New member; great looking site...

[jurgenk]

Hey was searching around and discovered your site. Very, very nice looking. Just getting back into paddling after ten years away and am kicking myself for buying things again that I virtually gave away. My last ocean boat was a Nordkapp HM (I have visions of circumnavigation that were very unrealistic) and I found its lack of initial stability quite challenging.

This time, I have opted for a P&H Capella RM 166 (love the look of the Greenland boats) and have ordered Voyager Sea Sponsons for it. Anyone have any experience mounting them? I am looking at affixing clips at the waterline so that I can easily attach them when needed. Live around Prince Rupert now, but did a lot of day tripping around Victoria when I was in university there so enjoy hearing about the familiar sites. Take care...

Brad Wright

 

[Steve_Fairbairn]

Welcome to WCP!

Not had any experience with sponsons. Will you be using them while sailing, self rescues or as "training wheels" while you regain your confidence in the boat? Just curious as I've never been tempted to use them and not known anyone who has.

 

[jurgenk]

I cannot roll so I wanted to make a bombproof self-rescue setup. The Capella I ordered does not have the deck rigging to attach the paddle behind the coaming (although I do have one of NRS's webbing stirrups--back in the day we just used a length of rope--which should allow me to hold the paddle in place) so I reasoned that the sponsons would give me more stability for a self-rescue. I am not excited about the idea of drilling holes in the boat to attach the clips that hold the sponsons on either side, but I want to be able to paddle with them off the boat and then afix them quickly if needed. So, to make a long story shorter, as I am a little older and wiser then when I last paddled I am simply being overly careful...

 

[Steve_Fairbairn]

I don't roll, either. I've practised paddle-float self rescues many times although, admittedly, not in the last several years. Personally, if my boat did not have bungies or straps behind the cockpit I'd install them anyway regardless of whether or not I planned on using them for securing a paddle. They come in handy in so many other ways. I share your trepidation over drilling holes in the hull so close to the water line.

 

[jurgenk]

The boat is probably a couple of weeks away at the moment (shipping from MEC) but once I do get it I will rig more lines on it. Any good sites for deck fittings that you know of Steve? If not, I should be able to McGyver something together from one of the local marine supply places up here. I at the horrible point now of having paddles and various safety gear but no boat to go play in...

 

[Steve_Fairbairn]

MEC sells fittings as does Ecomarine on Granville Island.

I was just looking at a picture of your new boat on the MEC website. I noticed that there are a couple of bungies on the deck right behind the cockpit that run lengthwise. You might be able to use the same fiittings to attach some webbing over top of those bungies to facilitate the paddle blade similar to the Seaward boats. I'm guessing that it also wouldn't be too much trouble to restring the bungies into an X pattern for gear storage although it might get in the way of the day hatch cover.

Seaward system:

 

[jurgenk]

Thanks for the ideas Steve! Checked out Seaward's site and I can get their system for $40, which I can then retrofit to the Capella. On a somewhat related note, I am noticing that ten years later with the use of the internet it is so much easier to spend money than before...

 

[DarrenM]

On a somewhat related note, I am noticing that ten years later with the use of the internet it is so much easier to spend money than before...

LOL! :lol:
I know what ya mean...must.....win....lottery.....

 

[jurgenk]

Hey, been doing some net research over the last few days and to say the least "sponsons" are a hot topic over at kayakforum. I very much appreciate that skills should take precedence over equipment.

My latest purchases have been paraflares and a Uniden Atlantis VHF radio. This is not an original idea (stolen from Derek Hutchinson), but I have placed the paraflares in a 3" PVC pipe which I will seal at one end and put a threaded fitting at the other. My question for members is: my plan is to take 2 x 4" PVC tubes and a 3" below in a triangular arrangement and make a knee tube out of it. I (and again this is not an original idea) would put a ditch kit in 1L widemouth nalgene bottles which would slid down the pipe. So one 4" pipe would have the flares down it, the other 4" would have 2-3 nalgene bottles tied together to form a ditch kit and the 3" pipe would house the Scotty pump.

What I am looking at doing is creating some saddles out of minicell foam and then holding them down with a sheet of neoprene. Any thoughts on this arrangement? Does anyone know where I could find 1" or 2" sheets of minicell foam and neoprene? Thanks for the help...