terradactyl wrote:
oYou are gonna laugh at this. Has any one tried sea kayaking whilst
carrying (I mean stowed on deck) a mountain bike?

No, but it isn't something that's crying out as impossible (I've carried
touring skis lashed to the back deck).

The plan so far is for 3 of us (hopefilly one experienced kayaker) and
me and my mate to do various short crossings to hebridean islands
basing our forays from Mull or skye carrying mountain bilkes.(only 2
bikes) maybe lash the 2 wheels on the foredeck and frames behind us?

Should be okay, though remember that if there's one thing that really
fubars bicycle engineering it's an excess of salt and there is, of
course, no shortage of the stuff where you're going. You'll be best off
if you can seal all the bits up as well as possible and give it a damn
good clean when you take it off.

Sea kayaks can carry a /lot/ of kit. The problems with having it above
decks is windage and it will make the whole slightly more unstable but
if you've a friendly, stable boat to start with rather than some skinny
speed oriented beast it should be okay. Bearing in mind a slight
stability compromise and increased windage, combined with the West Coast
potentially being a rather Serious Spot with "interesting" tides and
weather potential, and adding on the "you don't want to soak a good bike
in seawater" factor, I'd only look to do this sort of thing on a Really
Nice Day: quite a lot of kayaking can be waiting around for the right
conditions.

If you can get hold of a big double (something like an Aleut 2) then
you'll have plenty of space for the bits and they're like battleships
which you'd have to really /try/ to flip over.

We are very experienced MTBers but have limited kayak (hence 3rd
member, any volunteers?)

I'm not experienced enough to shepherd folk on crossings on the West
coast... (3 star but certainly not yet 4)

I have been given a new sea kayak by a friend and it is 16M long ! I
may have to sell this for something shorter.

16m? I doubt that... If you mean 16 feet that's towards the /short/
end of sea kayaks. They're long for sound reasons of directional
stability and hull speed. Something shorter may be easier to cart about
but it might not be very easy to keep in a straight line when you need to.

Anybody tried carrying or towing bikes?

I've not yet seen anyone towing anything in a sea kayak except another
sea kayak for rescue or training for rescue. Having done the latter, I
don't think you want to go that way...

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/