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

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?


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


We won't be silly and I have started to read all things kayak befor we
start to train.


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.


Anybody tried carrying or towing bikes?





Thanks

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/

On 25 Sep 2006 04:02:30 -0700, "terradactyl"
wrote:

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

Sounds like fun...

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?

Sounds crazy...

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

How limited is your experience?


We won't be silly and I have started to read all things kayak befor we
start to train.

Yeah, cos reading about it will really give you the experience to roll
back up, or do a deep sea rescue when your boat flips - remember you
will have raised the CoG with your bikes lashed to the decks - which
will also make your deep water rescue a tad more difficult.

Sorry if that sounds harsh. But if you are inexperienced I'm guessing
that some of the currents you will encounter will scare the crap out
of you if you are inexperieced. It's a long way to Newfoundland....

Seriously, if you are going to give this a try please go out and get
some experience before you go. You don't need start tests - but they
do help measure your skill, but be able to brace, turn, and maybe even
roll. Certainly be able to do a deep water rescue.

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.

16 metres? Thats about 50 feet, You'll needs a t least a ship's
mate's certificate to go to sea in that. Surely a type. 6 metres
maybe?


Maybe I'm just getting too old, or maybe I can see the flaw in your
plan :-)

Best of luck whatever you do.

Ewan Scott