kruger practice

Paddle float setup

Paddle float rentry at cockpit stern

In the cockpit, now to turn around.

Bailing, Bailing, Bailing...

I've been spending some time getting to know my new to me Kruger Sea Wind.

One of the reasons I bought it was because I would be able to sleep in it. The other night I tried it out in the back yard. I removed the seat, put the thermorest pad in the bottom, added my sleeping bag and a fleece jacket for a pillow and climbed in. I used one of the North Water under deck side bags as a storage area for my glasses, watch and headlamp. After getting in, I put on the storage cover, and left it partially undone on one side for ventilation. I slept with my head to the stern.

There was plenty of room for sleeping, and for the half of the boat that was ventilated no condensation issues. The bow end had some condensation. I'll need to make sure the boat tent will have adequate flow through ventilation.

The next test was to try a self rescue. I had installed float bags in the boat (see last post), and we went paddling in 1 ft seas with 10-15 knot winds. I was set up for a paddle float rentry like I do with my sea kayaks. A double blade kayak paddle, paddle float, tethered bailer, and hand pump.

I paddled out, flipped over, then righted the boat. with about 4 inches of water in it the boat floated pretty high with the float bags. I tried a cowboy rentry from the stern, which would have worked except for the stored double blade paddle halves on the rear deck. Once past them, the boat was rather unstable, but it would have worked in calm water.

I then tried the standard paddle float rentry. Trying to get back in amid ships the boat proved to be too high sided. When I added my weight on the gunnel the boat rolled toward me and took on more water. Best method was to do the paddle float rentry at the rear of the cockpit, where it is lower to the water. Then the bailing began. What a lot of water that boat can hold! My paddling partner was doing the photography and timing the event. The dump, paddle float rentry, and bailout to a stable boat position was 4 minutes.

Lessons learned -

1. Tether everything! The pump repeatedly tried to float away.

2. While the double paddle worked, I still had to assemble it in the water. Could I do this at night in bigger seas? The Sea Wind has those nice connecting tubes fore and aft in the cockpit, I wonder if I could make a floating rod that would fit into those and lock in (keeper swivel at the end) and attach the paddle float to that. Store the road in the boat or along side the cockpit coaming?

Will need to try this in the future with the sprayskirt and ribs in place.