand clearance while paddling or to reduce spray in heavy seas don�t make sense to me. The only reason I can see is aesthetics.

Dave

In Response to: Re: Rolling Recess pic's by Kurt Maurer on Oct 2, 2004

Replies:

• Re: Cambered Decks, Winda by Kurt Maurer on Oct 2, 2004
  • Re: Cambered Decks, Winda by Dave Houser on Oct 4, 2004