Mark

I built a Yare that always turned a little to the right. And it did not carve a turn at all when leaned. It also weathercocked and broached easily with following waves, so I added a skeg to improve tracking and shaved one side and built the opposite side of the back of the skeg to make a little "trim tab" to make the kayak track straight. There are a few considerations to ponder before adding a skeg or trim tab. Below is my experience that I have cut and pasted from previous postings.

If you suspect the kayak is turning on its own there are a few drills to do to confirm if it is the kayak.

First you must know if it is sitting flat in the water when you are paddling straight, if not it may be carving the turn. Figure out how to attach a level and paddle in calm water to confirm. Is the seat on the keel centerline? If your weight is off center the kayak will lean a little and carve a little.

Second, now that your weight is centered. Find a location on a calm day in enclosed calm water. Pick a landmark and paddle straight toward it, do whatever stroke it takes to paddle in a straight line. Once you are moving straight at the landmark lift the paddle and coast. Note which way you turn and how quickly. Do it several times at the same landmark. Now turn 180 degrees and pick another landmark and do it again. Now turn 90 degrees and do it again and last turn 180 degrees and do it a few more times. If your kayak turned both left and right there is some wind, current or inconsistent paddling. If your kayak always turned the same direction and you kept the bottom level, it is time to considering trimming the kayak.

I had added a small skeg to my kayak, so I just sanded one side of the aft end of the skeg and built up the opposite side. And then did more still water testing and then more sanding and testing and sanding and testing.

Now, if you plan to add a fixed skeg you need to consider how your kayak handles in crosswinds and now it tracks. Adding a skeg to any kayak greatly affects how it handles in a crosswind. I find that having to make correction strokes in a brisk crosswind to be of more concern than making correction strokes in straight tracking conditions.

First, if you are new to kayaking, you will want to develop your stroke for efficiency and to control tracking before modifying your kayak. An efficient stroke is one that does not require a lot of correction. After working on my stroke and becoming familiar with my first kayak I found I wanted more maneuverability. So I suggest you paddle your kayak a year if you are considering adding a fixed skeg to your kayak.

Adding a skeg will reduce a kayak's tendancy to weathercock (turn into the wind) or if big enough it will even make the kayak leecock (turn downwind). So before adding a fixed skeg, I recommend you paddle in a good crosswind. If the kayak weathercocks more than you like, then add a fixed skeg. It does not take much skeg to affect both tracking and weathercocking. It is likely that you will install more skeg than you needed which is ok because it is easy to shave some off by trial and error to dial in the crosswind handling that you find acceptable. A kayak that weathercocks too much is exhausting to paddle in a good crosswind. And you definitely do not want a kayak that leecocks at all. Just be sure you can handle your kayak in crosswinds before getting caught in one any distance from shelter. A kayak that carves turns can control a certain amount of weathercocking by leaning into the wind.

Now to complicate matters a little more. Moving the CG also affects weathercocking, forward more, back less. So if you move the seat in addition to adding and trimming a skeg it becomes a balancing act between skeg size and seat position. While maintaining a consistent degree of weathercocking the farther forward the seat the bigger the skeg will be and the kayak will be harder tracking.