A few more photos of the progress on the big guy kayak prototype. Seems like things are going pretty smooth with just a minor diversion of having to cut the entire thing apart to replace a couple ribs that weren’t giving me the shaping I wanted. I’m about five days into the build here,...
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Photos: Developing the larger person kayak prototype
Here’s a few more photos of the larger person kayak prototype construction process. I’m about 16 hours into the build here (including prep time). Tomorrow we put the ribs in....
Well, it’s finally happening
Well, it’s finally happening, I started work on a kayak design specifically aimed at 275 to 300 lb paddlers. This is a bit tricky because it’s not as simple as just scaling one of my existing designs, I’ve tried that already, and the kayak didn’t perform the same and the hull balance was wrong....
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Video: Prepping for a Falcon Sail install
Back to the kayak sailing madness, today I’m doing an Falcon Kayak Sail install. (similar name, but not the same company as us). ___This post was originally featured on our Instagram feed.See the original post and discussion here. Follow Cape Falcon Kayak on Instagram »...
Video: Sail testing got a little out of control yesterday…
Sail testing got a little out of control yesterday. (30 gusting to 40) Unfortunately things got much worse about 15 minutes after this video clip. I’ll talk about that tomorrow....
Video: Kayak catamaran performance on different points of wind
A bunch of people have asked how the kayak catamaran performs on different points of wind so here’s a few video clips. Here we are sailing through Hood River and the usual gauntlet of interesting wind powered contraptions. The wind is blowing about 12 to 16 gusting to 20 which is nice conditions. Plenty...
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Video: More skin on frame kayak catamaran madness
More skin on frame kayak catamaran madness, just a wee bit overpowered here… This is a case of conditions dramatically exceeding the forecast (forecast 16 gusting to 21, reality 25 gusting to 45) and we had a long conference that morning talking about risks and contingencies before making the decision to go for it....
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So this is the madness I’m working on right now
So this is the madness I’m working on right now: A square sail to go between the masts of the kayak catamaran for those low wind days. Visibility seemed like a good idea. My health is is pretty dodgy at the moment, but I’m hoping I can try this thing soon. ___ This post...
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Timelapse: Sewing simple kayak sails
Just a quick timelapse video of me sewing simple kayak sails. Doing this gives me tremendous respect for anyone who does any sort of ‘real’ sewing. The nice thing about time lapse is that I can edit out all the times that Liz had to come help me with the machine…...
Sails. So we’re doing this again.
So we’re doing this again. I’m determined to get the Cape Falcon sailing system over the line by the end of August. Testing is a bit tricky these days with the spinal instability but I think I can still sit and steer. I’m still working with variations on the flat cut sail to make...
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Rudder testing and installation course development
In the midst of everything else that’s been going on we’ve been steadily slogging away at developing our skin on frame rudder and footbraces instructions. Basically I have three goals for this new addition to our video courses: The first one is to lose more money than I could ever possibly make back on the...
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Video: testing the West Greenland with a tie on skeg
I’m not sure how much this actually interests anyone but I took the new Greenland design out in wind and waves with the tie on skeg (see post from a couple days ago for details) set in three different positions along the keel, and also just an oversized tall rub strip for comparison. Testing:...
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Experiments with tie on skegs
There are tie on skegs associated with some of the historic Greenland kayaks in museums. These can help in challenging crosswind and down wind conditions although they do add noticeable drag. Years ago I experimented with this but found the drag of the strings around the kayak unacceptable. I created a keyhole shaped aluminum...
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Video: effects of too little bow rocker
This video is a perfect example of the negative effect that an undersized kayak with too little bow rocker has on downwave performance. I’ve been expanding the size range on my LPB design and this is the prototype of the new 125 pound size. It has 1/2 inch less bow rocker than it should...
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Video: Learning what not to do and telling other people about it
Basically my whole job is just learning what not to do and telling other people about it. This is the stupid way to fish rudder tubing, it works much better if you roll out the tubing a couple days in advance to let it relax and straighten....