Kayaking Basics
Anatomy Of A Kayak - Kayak Hull Shapes
Looking At The Kayak
From Above
If you look at several different kayaks from
above, you’ll notice that the hull shapes are different. On some, the
bow deck area is wider than the stern, and on others, the stern deck
area is wider. These are specific designs.
Symmetrical Kayaks
are widest in the middle of the boat. They are the same width on the
bow deck as the stern deck.
These have the same taper of shape front and back. The center of the
kayak is the widest point and the width gets narrower toward the
stern and bow equally with a bow and stern of the same shape. This
will increase the kayak’s maneuverability. An Asymmetrical hull has
a bow and stern of different shapes, called Swedeform or Fishform.
Swedeform Kayaks
are widest on the aft deck, behind the cockpit.
is a tem to describe an
asymmetrical hull shape that has stern with greater volume (wide)
than the bow with less volume (narrow). Sometimes this is coupled
with a longer bow section, and a cockpit placed further aft. This
will increase speed and tracking while decreasing maneuverability. A
narrow bow will cut or spear through the swell and waves.
Fishform Kayaks
are widest in front of the cockpit – the foredeck is the widest part
of the kayak.
This will allow the bow to ride over the swell and waves,
improving surf zone performance.
From The Side
Looking at kayaks from the side, you will see some
kayaks with straight, or flatter, bottoms, while some are upswept at one
end or both ends.
Rocker
is the term describing the upswept ends. It can be quite a lot or very
hard to see. Straight keel line is a bottom that is “perfectly straight.
Rocker helps the boat turn, and also helps it move over waves. But
rocker hurts the boat’s ability to go straight. The opposite is true of
a keel line. There can be many combinations of these designs.
Waterline
Waterline" refers to the length of the hull at
the waterline (where the hull touches the water). The longer the
waterline, the better a kayak will track and (theoretically, at least)
the faster it will cruise. Since waterline can be radically affected by
design longer kayaks do not always track better.
Consider this: A kayak that is 16'5" long may only
have a waterline of 14 feet. Why? Because kayaks usually taper and flare
dramatically at the ends. Consequently, although the kayak may indeed
measure 16'5" long from tip to tip on deck, the taper of the nose
and tail may reduce the hull to a noticeably shorter distance (say, 14
feet) where it actually touches the water. Why is this important?
Because when comparing two different kayaks to decide which one will
track better and cruise more efficiently, it is not necessarily true
that the longer kayak will track better (at least not if their lengths
are within a foot or so of each other). What you need to compare is the
waterline of each kayak. Depending on how it is designed, a 16'5" kayak
could have a waterline of approximately 14 to 16 feet, and a 15'5" kayak
could have a waterline of approximately 13 to 15 feet. It is possible,
then, that the longer kayak could actually have a shorter waterline. Of
course, in most cases, the difference will be negligible if the lengths
do not differ by at least a foot or more. As I said earlier, it takes
about one full foot (possibly two feet) of added length to make a
noticeable difference in a kayak's tracking ability.
From The Bow
If you lookyou’d see some have rounded bottoms,
while some have hard angles.
ed at different boats from the bow,
Some have flared side walls, and some have straight
side walls.
-
A vee
hull will have two straight sides coming together at the center.
It won’t have as much of an angle as the deep vee. V-Hull
kayaks have a shallow v shape when looked at from front to back. The
v shape provides better tracking (straight line paddling) acting
much like a keel, but decreases primary stability.
Chine
Chine defines the shape of the kayak’s
side.
Hard Chine indicates an angle between the side
of the kayak and the bottom, possibly as much as a right angle, almost
boxy. A hard chine boat tends to have greater primary stability and
lesser secondary stability. This “edge” can also add performance in
surfing, allowing the kayak to grip a wave face and carve a turn.
Soft Chine indicates a smooth curved transition from side to
bottom, giving the kayak a more cylindrical shape thus increasing speed.
Soft Chine kayaks tend to have
greater secondary stability and lesser primary stability.
Multi-Chine kayaks are somewhere in-between the
two.
