MICRONAUTICAL BOAT DESIGN

It seems like many anglers who rig their kayaks are concerned about drilling holes in them. Generally speaking, drilling holes in a kayak isn’t a good idea, especially in conventional kayaks (SOT, sit-in) whose waterline is so close to the deck that they hardly offer any free board. We assume that common sense rules out the possibility of drilling holes below waterline – After all, you don’t want to test your luck when the odds are stacked against you, and the consequences of being unlucky could be that you’d never get a second chance to try…

However, modern fishing kayaks offer considerable free board, which allows for drilling holes without creating any safety of structural problem. This opens a wide range of possibilities for attaching fishing gear and accessories to your kayak without having to use eyelets (tie-downs) or cleats.

Says Gary, a seasoned kayak fisherman from Florida:
-“Having seen some of the elaborate modifications W kayak owners employ to attach paddles and other gizmos to their W’s, I thought I’d share a really easy, low-cost, no-weight method that I use.”

Read more about drilling holes in your fishing kayak >>

Russ, from Connecticut, purchased a W502 in the fall of 2011, and installed a 2hp 4-cycle Honda outboard on it (read his initial motorized fishing kayak review >> ). Then came winter, which in New England is pretty long even in clement years, and Russ turned his W502 into a high tech fishing system –

Russ needs both types of motors (electric and gas) since some lakes & ponds are for electric motors only.

Russ installed a fish finder, compass, a radio, and racks to hold the paddle and push pole. He also put another bolt in each side of the motor mount, to make it more stable and rigid.
Russ also installed a small seat from a rowing machine on top of the W saddle, as well as two electromechanical jiggers. -“It’s overkill, but it’s what I want to fish” he says…
Russ plots out the lakes before he fish them, marking the outline of the proper depth for his type of fishing with buoys on his GPS screen.

Some fly anglers practice sight fishing: They paddle their kayak standing up, and scout for big fish. They prefer to to stand as high as possible, because it expands their range of vision. Once they spot a fish, they cast a fly at it as fast as they can.
Many fly kayak anglers and reel anglers sight fish while standing comfortably in their W kayaks. However, Ted, the kayak fly fisherman seen in these pictures, wants to stand higher, so he can look further.
Unlike Kevin, another fly fisherman who fishes the flats standing on top of his W kayak saddle without using outriggers, Ted added both a pair of outriggers and a frame to his fishing kayak. This setup puts him about 15″ higher than he would have been if he stood on the bottom of his W fishing kayak hulls, and this way he’s perfectly stable.
The drawback of paddling from such a high level is that you lose some leverage on the paddle, so you can’t go very fast. However, if the water is shallow enough, you can push pole – It’s slow, but what’s the rush?

This setup calls for an electric trolling motor, or an outboard gas engine, but those are not allowed in some areas, which leaves stand up paddling and push poling as the only solutions for propulsion.

Safety Concerns, and Solutions:

Standing as high on top of such a tiny vessel as a kayak means that sooner or later, the fly fisherman is going to lose their footing, or lose balance, or both – It’s a statistical fact, and every experienced angler, paddler, surfer or sailor knows that “Stuff Happens” is the rule on the water.
So the real question is not “What if” but “What happens when” –
When you stand up on top of a conventional fishing kayak (SOT, sit-in, or ‘hybrid’), you need to somehow manage to fall on your knees, or on your behind, and regain your balance immediately. It’s almost impossible, and although it doesn’t hurt to try, you’re more likely to find yourself swimming.
However, things are considerably different when you’re standing high on top of a W fishing kayak, as Ted does: He can drop on his kayak’s saddle, with a leg in each hull, and stabilize himself while he’s in the ergonomic kayak paddling posture known as Riding, which is similar to riding a jet-ski, a snowmobile, an All Terrain Vehicle (ATV) – or a pony. In other words, it’s the most stable, and most powerful position you can hope to be in when you’re trying to regain balance and control in your kayak. When Ted wants to switch from standing to sitting, it’s just a matter of hopping down –

The pictures in this article were contributed by Ted Stevens, courtesy of Gene Andrews, W fishing kayaks dealer in Palm Coast, Florida.

Design isn’t just about aesthetics. It’s first and foremost about solving problems.
Yes, this is not a mistake – I wrote SOLVING problems, and not addressing problems, or ‘tackling’ problems, which are expressions that are commonly found in marketing hype for all kayak types, including fishing kayaks.

And that makes a fundamental difference, because when you tackle, or address a problem, it’s still there after you’re done – You may have created a design that emphasizes stability a little more, but its users will have to pay a price in reduced speed and worse tracking, and still not paddle a kayak that’s sufficiently stable…
But when you solve a problem, it’s gone: It’s no more a problem.
Similarly, you may ‘tackle’ the problem of kayak back pain (a.k.a. ‘Yak Back’), or ‘address’ this problem by various means ranging from stuffing more foam in the kayak’s seat, or gel, or replacing the stuffed seat by a beach seat, or stadium seat adapted to kayaks, and yet, the problem of poor ergonomics will still be there, and this is bound to make the kayaker’s life miserable.

These examples illustrate the issue called the ‘envelope’ of a boat concept. In this case, it’s the broad boat concept called ‘mono-hull kayak’, or ‘single hull kayak’, and the families of solutions found within its envelope are generally described as Sit-In Kayak (SIK), Sit-On-Top Kayak, and Hybrid Kayak.

Being an extreme concept by nature (small size, narrow beam for paddling, light weight for carrying, etc.) this concept is most restrictive, which is why the serious problems it presents can be addressed and tackled, but no solved.

Does it mean such major cannot be solved? Not necessarily, but in order to solve them, the designer has to work within another paradigm, or boat concept, and explore a range of solutions available within its envelope. In the case of kayaks, such alternative concept exists, and it is known as W Kayak.
If you’re interested to know more more about how the major problems of fishing kayaks got solved, and not just addressed, or tackled, learn about W Fishing Kayaks >>