Images of the Overloaded Kayak In Action

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Kayaking with Sistah Soujah (actually-Sistah Sailah)

Lori came down for the weekend and we did a little paddling. Lupe, Lori and I hit Mission Bay for a quick paddle sesh on Saturday. Not the best day for paddling; very blustery. Wind and Kayak are not friends. We made the best of it and had some fun.

From The Overloaded Kayak Images


From The Overloaded Kayak Images

Bad day on the water

Somebody stole my waders. Got really wet going out. Cold, windy and big swell outside. Nine hours on a broken seat=sore back. No fish, but, on the bright side, I caught a lobster trap. Big surf landing (but dry). Lost my rod carry strap. Came to the realization that my kayak takes on water like a cheap colander.

I've got until Saturday to try and fix the seat, or get another. At least Lori gave me a gift certificate to OEX.

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Protecting the hull of my kayak

Dragging a plastic kayak around takes a toll on the hull. The wear is especially bad if you drag it on concrete or asphalt. With the height of my truck rack I'm forced to rest the kayak on the stern when I take it down. While I try to put a mat down on which to rest the stern, there is always some amount of dragging. This has started to wear down my stern. There was actually enough wear that it had really started to concern me. At this rate I would have a hole in the stern before my yak was 6 months old. I started looking for solutions almost as soon as I noticed the wear. I had looked into some likely options, but all had some drawbacks; not durable, too much effort to fabricate, etc. When I was at the Fred Hall Show in Long Beach I discussed the problem with Mark Olsen, a sales manager for Ocean Kayak. He told me that some people were making skid pads from JB Weld. Having just reinforced my new kayak cart with JB Weld, I could see how this might work. Mark assured me that the JB Weld would bond well to the hull if the plastic was roughed up with sandpaper. Sounded good to me.

I went out and bought 4 packs of JB Weld. I used some 100 grit sandpaper to rough the hull along the keel and then masked it off with electrical tape. I mixed up three packs of the JB Weld and got to work with a putty knife. The epoxy went on easily enough, but soon started dripping. I had to quickly flip the kayak over to keep it from dripping all over my tailgate. I think I should have applied it a little bit thinner. There was just too much epoxy to set quickly. I had to flip the kayak twice to try and control the running. In the end, I had to remove the tape and smooth it out with a putty knife. That's when it went from looking kind of professionally done to looking like a typical Gax job. Oh well. It isn't there for looks; it is there to protect the kayak.

From The Overloaded Kayak Images


In addition to the JB Weld, I also stuck a piece of aluminum strip into the JB Weld at the very tip of the stern. I coated the strip in JB Weld as well. If it works as envisioned, the aluminum strip will take the majority of the wear as I load and unload my kayak.

From The Overloaded Kayak Images

This detail view shows the aluminum strip embedded in the JB Weld. It needs another coat of the JB Weld to fill the gaps.

From The Overloaded Kayak Images


We'll see how this works. I think it should be effective.

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Personal best white seabass

Posted March 12th

We have had a lot of rain and windy weather over the last week, with the prime fishing days being washed out. Thursday was the first good window of opportunity. Based on the weather reports, it looked like the wind and swell had dropped off enough to be fishable. Well, the wind had calmed, but the surf at the launch was a little hairy. Not South Africa hairy, but hairy for us. I'm used to paddling out through gentle little ankle-slappers, not fast-period, thumping breakers. I have some sort of mental impairment that prevents me from identifying and timing sets, so this was quite a challenge. After watching two or three folks charge out ahead of me, I thought that I had the sets timed. I saw a gap and jumped onto the yak. Just as I started paddling, three close-stacked waves started to hump up out of nowhere. Nothing to do but grit my teeth and dig in. Three to the chest and now my yak seems really heavy. I'm just not moving very fast. One after another, I get pummeled by these beasts. Just when I think I'm clear, the big one rears up ahead of me. I can't get up enough speed to meet it before it breaks. Just as it reaches me, the lip curls over into a beautiful tube. I look up at it and cringe. Blam! The bow of my Stealth 14 cut cleanly into the face of the wave just as the curl dumped on my head. So much for my hopes of getting out dry. I popped out on the back side and I notice that my bow hatch is a little tweaked. I put the hammer down and got clear of the breakers before the next big one came through. Quite the roller coaster ride. As I moved away from shore I started to notice just how big the swells were. The depth readings on my FF were oscillating by 10ft as I rode from peak to trough. Fortunately, I stayed out long enough for the swell to die down.

The first three hours were unproductive and then I started to see some bird activity. I made the 2 mile paddle over to the birds to see what was shakin'. At first I thought that I had just wasted an hour of paddling. When I got to the birds, most of them were just sitting on the water. It looked like the bite had died out. There were no meter marks and no diving birds. After trolling through the birds for a while, I realized that they were just sitting on the water eating bait. There was an enormous amount of krill on the surface and the birds were just picking at them. Soon, the bait fish (Pacific chub mackerel) started rippling the surface; feeding on the krill. Still no meter marks on bigger predators. I trolled through about 5 miles of birds without seeing anything.

From The Overloaded Kayak Images


I made a wide, slow turn back to the north and came back in slightly shallower water (80'-90'). Jackpot. I started seeing meter marks everywhere; bait balls and strong arches. I trolled back through this very fishy area for over an hour with no success. I had a few baits taken, but nothing stuck.

From The Overloaded Kayak Images


A little after noon, the clicker on my port troll rod starts screaming. I put away my jig stick and got ready for the fight. I wanted to reel in my other trolled mac, but I was losing line on the other so fast I decided not to. The fish fought extremely hard and had me a little confused. It seemed to be stronger than the 75lb thresher shark that I had C&R a few days earlier, but I couldn't feel the tail beats. Eventually, it ended up in a vertical battle under the yak. I would take some line and the fish would head back down. It was a stalemate for while and then the fish began to tire. I quickly got it to the surface and saw a nice sized white sea bass. I gaffed it and dragged it onto my lap.

From The Overloaded Kayak Images


It was little too big to fit in the insulated fish bag.

From The Overloaded Kayak Images


I did the 'happy paddle' in with this beast between my legs. I'm glad the surf had died down, as I might have had some difficulty landing with it in my lap.

From The Overloaded Kayak Images


46.5lbs on the certified scale at OEX

From The Overloaded Kayak Images


Lots of meat on this pig. The vacuum sealer was busy into the wee hours of the morning.

From The Overloaded Kayak Images

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Paddling the Stealth 14

I took the Stealth 14 out for a few shakedown cruises before I got serious about fishing. There were no big surprises. The hull is nearly the same as that of the X-Factor, so performance is nearly the same. There is no doubt about it; it is a big kayak.

Handling ashore.
This is really where you notice the size of a kayak like the Stealth 14 or X-Factor. There is just no getting around the size and weight. If you are a little guy, have to carry the yak inside every day, load it on an SUV alone, or cart it a long way to the launch, this yak might be a little too much. If you don't mind a little effort to enjoy your sport then this is going to be right up your alley. The Stealth 14 is wide (33") and a little heavy (64lbs), but this is relative. Most fishing kayaks weigh between 58 and 64lbs, are between 29"-34" wide and 12-15 feet in length. There isn't actually much difference between most fishing kayaks. How easy a kayak is to move on land is often not as much a function of size and weight as it is......more on this later. Need to prepare for tomorrow's trip.

Finishing work on the Stealth 14

When I last reported on my progress I had just finished plumbing the bait tank and was working on the rudder. The rudder installation went well, but I was forced to use some hardware that I wouldn't normally have chosen. The rudder kit is a Wilderness systems model that is designed for their kayaks. While it works well on the Stealth, the Stealth wasn't really designed with a rudder in mind. As such, I've had to make some modifications. I was forced to use well nuts to attach the rudder lift lines guides to the side of the hull. The Stealth cockpit design also leaves few decent options for routing the rudder cables. In fact, you really can't even use the cables. I opted for 1.8mm Dyneema dinghy line instead of the stainless cable. I prefer the line over the cable and would have used it anyways. The real stumbling block is the cockpit rail cutout for the side hatches. while these hatches are convenient, they preclude the option of internally routing the rudder cables for their full length.

From The Overloaded Kayak Images


As you can see from the photo, at least 12 inches of the rudder lines are exposed on each side. Not only is this a little unsightly, the lines get in the way of the hatch covers and they tend to get caught on things. I understand that Malibu is working up a fix for this; some sort of conformal plastic tube guide. That doesn't do me much good, but I will deal with it. On the subject of rudders; some will say that they aren't even necessary. I agree with this only to a point. The Stealth 14 tracks well enough without the rudder; maybe not quite as well as a Prowler Trident, but well enough for a large yak. I can say definitively that it tracks better than my old Ocean Kayak Drifter. That being said, there are many (if not all) situations where having the rudder is a distinct advantage. I don't buy the argument that the rudder installation or maintenance outweigh the benefit. Maintenance is practically nil and you only have to install it once. You will reap the benefits of using the rudder ever time you paddle. For me, with a bad back and a shoulder that seems on the verge of going south, the benefit of having a rudder is enormous. I can concentrate on maintaining a smooth, symmetrical paddle stroke, regardless of wind conditions. That alone probably adds hours to my endurance. As way of example, I spent 11 hours on the water Monday in breezy conditions. If I had to constantly correct my drift with paddle strokes, I doubt I could have lasted more than 5 or 6 hours. So enough of that. The Stealth 14 isn't a rudder-friendly design, but you can easily make it work. The rudder pedal rails went on with only a little drama. The hole pattern on the rails doesn't quite line up with the nut inserts on my Stealth. I should have checked both before drilling. I checked one and it fit, so I expected the other to fit, as well. Wrong. Not a problem. I just milled some oval holes in place of the round. I also added a third attachment point for a through-hull bolt. No way these are coming off, even if I do a lot of stomping on them in the surf. I had to attach an eyelet at the front of the footwell for a bungee pedal retention system. There is no stop on the foot pedal rails, so the pedal slide will fall out when lifting the yak onto the truck. The retention bungees were a piece of cake. I was even thinking about routing the bungee through the hull to connect the two pedals. This would allow feedback from one pedal to the other. I might do that in the future, but I wanted to keep things as simple and light as possible. The supplied rudder mount is a little long for the Stealth hull. This isn't much of a problem unless you are going to carry the kayak on a truck rack. The angle of the kayak when you lift the bow up to the rack pretty much assures that you will be resting on the rudder mount and not the hull. This isn't a huge issue. I just need to be careful when taking the kayak off the rack. I also had to cut the rudder post down to fit the mount.

From The Overloaded Kayak Images


The fish finder mount was a bit of a quandary. I've always had the FF head unit mounted on the centerline of the kayak. This has always been problematic. If it is mounted far enough forward to be out of the way, it isn't easily accessible while fishing. Mounting it closer makes it easy to operate, but it gets in the way when getting on the kayak and when trying to land a big fish. I decided to go with a cockpit rail mount this time. I always mount the kayak from the port side, so it would have to go on the starboard cockpit rail. This position makes it a little difficult to straddle the kayak, but it is the best overall position.

From The Overloaded Kayak Images


The FF head unit is mounted on a 6" RAM mount. The articulated RAM mount allows for a great deal of positioning flexibility. I can move it so that it is close enough to easily operate without having to lean forward and also rotate it completely out of the way for surf landings.

From The Overloaded Kayak Images


The transducer installation was an absolute cluster-frak from the very beginning. I started with the notion of doing a wet well transducer installation. The theory behind this is that there is no layer of Goop or 5200 to interfere with the signal. You make a little well, attach it to the hull and then set the transducer in the well. Many have tried this mounting method and it works well. I have done over a half dozen Goop/5200 installs with very good success, so why did I want to try this? I don't know. I am always looking at different options for the yak. I thought I should give this one a try. Experience told me that this was going to be a problem, but I didn't listen to the smart voices in my head. The 'try something new' voices in my head prevailed. The only smart thing that I did was to publicly make the statement that if it didn't work right the first time, I was going to rip it out and go back to the Goop.

The first obstacle to overcome is the giant skimmer transducer that came with my Lowrance LMS-527. Did I mention that the transducer is huge? Too big for the traditional wet well made from 3" or 4" PVC pipe. As the LMS-527 is no longer in production, there aren't many transducer options from Lowrance. Most of the compatible transducers are large or ungodly expensive. I almost wish I still had the Humminbird with its huge selection of cheap transducers. I would have said screw the wet mount and gone with a a thru-hull mount if they weren't so damned expensive. The thru-hull dual frequency transducer was $869. That's just crazy. That's nearly what I paid for my kayak. Cost was going to force me to stick with my current transducer; and that meant a big wet well. When the PVC pipe wouldn't work I started thinking of other materials. I had used clear Lexan for other projects and it seemed like a good bet. I bought several Lexan sheets from Lowes and commenced to make a wet well. The most difficult part was cutting the hull contour on the front and back walls. I got a contour gauge and managed to get a pretty good representation of the hull contour cut into the Lexan.

From The Overloaded Kayak Images


I reinforced the corners and edges with thin aluminum angle. I even cut a small fill port with a fill plug. As I was putting this together I realized that it was an all-or-nothing proposition. If it didn't work once it was glued into the hull, there was no real remedy.

From The Overloaded Kayak Images


I used 3M 5200 for the seal to the hull. 5200 is more flexible than Goop and you need that to maintain a good bond to the hull. I added a layer of Marine Goop over the side angle to get more mechanical strength.

From The Overloaded Kayak Images


It worked well enough on the shakedown cruise, but there wasn't a huge performance difference between the wet well and previous Goop-to-hull mounts. The second time out it dropped the kayak as I was getting it off the truck. The shock evidently cracked the Goop that was used to seal the corners. The water slowly leaked out over the course of the first few hours on the water. I probably could have Gooped all the seams again and solved the problem, but I was in no mood to do that. As soon as I got home I tore the well out. I Gooped the transducer down on a flat portion of the hull outboard of the bait tank. I don't know if it was the good Goop job or the position, but I've never had such good sonar performance. I can easily track jigs and even sibiki rigs down at least 100'. Should have just gone with that from the start. I could have saved myself quite a bit of time and effort. Damnit. I should learn which voices in my head to listen to.

After clipping in my new GTS Expedition seat I realized that it overhung the bait tank hatch. The hatch is pretty big and probably any seat would have clearance issues.

From The Overloaded Kayak Images


The answer was to cut out the existing small screw-in hatch and replace it with a larger one. after a failed attempt to mount an 8" Beckson deck plate-style hatch, I ended up using a 10" hinged hatch.

From The Overloaded Kayak Images


One of my big gripes with the X-Factor was that the rear hatch was so close to the water line it was unsafe to open in choppy conditions. The Stealth 14 design has addressed this problem by raising the lower lip of the hatch by about an inch. In spite of this, I wanted a little bit more margin when accessing the rear hatch. When I had the X, I had come up with an idea to solve with problem and give me a little extra storage space. I really wanted to do away with the milk crate in the tank well and move that storage volume to the rear hatch. My solution was to convert a drop-in bait tank to a hatch extension/storage box. The idea was to bolt the tank directly to the hull. The plan went a little astray when my kayak arrived. I meant to have the factory install only the forward and center hatches. I wanted to cut out the rear to get the closest fit with the drop-in tank. Well, I didn't tell them and the kayak arrived with all the hatches already installed. Bummer. The tank doesn't fit close enough to the hatch rim to allow through-bolts to be used. I was forced to attach 1" aluminum angle to the forward and aft sides of the tank and bolt through this to mounts on the hull.

From The Overloaded Kayak Images


I bolted some aluminum box beam to the hull and then used 1/4-20 well nuts as the attachment points. It took a bit of work, but it is very light and seems like it is bomb-proof. I cut the bottom out of the tank, flipped it over and reattached with straps.

From The Overloaded Kayak Images


A couple of pieces of aluminum angle on the sides act as stops, to prevent the inner hatch from falling through. This allows me to put the battery box/PDU underneath and still use the top part of the tank for storage.

From The Overloaded Kayak Images


To complete the hatch extension/storage box I added some rod holders. To attach these I had to remove the threaded fittings that were installed in the tank. I cut these out with a Dremmel tool, cut discs out of a spare piece of hull and then plastic welded the discs in place. With the rod holders in place you can hardly see the weld marks.

From The Overloaded Kayak Images


Adding the rod holders seemed to double the weight of the whole assembly. I might replace the PVC tubes that I am currently using with a lighter plastic type. I might just eliminate them altogether. I'm going to give it a few more trips before I decide.

The electrical system was fairly straight-forward, if somewhat time consuming to put together. I used nearly the same setup as I had on the X-Factor. I just simplified things a little on the schematic and started wiring.

From The Overloaded Kayak Images

I tried to be as methodical as possible as I started assembly.

From The Overloaded Kayak Images

I used wire markers for everything.

From The Overloaded Kayak Images

I didn't solder most of the wire connections this time. I had access to plenty of marine-grade butt connectors with adhesive heat shrink. These are a little chunkier than soldered splices, but take much less time.

From The Overloaded Kayak Images

Here is the finished product.

From The Overloaded Kayak Images

All the wiring was dressed as neatly as possible for such a small unit. The 'Curious George' LED lights on the front of the battery box/PDU are meant to light up the hull from within.

From The Overloaded Kayak Images

This is mostly for show, as they will kill my battery life. Still; it is very cool to see the entire hull glow from within. I can use that when I'm hooping for lobster in the bay. I won't need the bait tank pump, so I won't have to worry about battery consumption. It should make me a little more visible than a single white lite on a pole.

Rod holders were the last step. I had intended to use all RAM tubes instead of flush mounts. The rods sit too low in the flush mounts and the reels get splashed quite a bit. The RAM tubes get the reels out of the splash zone. My only concern with the RAM tubes is that they are heavier than other rod holders. I've used the aluminum tubes in the past. They were heavy enough and I didn't even want to think about how much the stainless steel tubes weighed. Fortunately, OEX now carries the new composite RAM tubes. These are much lighter than the aluminum tubes and they have a flared lip and leash attachment points.

From The Overloaded Kayak Images

Now, after having spent over forty hours on the water fishing with them, I realize that they are not perfect. They just don't grip the ball as well as the aluminum rod holders. I even tried scuffing the inner surface of the clamp with some coarse-grit sandpaper to no avail. My last time out I couldn't keep them in position. After fighting a fish for a while, I noticed that two of the rods holders had slipped down and the reels were underwater. Now that's some bad juju. The next step is to grind some shallow groves in the clamp face with a Dremmel tool. If that doesn't work I'm replacing them with the aluminum tubes. It sucks that I just sold the three old aluminum tubes that I had left over from my Prowler.

Here is the end product

From The Overloaded Kayak Images


Next post I'll give my impressions of how she paddles.

No name for her yet, but I'll come up with one soon.

Catching up on the blogging

It has only been three weeks. I've got nothing to apologize for. Well......actually, I've been somewhat remiss with my blogging duties. That is just the life of a serious procrastinator. I have all sorts of time to write when I'm not doing anything interesting, but no time to blog when I'm actually doing something blog-worthy. Oh well; I'll break this down into a bunch of little chunks and knock 'em out one at a time.