P&H Baidarka Explorer

The P&H Badairka Explorer was my first sea kayak (and will probably my last). This classic design of Derek Hutchinson had become legendary now. I acquired a nice, almost new Baidarka. It is almost identical to the P&H Dawn Treader Odin I started my second sea kayak life with. However this is the 'real' one: with the curvy ends and with the smaller ocean going cockpit.

Collecting the Baidarka, beautiful lines!

Of course I know the drawbacks of the design as I described in the Dawn Treader Odin posts: Low initial stability and not very maneuverable. For that reason I will continue to take the Shadow for the real sea kayaking in difficult circumstances. But for many other trips the Baidarka is a nice boat. It feels so familiar to me as it was my only sea kayak for over 10 years in my first sea kayaking era.

At the first trip

Old fashioned deck pump

This Baidarka is build in the old fashioned way with an open space behind the seat. Not good to common safety standards but the deck pump is very useful. The build quality is simply good as you would expect from P&H. Both yellow and white gelcoat look like new. The two hatches with the traditional small round VCP lids are leak free as they should (while the Zegul is still not watertight...).

Nice Swede form hull

A variable skeg has been built in later. It is leak free but the control handle is behind the seat. Not very beautiful but it works for now. May be I will make changes to the boat later. I did fit a hard foam plate to the front bulkhead to get a nice foot brace. The seating is comfortable with ample space for legs and feet. The small cockpit gives good support to the knees for easy rolling. It rolls indeed quite easy.

On a trip from Medemblik to Stavoren v.v.

Surfing the Amarok

One day last month the wind forecast was ideal to test the Amarok surfing.

I made a trip from IJburg to Gemaal De Blocq van Kuffeler with a firm 5-6 Bft wind in the back. I first surfed from IJburg to Pampus Island to wait there for my club mates who arrived from Almere Haven. Together we surfed to Gemaal De Blocq van Kuffeler where I was collected by car.

13 kms of surfing

The Amarok is certainly a decent surfer. I was always at the frontline of the group, so speed wasn't a problem. However, I couldn't notice any advantages of the shorter length. It still needs significant power to pull into a surf. I think comparable with other longer sea kayaks like the Shadow. In my memory the Explorer was still a lot easier to launch.

Typical behaviour of the Amarok in a surf is: a quick start but also a quick stop when the bow burries itself in the wave. On a steep wave such a 'brake' could be quite forceful and I got covered with water up to my waist. Not a problem of course and quite spectaculair. But I didn't manage to surf over multiple waves like I can sometimes with the Shadow or Inua.

The limited maneuverability of the Amarok makes it difficult to keep the boat straight on the waves. It breaks out quickly. Using about half the skeg seemed to be the best compromize to hold the boat straight and still be able to make some corrections. In fact this behaviour does remind me of other 'keel' boats like the Baidarka. Under these circumstances it is clear that the Shadow can be much better controlled.

Conclusion for me is that the Amarok is not the excellent surfer I had hoped for. It certainly is not bad and comparable with most sea kayaks. The lack of maneuverability doesn't help also. Still amazing that Inuit has designed this short boat to behave like a sea kayak that is 1 meter longer.

Zegul 550 leakages

Unfortunately the Zegul appeared to have leaking front and rear compartments. This was a reason to not take it on the Flevoland circumnavigation.

The leak in the front compartment was easily found: a partly loose hatch rim

leaking front hatch rim

The first attempt to glue with epoxy didn't succeed, probably because I had added to much white pigment. Also, the hatch rim is made from ABS and that is not the ideal material to glue with epoxy. So I tried he second time with 2-components PU glue. This did a good job, no water entry anymore!

glueing the rim again

However, the leakage in the rear compartment was not that easy to find. Only after two trials with filling the compartment with water I discovered the leak was at the skegbox. Even with low level of water it was leaking so the leak must be somewhere at the junction of the box to the hull. A first layer of epoxy on and around the skegbox didn't help. The last days I added two layers more. A trip to Edam would be a good testcase. Unfortunately, still water had came in. Further investigation showed there was still a leak around the backside of the skegbox but also at the stern at the hole for the toggle rope. To be continued...