: :to have everyone ohh and ahh your boat but never see you in the
: water.

: The secret ingredient to ensure stability is ballast.

: Is ballist a dirty word?

: Why has this simple concept been so ignored?

: Do we think we are better paddles if we can paddle unstable
: kayak designs without the ballist they were originally intended to
: use?

: Native paddlers built work boats to carry a load,
: and to be a work platform. They used ballist to make
: kayaks stable.

: Pleasure boaters have taken designs meant for one purpose
: and use it for another.

: With small solo boats, small design, or use changes have profound
: results.

: I've been an avocate of light-weight boats all my career.

: A light-weight boat is more responsive to turns and maneuvers
: because
: there is so little inertia at the bow and stern to overcome.

: However, as small boat weight approaches 30 pounds or less
: the boat also has very little inertia to tipping forces. All the
: weight
: is in your upper body and you can be balancing with the equivalent
: feeling of someone riding a unicycle.

: Paddle that light-weight boat in rough water and you're doing
: the land equivalent of riding a unicycle on a mogul ski hill!

: Certainly, this can be done, many of us have done this, but is it
: fun, for everyone?

: Ballist shifts weight to the hull bottom increasing stability
: dramatically.

: Ballist must be immobilized, fixed to the hull bottom next to the
: bulkheads,
: outside of the cockpit area, so it does not become a liability by
: shifting
: in rough water or during capsize.

: So why build a light-weight boat and add weight?

: Adding ballist to the center hull bottom, increases stability
: without reducing
: handling characteristics significantly. It improves the ease of
: leaned turns and
: rolls significantly!

: Ballist makes the boat ride more comfortably in rough water.

: If you're a young buck who likes to ride a high wire you can paddle
: an
: unstable kayak and have fun, just like the down hill unicyclist!

: If you want more comfort and stability add some ballist.
: You may not need much. Two ten pound weights on each
: bulkhead will make a big difference. You can add or subtract
: weight to see what works for you.

: However you MUST buy or build a ballist system
: to keep the ballist immobilized, so it does not become a liability.

: I'm finding as I get older, comfort becomes a bit more important.

: All the best,
: Rob

Hi Rob,
Is ballast a dirty word? Only if you don't wash the rocks first. :)

Aluet often carried up to 50 lbs of rocks as ballast in thier kayaks. I've done the same with my SoF baidarka but used lead flashing instead, just lashed it to the ribs in the cockpit area and a pair of lighter bits stuffed in with the floatbags fore and aft. I didn't go the 50 lbs though, I've a 2 mile trolley pull to and from launch. 25 lbs does nicely.

Heck, my plastic yak is fairly light and feels skittish with just me in it, I ballast it with my land clothes in the aft hatch and my boots in the fore hatch. It also trims her to just a touch of weathercocking.

Mike Savage
South West Cork