Re: Paddle Float Recovery

Posted by LeeG on Jun 2, 2005

I honestly don't have a lot of experience with double sea kayaks. I have done rescue practice with a few different glass and plastic ones (Tofino,Northwest,Amaruk,Tango) in easy conditions and have been through surf and waves with a Wilderness Systems Northern plastic double but haven't done it enough to feel confident of all the possibilities. Randys experience is worth listening to.

Pauls installation of another bulkhead is a good idea for such a big boat as the Chesapeake double if it's going to be used in dicey stuff. Both for structural reasons as well as reducing the effects of free water. A swamped ChII will have a HUGE amount of weight in it that I would not want to see go sideways to the shore in 2' waves with 1000lbs of water in it. I'm fairly sure it would have more water in it when swamped than nearly all production kayaks out there. 4mm okoume glassed on both sides with 6oz cloth is very strong in single kayaks,,for a big double flooded with 1000lbs of water(it's probably more than that) I'm not too sure that 4mm with 6oz on both sides is as tough with that greater load compared to a single kayak. Since your loaded double will weigh a lot with you and gear I'd add another few lbs with one or two electric pumps,,or one killer pump like the ones mentioned. For a quick and easy installation two Attwood Waterbusters(with some modifications) would be convenient. The Attwoods have problems but if you know their weak spots they can work. I replaced the 3 Dcells with 3 2v lead acid D-cells. That kicked up the pump speed to shoot a stream from a 3/4" ID hose about 6'. That will empty a big double a LOT faster than any hand pump. On one rescue practice with the Seda Tango I took out the electric pump I had and put it in the cockpit of the Tango because the two big strong guys were getting tired after showing three rescues with the double and it was taking too long to pump it out. The water was only 48degrees and the conditions were flat/sheltered but these two guys were just getting pooped.

I don't think electric pumps are that worthwhile for single kayaks but for big doubles the amount of free water in a swamped boat is proportionately bigger than a single kayak while the muscle power is NOT scaled up for handling the double. I'm not too sure i'd rely on a t-rescue for a loaded double compared to climbing in and flicking an electric switch. My glass Express lasted 10years without any cracks in the roving (heavy cloth) until I did a t-rescue with a Seda Tango and then it got a big crack in the fordeck where the double was turned over. My $.02 would be to practice self-rescues at least a dozen times,,really,,and one of them in dicey conditions with friends nearby. This will probably put you in the 95percentile for pre-trip preperation which is just enough to know how risky some crossings might be compared to simply being blissfuly ignorant. It's really not a good idea to do a rescue practice a couple times then say "ok,,we know what it takes now"....you want to be GOOD at it,,not adequate for flat water conditions because when you HAVE to do it it probably won't be easy. Of course the double is incredibly stable and the odds of getting dumped are slight,,but there's nothing better than looking at challenging conditions with a smile than looking at it with doubt and unknowns,,"hmm,,,we've paddled in those kinds of waves but we've never landed/dumped in them".

In Response to: Re: Paddle Float Recovery by Brett on Jun 2, 2005

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