Carrying Kayaks
I
will have a lot more to say on this subject, but these are just a few
pics from the recent Maria Island trip (2017) where we carried heavily
loaded kayaks a couple of hundred metres. We had two plastic Sea Bird
kayaks on this trip, as well as a couple of Mirages, a Greenlander and
the Longboat. The latter 2 have had solid decklines for carrying them
since being built many many years ago. The Sea Birds are sold as expedition
kayaks, but have poncy plastic deck fittings with rather thin cord
going through them on the front and rear deck - but not continuous all
the way round. The Mirages also had poncy plastic deck fittings but no
allowance had been made for letting them be carried by 4 people which
you need to be able to do when they are fully loaded for a 2 week trip.
We
made these handles for the 2015 trip to Flinders Island to carry the 2
Sea Birds. They are carried in the cockpits of 4 paddlers and got out
when landing and put on the existing handle front and rear. Those
existing handle are only screwed on with 5/32 inch bolts which always
looked a bit doubtfull but they survived the 2015 trip OK, and this
trip as well right up to the last moment.
Using decklines - the preferred Tasmanian way - and the very easy way.
One
Mirage had been modified. We took all the poncy deck fittings off and
replaced them with loops made from nylon strapping and ran a deckline
the whole way round.
And added 4 new ones on the deck, with large washers under the deck.
Very comfortable hose grips.
Not a close photo but you can see the light blue carry hose on the deckline.
This
is how we made the nylon loops. I made 2 of these tools - different
sizes for the recessed ones, and the ones on top of the deck (smaller).
Hot soldering iron.
You need the hole melted through the top to put a screwdriver though when fitting them.
Sikaflex was put under the nylon loop to seal it before screwing it in place.