Mirage 19 to Frankenyak

 It was suggested in the past when I cut the deck and made the Mirage 19 into a sit on top that I call it the Frankenyak.  Now that the stitching near the bow chow is visible I do agree that it truly looks like a Frankenstein kayak so Frankenyak it is:

The waterline is unchanged at this point, but a lot of length above the waterline has been removed. I left the chopped bow in the deck for perspective.  

More Modifications for the Mirage 19

The old shark is due for another refurbishing.  Last upfit it became a very comfortable sit on top.  The old boat doesn't fit so well in the new garage.  

 

It also has long over hangs that don't do much in the water or provide real additional cargo capacity:

So I've drawn some lines to consider for the project.  I hope they are not to faint for you to see in the pictures. I don't think the bow chop will have much effect at all. But it may provide a little less boyancey when a big following wave burys the front of the boat:

The skeg chop or "Skegectomy" should work well to loosen up the stern and promote faster turning.  It will require a rudder to work well in downwind conditions.  I may decide to only cut half as much as I've shown with the line.  I did this before on another boat and it worked well:  https://paddlingandsailing.blogspot.com/2013/11/skegectomy.html

Here is a picture of the stern with a line for the planned chop:

Still, I might cut half as much as planned here.

Guess who's back?

 

I'm bringing back the spirit of Mick MacRobb by using this sail he sent me many years ago.  It is the sail that started this Blog and I'm happy to be using it as the first sail for this rig.  The sail is still in really good shape in spite of a lot of personal use.  I've also loaned it to a number of folk to try as their first kayak sail.  

I'm thinking this sail worked best with the mast tilted more vertically, so I may adjust it which I can almost do on the fly.

Can't wait to try it out.

One paddle to do it all?

 

My friend Larry Ausley has said that whenever I'm using a single blade I'm canoeing and I'm only kayaking when I use a double blade.  It seems like a good enough standard for me.  I understand that in England they call kayaks Sea Canoes and have different standards there.  But here in the States where I paddle I'm doing much more canoeing than kayaking and I want the packing for the shorter trips to be easier.  So could I have one paddle that would work for every craft?  It would not have to be the best or the lightest or the fastest. Just good enough to get me through the evening short paddles up to ten miles in a "Canoe" or 2 miles on  SUP. ( Yes a SUP is five times harder than a canoe or a kayak!)

It turns out that the good people are Aquabound/Bending Branches have a good solution. Look at these numbers.

Freedom85 / Lyric
Size	Blade	3 pc (canoe paddle)
64/74	19"	50"
70/80	19"	52.5"
76/86	19"	54"

So the shortest one will work OK for me at 74 inches as a slightly shorter than normal SUP paddle and at 50 inches for me as a slightly longer than normal bent shaft canoe paddle.  Very interesting!  And it appears it is a durable version rather than a lightweight version which is even better.

 Has anyone tried this out?  If so please let me know how it went!