Re: deck beam

Posted by Kyle T. on May 23, 2005

How strong is strong enough? I don�t know but I hope none of us find out the hard way.

But as far as these boats go, I spent Saturday afternoon teaching my team how to do wet entries into these tandems. The additional strips used for deck support were more than adequate even for the large expanse between the two cockpits.

One of the wood strip coamings on the other hand made some creaking noises when our 245 LB teammate was sitting across it. After this weekends race I may add another layer of cloth around the opening just for durability.

As a side note: It is possible with kayaks such as these tandems to clear the capsized boat of water before reentry. We were able to put one paddler pushing down on the stern of the upside down boat to completely lift the front cockpit from the water (emptying it) and partially clearing the rear cockpit. The second paddler was able to push up on the center of the kayak enough to clear the rear cockpit for an instant. During that instant we rolled the kayak over and had an empty boat. That was much better than bailing!

--KT--

In Response to: Re: deck beam by Dick R on May 23, 2005

Replies:

No Replies.