Hi, Being slightly pedantic HS stood for Hatches Standard, HM Hatches Modified, boats built without hatches started with an 'S'. Ken Indeed... From the "Nordkapp" history within this forum there is " According to the Nordkapp page of their 1985 brochure, Valley offered 12 variants of the Nordkapp i...

I'm wondering why it came with no skeg - maybe thats how it was ordered? I don't know when retractable skegs first appeared (but I'm sure someone will....) but the early Nordkapps came as HM - Hull Modified - which had a built in fixed skeg as an extension of the hull molding and HS - Hull Standard...

I have no equipment whatsoever (CIWW provides everything for the course), and therefore am on the bottom of a steep but enjoyable learning curve which will hopefully lead to my buying enough kit to get out in local waterways and coastal areas to build up my experience. Sound like it might be the bo...

Give them a ring - email doesn't seem to work too well.

I think my HM, which has similar deck fittings, hatches and cockpit, but no pump, is about 1986 but I can't read the serial on the Valley certificate any more

Why not try a plastic Nordkapp? I'm guessing your ebay Nordkapp was old enough to have an ocean cockpit, which is a fairly tight squeeze to get into?

Mac50L wrote: ↑

Thu Jul 20, 2017 1:48 am

The bottom not the top. What model, never seen any. Rubber flaps are better than nothing.

Ahh - sorry, but we were talking about inside the boat - not about jamming skegs. (for the record - I've never had a skeg jam on me yet)

hy have a skeg" or if you insist on one why badly designed i.e. no cover when retracted? I've never come across a skeg without a "cover" - but that's another issue. My current kayak has an offset skeg box which means I can get my tent right up into the stern of the boat on the wide side and my slee...

How did the demo go? I think kayak cockpits will have change a lot since your teenage years. Nowadays, with big key-hole cockpits, you'll fall out without any real effort regardless of how shallow the water was. The basic drill is deck off, hand behind hips and roll out forward - which is supposed t...

After re entry roll just padling to nearest eddy or calm water end empty the boat.

Mmmmm that might be a lot easier said than done...........

It's not the boat, it's the paddler.... Might be stating the obvious here but a "proper" sea kayak doesn't make you any safer, it just makes it a bit easier to cover the distance. If you have a good roll, can rescue each other in deep water etc. the GP boats should be fine on the sea on a calm day -...

I'd not be too quick to modify the mounting of a J-Bar. If you do, and it fails, the manufacturer will use your modification to escape any liability. For plastic boats, I'd not worry about deforming them if they sit on edge in the cradle - you'd be much more likely to "oil-can" the hull if it was fl...

I suspect most of us are waiting until he gets into our local waters when we can be in a position to offer help / support / food / company etc. Good luck to him though.

Likewise, I also wonder if I am really taking part in a "high risk" sport - I stopped filling in the survey as I don't personally regard the Sea Kayaking which I do as high risk, therefore I didn't think adding my personality type profile to the research would have added anything. It's an interestin...

Then it might be worth the extra spend on http://www.duncanyacht.co.uk/078796-Cap-Retainer

Channel runs between Inchcholm and the mainland. Braefoot terminal sits opposite Inchcolm. The channel markers are only about 250m apart here so no problems paddling across if there's nothing moving when you get to them. The main deep water channel lies S of Inchcolm, channel markers here are about ...

Check out the on-line chandlers for "cap keepers" - but basically just a couple of croc clips and a length of cord...

If the boats not running straight - put down a bit more skeg. If it gets better - result, if it gets worse, pull it up a bit. Ignore any "rules" - find out what works for you, in your boat and in the way you paddle and the conditions you are paddling in, how the boat is loaded and so on and so on......

Mostly - it's fairly relaxed out on the Forth and sea kayakers have a good relationship with Forth Ports I'm not sure what the official line is at the moment but the new bridge (Queensferry Crossing) did have a restricted area during it's construction to keep everyone safe, so all vessels had to kee...

Could adding a snagless carabiner into the loop in the jam cleat help? Release in the same way, from the jam cleat, but leaving the carabiner attached to the towed boat - quick to place and avoids rope on rope issues.

I picked up a SH Nordkapp HM a few years ago and could barely get it up onto the roof of the car. When I got home I found 3 x 7Kg bars of lead glassed in behind the seat! That was maybe a bit of over-kill!! I never paddled it with the lead in the boat so can't comment on how much it changed the hand...

No problem fitting one as long as it comes with T Track fittings. Mine are Thule carriers with the locking tension nob at the bottom of the arm and they fit without any issues. Pay close attention to the instructions which come with the carrier - I'm fairly sure the first instruction is to throw awa...

I know what you mean about the Reed seams - I put mine on outside-in if I'm going to be wearing it for a while

Does the outer cable need to be replaced? A bit of self annealing tape and a new inner might be all that's needed??

As a stove, hard to beat a trangia.....
From past experience... don't try to cut too many corners, it's better to "buy it once, buy it right!" as the old adage goes.

Without peddling, The physics sez - the skinny bloke should be quicker downhill. The reality sez - the fat bloke pics up speed faster and attains a higher descent velocity. I don't understand it - but it invariably seems to be true (and I don't think it has anything to do with kayak speed - but who ...

Wow - what a lot of opinions! My own personal preference (and this is only my own preference....) is straight shaft, medium blades, the lighter the better, feather of about 45 degrees, which I have reduced from 60 over the past year. (I started paddling when 90 degrees was all you could get in "good...

I have searched the manual for my Icom M91D for that, and I have not found anything. Mine is a Standard Horizon, I've never used an Icom DSC set.... but on the Standard Horizon it's Menu GPS Setup Unit Power (Off or On) So fairly easy to switch off if it's not needed - just be aware that it will ta...

On DSC sets, it seems to be the GPS which eats into the battery life. Switching off the GPS unless you think you might need it (remote or unknown area and solo?) and using it as a standard voice comms ony set should give the same or possibly even better battery life than a non DSC set as the battery...

I'd also suggest that a heavy (compared to a racing K1) sea kayak isn't going to benefit from the lift and glide effect generated by a well used wing so might not yield a similar performance benefit than going from a euro-blade to a wing in a racing K1 would show. Sea kayak euro blades also tend to ...

Interesting, I'd never actually thought about paddles from that point of view before. I agree there's not a lot of information around, but perhaps it is so closely related to all the factors involved in choosing a paddle length that it might just be repetition. I suppose it'll vary with the width of...