Inflatable canoe to get to swing mooring?

alteredoutlook said:
Pete,
If you are using a single canadian paddle (as opposed to a twin kayak paddle) sit/kneel to the paddling side so that the boat heels slighlty - you will have better directional control
Click to expand...

Cheers, I'll give that a try next time.

When I'm going slowly, I can trail the paddle in the water after each stroke, close to the side of the boat like a kind of rudder, and that helps me stay straight. If I'm trying to overcome wind or tide, though, I can't afford the long pause between strokes.

Pete
 
Searush said:
You must be as mad as a box of frogs. For the same money you could get a proper rubber duck. Safer, easier to manage, easier to get on/off boat from, carries more, far more stability, will last 10 times longer, just as easy to inflate/ store & could take an o/b if you wanted.

Can some please explain even ONE benefit of such a daft craft? :confused:
Click to expand...

But we're already as mad as a box of frogs - why else would we go sailing? :D
 
Searush said:
You must be as mad as a box of frogs. For the same money you could get a proper rubber duck. Safer, easier to manage, easier to get on/off boat from, carries more, far more stability, will last 10 times longer, just as easy to inflate/ store & could take an o/b if you wanted.

Can some please explain even ONE benefit of such a daft craft? :confused:
Click to expand...

Smaller, lighter,more fun, can take outbd, quicker,easy to stow on deck.
 
Searush said:
You must be as mad as a box of frogs. For the same money you could get a proper rubber duck. Safer, easier to manage, easier to get on/off boat from, carries more, far more stability, will last 10 times longer, just as easy to inflate/ store & could take an o/b if you wanted.

Can some please explain even ONE benefit of such a daft craft? :confused:
Click to expand...

1. You can chant war songs from Hiawatha as you paddle along.

2. It will improve your swimming no end.
 
Update

Hi All,

A few answers; Yes I am agile

I have canoed before, but not for a while.

I already have a proper tender.

The Mooring is sheltered, 200m from shore 2 sides, as it is on the south end of Hayling Island, inside Chichester Harbour - just outside Sparks Marina.

People seem to be split between "yes its a good idea" and "your are mad".
 
As a kayaker of over 20 years' experience I can safely say that I've gone for a dip most often when getting out of the boat on to a river bank. Boat goes away from bank, arse hits the water between boat and bank. I could guarantee rolling upright after a tip over but no chance of rolling one of them up.
 
use a windsurfer

one lad who had a folkboat near my mooring was using a windsurfer to paddle out on for a while. It was one of the big plank types and he just sat on a paddled with a double kayak paddle.

you could put it on the roof rack and not have to inflate it all!

Use it on the calm days and the proper dinghy on the dodgy ones

You could always use it as a windsurfer as well.

If your gonna get wet do it right!
 
prv said:
When I'm going slowly, I can trail the paddle in the water after each stroke, close to the side of the boat like a kind of rudder, and that helps me stay straight. If I'm trying to overcome wind or tide, though, I can't afford the long pause between strokes.
Click to expand...

Try a J stroke - at the end of the stroke, the paddle is turned outward to steer. It compensates for the off-centre propulsion and can be varied according to conditions.

Rob.
 
A friend who is a very experienced surfer and sailor ( around this world if not some people's ) once commented,

" Using a kayak on the sea is like using a screwdriver to bang in a nail ".

Get a round-tail, preferably large tube, dinghy.:)
 
I'd suggest a wet-suit if it's at all chilly, and wave on the beam could be a pest.

Went for a paddle on Ullswater at the weekend, and the cold (and mistaken) lack of wetsuit kept us from going away from shore. Doubt I would've been concerned on a duck.

Potentially a lot of fun to have on board, but as many have commented, will be a proper pain to transfer onto the mothership (visions of the Death Star looming over the anchorage). Great for getting close to wildlife though; seen more kingfishers from the kayak than not.

1st time I saw a (packed away) inflatable kayak was in early 90s backpacking in China and met a Japanese bloke doing same with a small one, using it for stretches of his trip!
 
Seajet said:
A friend who is a very experienced surfer and sailor ( around this world if not some people's ) once commented,

" Using a kayak on the sea is like using a screwdriver to bang in a nail ".

Get a round-tail, preferably large tube, dinghy.:)
Click to expand...

I presume he wasn't an Eskimo then? Proper sea kayaks are EXTREMELY well adapted to their environment & ideal for hunting seals (a very demanding quarry) or just exploring rocky coast lines (were you wouldn't take anything else except a RIB). They are long & thin so fast, easy to paddle & easy to roll in the event of a capsize. They are VERY sea worthy craft. But I wouldn't like to transfer to/from my boat out of one.

Sea kayaks are superb at sea, but yer average flat water kayak or slalom boat is a different kettle of fish, tho' still a nightmare to transfer to/from. .

This discussion amazes me, why would anyone in their right mind want to arrive at their boat soaking wet & with a strong risk of ending up in the water? I mean, isn't MoB the worst fear of 99% on here? I choose to swim off my boat, but I wouldn't want to arrive at it cold, wet & in the water when all I wanted was a nice day sail!
 
I use a sit on top kayak regularly to paddle the 50yards or so to my mooring. Its a wave aror cruiser like this one http://www.gulfstreamshop.com/LargeImage.aspx?ModelID=2996

I usually throw it onto the roof bars of my ford focus estate. Although it does (just) fit inside leaning on the dashboard on the passenger side. I have to drop or remove the headrests for this to work.

It's robust, reliable, a stable platform to climb up onto my yacht amidships. You need good balance, nothing more.

It's small and light enough to carry on my shoulder from car to the water's edge.

Best of all it does NOT need inflating. Easily carried on deck whe underway or towed. It doesn't matter if it flips while towing as it a sit-on-top and can't sink.

Much better than a inflatable me thinks.

I've also used it for fun in the surf, but then it can, and does, capsize when rolled by a breaker if i'm not skilled enough to catch the wave. Good fun!!
 
Searush said:
I presume he wasn't an Eskimo then? Proper sea kayaks are EXTREMELY well adapted to their environment & ideal for hunting seals (a very demanding quarry) or just exploring rocky coast lines (were you wouldn't take anything else except a RIB). They are long & thin so fast, easy to paddle & easy to roll in the event of a capsize. They are VERY sea worthy craft. But I wouldn't like to transfer to/from my boat out of one.

Sea kayaks are superb at sea, but yer average flat water kayak or slalom boat is a different kettle of fish, tho' still a nightmare to transfer to/from. .

This discussion amazes me, why would anyone in their right mind want to arrive at their boat soaking wet & with a strong risk of ending up in the water? I mean, isn't MoB the worst fear of 99% on here? I choose to swim off my boat, but I wouldn't want to arrive at it cold, wet & in the water when all I wanted was a nice day sail!
Click to expand...

I'm shocked at the language used, isn't it the Innuit nowadays, innit ?:)

It used be thought a bright idea to harpoon whales ( not the one with the ears, the other lot ) from small open boats, but just imagine how many pages the Risk Assessment would take up; nowadays it would be considered polite form to 'Do the Decent Thing' with a revolver and save the impact on the rain forests.
 
Last edited:
Seajet said:
I'm shocked at the language used, isn't it the Innuit nowadays, innit ?:)

It used be thought a bright idea to harpoon whales ( not the one with the ears, the other lot ) from small open boats, but just imagine how many pages the Risk Assessment would take up; nowadays it would be considered polite form to commit suicide and save the impact on the rain forests.
Click to expand...

Don't they still do that from the Azores?

Have you ever used a sailing & pulling Whaler. If ex-Navy you should have. They are amazingly seaworthy craft, too. I was trained on one in Salthouse Dock, but Shackleton & Bligh sailed theirs for 1000's of miles. Uffa Fox sailed on full of Scouts from Poole to Paris.
 
Seajet said:
A friend who is a very experienced surfer and sailor ( around this world if not some people's ) once commented,

" Using a kayak on the sea is like using a screwdriver to bang in a nail ".

Get a round-tail, preferably large tube, dinghy.:)
Click to expand...

There is a large body of sea canoeists who would strongly disagree. Although I would not claim this particular genre as my own, I have paddled (deliberately) in overfalls off Anglesey's North and South Stacks that I would not take my Sadler 34 through. Not a problem if you know what you are doing.

OTOH I believe a round-tail dinghy to be one of the most unseamanlike craft ever to be built.
 
How the hell is a roundtail dinghy 'unseamanlike' ?!

Let's be clear we're talking about inflatables here, but even with some rigid boats and conditions I would disagree.

The majority of lower priced inflatable dinghies at the moment are solid transom, which will suit someone with a 30'+ boat if they can find the much larger stowage space for it, and these things are easy to build all to the same pattern ( in the far East ).

I did mention trying to go for a large inflatable tube diameter, which sadly means increased price, but my Zodiac 240 is a faithful friend after 3 decades.

It can handle up to 4hp engines ( I'm not planning on water ski-ing so that's fine ) , and outboard brackets come as standard nowadays, may involve a bit of lacing or tying knots.

I suspect this worry about round tails is a legacy of things like 1970's Campari's ?!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top