Roger,

Thanks for your thoughtful reply. You are right that an outrigger can be more a problem than a benefit under some circumstances. Still, outriggers have been used for centuries in the pacific and are well-suited in some envronments. Almost all the boats in the Philippines have outriggers.

John

: I built an outrigger basically the same way, except the kayak was seaworthy
: on it's own. I used that outrigger setup to do very-near-shore
: free-diving.

: It's about the outrigger. Whenever I came in, even in a very small (18")
: surf in my little lagoon, the water would turn me 90 degrees, and i would
: basically crash ashore. I always had to jump out and run the boat in,
: which can be tricky in surge. Once I came in on about a 24" breaker
: height, and it uncontrollably filled the kayak and rolled it, sucking it
: in and out of the waves. I lost some stuff, and I learned to never pick up
: a high-amp lead-acid trolling battery, they shock like hell when covered
: with saltwater. I was lucky not to knock my head and go unconscious and
: drown on that outing.

: Unless you plan to use your rig in quiet, small water, I worry about the
: buoyancy of your outrigger. It's probably about two to three time less
: volume than ideal. For windy, moderate chop, you need a lot of outrigger
: buoyancy so you can lean on your outrigger while paddling like crazy, and
: make your boat unsinkable, giving it properties similar to a tripod. The
: three tripod points are : the front of your kayak, the back of your kayak,
: and the outrigger. It's a bad feeling when you find your outrigger sinking
: just when you need it most. But if your outrigger can strongly support 1/3
: of your weight, your rig is unsinkable in anything other than an
: overturning surf.

: Taking water aboard in bad seas is another topic. It may need decks, even a
: fabric one (fabric worked for me with a canoe on the salmon River in
: Idaho. We could punch through tall, green waves and ship very little
: water.), a man-hole so you can sit real low, and hatches for access to
: your gear.

: It's really fun to climb in and out of your boat between the outrigger and
: the boat. Piece of cake. I used to do it in the ocean on calm days, fully
: weighed down by the lead weight belt and my soaked wetsuit, and all I had
: for cross members were 2 X 2's, like you.

: I hope you're having fun,

: Roger