Towing

Has anyone tried towing with the mirage or propel? Looking to do more than fishing and need to increase my weight limit. I can get a 3-4 day camp within my weight no issue, but if I go on a hunt or extend fishing trip how do I get the meat back. My thought was to get a Costco special, cut the insides out, make a solid cover for the seating area, add stabilizers and bam a kayak utility trailer that can haul 250-300 pound. How crazy of an idea is this?

I've carried deer and a bighorn sheep on rivers in a canoe, and once in a two-person big-cockpit recreational kayak.  An issue about carrying big game in a canoe or kayak is that an animal lying on its side isn't a symmetrical load.  Once I laid a deer on its back in the center of a canoe with its legs sticking up in the air and propped it in place with gear.  Other times I laid it on its side with its weight balanced and the legs sticking over one gunwale.  Another issue is that a game animal takes up a lot of space.  If you have a lot of other gear, one solution is to quarter the critter and put the quarters in waterproof bags, so you can pack it efficiently with your other gear, and can center the weight. But if you're hunting from a kayak or canoe camp, the biggest issue is getting the meat to a refrigerator or freezer before it rots.  You need to head for home as soon as you get a critter.

You can tow a big boat with a Mirage Drive kayak.  You may move slowly, but you can tow it. Shown below is a picture of me towing a friend's motorboat back the launch site after his trolling motor conked out, and he couldn't use either of his two gas motors because of motor restrictions on that lake.  You'll probably also hear from people who have towed other kayaks after a paddler became fatigued or couldn't make enough speed into a headwind. 



If you want to try out your kayak trailer idea, you could buy a recreational kayak with a big cockpit.  You can probably pick up a used kayak real cheap, and they're usually so wide and stable that you wouldn't need outriggers.  If you felt a need to seal the cockpit, you could rope a piece of tarp over the cockpit.  I don't know how well a towed kayak tracks and handles in waves and wind.  A rudder might help with the tracking.

But a tandem mirage drive kayak pedaled solo would be a better way to tote out game animals or coolers full of fish.  There's plenty of room in the area normally occupied by the second kayaker.

Check out the "Kayak Kaddy" kayak trailer at http://kayakkaddy.com/ . It's kind of a stupid idea which can carry a small amount of gear, as long as each item is small enough to feed in through a round hatch.

But the Kayak Kaddy does suggest that towing a kayak might work better if the connection between the main kayak and the towing kayak is relatively rigid.  So you could run your tow rope through a length of light PVC pipe.  It's probably worth trying.

I've also towed a power boat back to the dock.  It's slow work but quicker then them using their undersized paddle.

pmmpete thanks for that. That is the idea about the tow behind I had in mind. I think it would work. Not looking to pull the whole time, just get to and from base camp. The pvc would take care of the concern I had, may need to use double poles crossed like a snowshoer pulling a sled. Should track better in the wind. As easy as that moved through the water a small modified sitin yak would work.

anytime you're towing anything, make sure it's attached via a quick release system, look into tow belt techniques for sea kayakers, and get a legit tow belt system, I like about 30ft on mine. if S#*t goes wrong, you need a way to disconnect real quick. If you're going to be towing for a decent distance, get a tow rope/belt on a Quick Release belt, if you just want to hook up and go a short distance, look into a rescue PFD or QR belt and a cowtail.

anytime you're towing anything, make sure it's attached via a quick release system, look into tow belt techniques for sea kayakers, and get a legit tow belt system, I like about 30ft on mine. if S#*t goes wrong, you need a way to disconnect real quick. If you're going to be towing for a decent distance, get a tow rope/belt on a Quick Release belt, if you just want to hook up and go a short distance, look into a rescue PFD or QR belt and a cowtail.

Another option would be to attach the tow rope to your kayak via a cleat in a way which can be released quickly.  If your kayak has an anchor trolley, you could use the cleat from that system to attach the tow rope to your kayak.

I have a whitewater kayak towing system on one of my PFDs.  Whitewater towing systems use quite short ropes or straps which position the nose of the towed kayak very close to the tail of the towing kayak.  A long tow rope would be unsafe in whitewater, because it could snag on a rock, but would work fine in a lake, particularly if the tow rope was a floating rope.