towing eyes ??

been mulling this one over for a while;

the touring yak i dream about [ nwkayaks discover;  http://www.nwkayaks.com/specs_discover.htm ] has the option of two towing eyes, one bow, one stern. this would allow you to tow or be towed, or allow you to tie up w/o much concern of a deck line or handle rope breaking while the yak is unattended while tied to something on the beach.

looking at my T15 hanging outside, it came to me that i could probably do the same thing to it, with a bit of under deck reinforcing. outfitting the stern, would be another matter entirely unless i get far forward of the rudder installation area and off set it to one side or the other. i'd just need to open up the roundel that's there and install the appropriate sized round hatch so i can reach in. [ yeh,no rudder, yet. ]

anyone see any issues with this?

How far forward you going?  Fitting hands up in the nose of a yak could be a real PITA

I've towed one person before, the first 100 yards I tied the rope to the stern handle. That sucked. The weight of their boat kept me from being able to turn. Straight line? Great. Make a bend in the canal or fight a cross wind? Forget it. Kinda a like a permanent power steering weathercock. I then made a loose fitting harness around my chest, with the anchor point coming straight off between my shoulder blades, that was MUCH better. I could maneuver and absorb some of the jerkyness of towing, I also could put more back into the tow.  If she wasn't cute, I would have abandoned her there. 

HA!  Troutnut I did that same thing two summers ago going to Hope Island State Park.  Towed my ex GF behind me on an inflatable.  Oh, and two days of camping gear.  Man that was some serious work. 

Has anyone towed with the Mirage drive?  How did you handle the tow rope?

been mulling this one over for a while;

the touring yak i dream about [ nwkayaks discover;  http://www.nwkayaks.com/specs_discover.htm ] has the option of two towing eyes, one bow, one stern. this would allow you to tow or be towed, or allow you to tie up w/o much concern of a deck line or handle rope breaking while the yak is unattended while tied to something on the beach.

looking at my T15 hanging outside, it came to me that i could probably do the same thing to it, with a bit of under deck reinforcing. outfitting the stern, would be another matter entirely unless i get far forward of the rudder installation area and off set it to one side or the other. i'd just need to open up the roundel that's there and install the appropriate sized round hatch so i can reach in. [ yeh,no rudder, yet. ]

anyone see any issues with this?

You would never want to tow someone that way. A tow for kayaks should be on a waiste mounted belt that has a quick release option. How would you unclip quickly if the rope is attached at the back of the boat? The person being towed doesn't release the tow. The person towing takes off the tow belt and chucks it int he water, then makes his way to the towee's boat and unclips it.

When you're towing someone, you run the carribeaner under one side of the perimeter line and clip onto the other, so incase the pad-eye breaks, your still attached to the line. Another reason I add perimeter line to my SOT's.

Usually if there is hardware on the boat to assist with towing, it's a metal bar right behind the cockpit to guide the rope.

My guess is that the hardware you speak of is more for running a cable lock through the d-rings rather than towing. If they're telling people it's for towing, they wont be in business long because they'll get sued when people die.

Check out: http://www.northwater.com/html/products/sea_kayak/tow-systems.html

Long ones are for longer distances. They provide enough space between boats that should either boat end up surfing down a wave unintentionally, they hopefully wont crash into each other. Short ones, sometimes called pigtails or cowtails, are for danger close or quick tow scenarios....like say you are 10 ft. from the rocks with breaking waves....you'd just want to clip on with a 3ft tow and pull them away real quick, rather than let a 75ft. rope play out while they get smashed on the rocks.

The shorter "pigtails" attach to a D-ring, quick release belt, and harness sewn into a "rescue PFD" such as this one:

http://www.kokatat.com/product_detail.asp?code=gde

Miss me?

I just looked at the picture, those metal rings are for attaching carry toggles, not towing.

There are some strange features on that boat that aren't good for safety.

I've never seen another boat with line running on the perimeter at the cockpit. No one ever does that because there's potential to snag on the line as you are trying to re-enter the cockpit. It looks perfect to catch a knife on a PFD.

Also- Why are there anchor cleats on the deck in front of the cockpit? If you ever do a T-rescue, you will probably put a hole in the swimmers boat as you pull it up on your fore-deck to drain the water out, or it will hang up on the swimmers deck line as you empty there boat.

This boats remind me of those sterling kayaks. They're designed by a guy who has never kayaked, and it shows. There's a reason no other kayak on the planet does this, because it's hazardous.

WR-you should check out these boats.

http://www.valleyseakayaks.com/content/boats/composite/aquanaut-hv

http://www.seakayakinguk.com/

http://www.tideraceseakayaks.com/index.php/kayak-models/xplorex

You don't need a stinking rudder. If/when you get your boat I'll give you a free lesson and teach you how to drive the boat. You'll never think about rudders again.

One thing I defintely don't recommend isa using your wife as the towline.
This happened after I did a flip & the wind was picking up, and I couldn't get my Cobra right side up.
So I was d&%^$#@ if I was f going to chase my yak to Anacortes, I hung onto DH's yak while a PB puled us closer to shore, I had DH's stern and my bow handle in the hand.  We went about 200 yds. Now I know what the rack felt like.
Survived(luckily) to paddle another day.

With or without an eye to tie to, we're not towing you around Rich.

Brian

Has anyone towed with the Mirage drive?  How did you handle the tow rope?

Ask Steelheader.. 

Z

been mulling this one over for a while;

the touring yak i dream about [ nwkayaks discover;  http://www.nwkayaks.com/specs_discover.htm ] has the option of two towing eyes, one bow, one stern. this would allow you to tow or be towed, or allow you to tie up w/o much concern of a deck line or handle rope breaking while the yak is unattended while tied to something on the beach.

looking at my T15 hanging outside, it came to me that i could probably do the same thing to it, with a bit of under deck reinforcing. outfitting the stern, would be another matter entirely unless i get far forward of the rudder installation area and off set it to one side or the other. i'd just need to open up the roundel that's there and install the appropriate sized round hatch so i can reach in. [ yeh,no rudder, yet. ]

anyone see any issues with this?

You should rivet or bolt in pad-eyes and run 4mm reflective static line through the pad eyes. The T-15 comes close to this, but for some reason they made the rope section at the bow bungie, no idea why, but that wont work for towing. 3 or 4mm static line is standard.

take a look at the perimeter line on both boats:

Whatever you do, I would make the tow attachment release close to the cockpit/seating area where you can reach it.

I guess the problem in the SOT doing it that way is that your gear in the stern tankwell would interfere with a clean release. If you have it off centered you wont be able to go strait.

I'm thinking run your d-ring right behind your hip on the gunwale and tie your quick release not, and another d-ring at the stern to guide & keep the line centered behind you. It will still turn you but the guide at the stern should help a bit. If you fed the line through the guides before you launched and put the rest of it where you can reach it to easily clip on to another yak, it would be ready to go whenever you need it.

J