Weight forward or Back

[The Walnut Cracker]

It may be a daft question, sorry if it is.
When you are loading your sea kayak, tent, sleeping bag, dry clothes, food etc, I know it would be best to get the weight even, but if you can't is it best to put the greater weight in the bow or stern??

Thanks
Phil

[Chris Bolton]

It may not apply to your boat, but ever boat I've paddled, except one Canadian design, was better balanced with most of the weight in the back. Try it and see - if you find the boat turns upwind, move the weight back, if it turns downwind, move the weight forward.

Chris

[Jim]

I agree with Chris and more!

Firstly try paddling the boat in calm water no wind with the front and then rear heavier and see what the effect is.
Often if you load the front too much the bow will dig and and force the boat to wander off line - I spent 3 days stormbound on Staffa because a group member had made this mistake and our crossing back from Lunga took over twice as long as intended. But each boat is different so you needto work out your baseline.

Having established your baseline it is usually best to try again with stronger winds trying different weight combinations towards, away from and accross the wind. This data can be useful especially if you don't have a skeg or rudder. In my Sea King I almost always needed to weight the stern down (the bow has more shape and grips the water too well otherwise) for cross winds or tail winds, more so for tail winds. If I was paddling upwind it was useful to have the weight a bit more forward to anchor the bow in the wind. So by checking a forecast against a planned route, you may find that you alter your packing slightly day to day to trim the boat best for the conditions you think are going to be the most prominent or most demanding for the day.

My new boat, the Taran, is not quite perfect in JW's own words. The intention was to make the bow ride high but he feels he got a little more than he wanted in the finished boat, when day tripping putting my spare clothes and a water bottle or flask in the front hatch (but lunch and other water in the day hatch) is enough to make the boat paddle perfectly. This is of course personal interpretation and others might find the same boat better trimmed by the stern....

For what it's worth, heaviest items want to go near the middle, which often means food/water/fuel/stoves end up in the day hatch or close to the bulkhead in the rear hatch because they are closer to the seat (approx pivot point) than they would be in the front hatch. then you only need to move a little of the heavy stuff (water bottes are usually favourite, or beer) around to get your preferred trim

[Douglas Wilcox]

Jim>

For what it's worth, heaviest items want to go near the middle, which often means food/water/fuel/stoves end up in the day hatch or close to the bulkhead in the rear hatch because they are closer to the seat (approx pivot point) than they would be in the front hatch. then you only need to move a little of the heavy stuff (water bottes are usually favourite, or beer) around to get your preferred trim

Nicely ballasted.

Douglas

[dwrgi]

I'm shocked! Alcohol and salt water do not mix well.
Make sure it's in a dry bag.

[sleepybubble]

I'm shocked! Alcohol and salt water do not mix well.
Make sure it's in a dry bag.

I doubt those tins get much of a chance to suffer from salt water corrosion...

[Chris Bolton]

heaviest items want to go near the middle

Luckily for you, Jim, the cockpit is in the middle!

Chris

[Kayaks'N'Beer]

I'm shocked! Alcohol and salt water do not mix well.
Make sure it's in a dry bag.

I doubt those tins get much of a chance to suffer from salt water corrosion...

I agree with both of these statements.

Also, load the weight at whichever end you want to stay pointed into the wind or concentrate the heavy stuff (eg. tinnies) in the dayhatch for ease of access in emergency dehydration scenarios and neutral wind-effect / maximum manoeuvrability