Dick Sherman and I encountered some brisk winds and choppy water yesterday, but our W kayak kept us high and dry. Another slow day, but still no oil in sight.
Gary
Here’s Alfred’s simple and effective solution for storing his W500 fishing kayak suspended in his patio:
Says Alfred: -”I hung it up as shown to check the weight. It’s 62 lbs. If you look closely you can see the kayak is hanging from 2 small scales”
This measurement makes sense, considering Alfred’s W500 features a preparation for a cockpit cover, two side flotation modules, an anchor trolley, a steel ring for attaching an anchor, and there’s also the weight of the ropes and steel rings by which the kayak is attached to the scales.
And this is Alfred posing with a 12 lbs lobster he caught before he got his W500:
-”Too big, didn’t taste good.” Comments Alfred.
Jeff did it again: Now he takes us on a video tour of his new W500 that’s fully rigged for saltwater fishing, yet features no milk crate!
And if you happen to wonder what fish are inside that blue bag at the bottom of the kayak’s hull, here’s, one of them – a nice, tasty looking sea trout:
It seems most kayak fishermen have gotten used to rigging their fishing kayaks with a milk crate attached behind the cockpit.
If you happen you own a SOT fishing kayak, rigging it with a milk crate would make sense, since SOT kayaks are basically hyped paddle boards that offer too little storage space and no real cockpit. Sit-in fishing kayaks offer a little more in this aspect, but not enough to drop the idea of adding a milk crate.
However, if you own a W fishing kayak, you may want to reconsider the pros and cons of adding a milk crate -
The only obvious pro that we can think of is that rigging your yak is fun, and attaching a milk crate to the top of a W kayak is an easy project that delivers immediate visual results…
And here are the arguments against rigging your W fishing kayak with a milk crate:
1. When launching, a milk crate would block your natural way into the cockpit from the back side of the boat. This means you might have to get in from the side, and possibly step in water. Keeping your feet dry is one of those little pleasures you can afford with a W kayak, so why give it up if you don’t have to?
2. A milk crate catches wind, which can become a problem if there’s lots of it blowing around and you happen to be tired, and have a long way to paddle – A milk crate on top of a kayak demands more efforts from the paddler. Windage is essentially a tracking problem, and since W kayaks track better than SOT and sit-in kayaks they are less prone to windage issues, but nevertheless – it’s something to keep in mind.
3. Why store anything behind you, on top of the W kayak hulls, when there’s so much space available inside the W kayak cockpit and in its hull tips – within arm’s reach? It’s like attaching your luggage to your car’s rear bumper instead of just putting it in the trunk, or in the passengers compartment. The W500 offers 14 cubic ft or internal storage space, which is more than any kayak ever would, and probably more than you could ever use … -so why not use it?
4. SOT and sit-in kayaks have a very low deck – close to the water. Kayak fishermen who fish in salt water prefer to keep their reels as high as possible, away from the salt water, and they attach tube rod holders to their yak’s milk crate. This adds almost a foot of distance, and saves them some problems. However, the W kayak hull tips are normally higher, and you can protect your fishing rods by storing them inside the cockpit when launching, so there isn’t that much of a necessity for you to use a milk crate. Besides, you can rig the W kayak stern with deck mounted rod holders that pivot to any direction you want, and will position your fishing rods higher above water surface.
5. The milk crate adds weight to your fishing kayak. It’s not really important for paddling, but it could be for carrying it. It’s not that much, unless you’re tired and have to carry the kayak a long distance. The same is true when you have to cartop your kayak.
-”I shot that small piece on shore right before I launched. –Jeff”
-”I was out yesterday much closer to home over at Pellicer. I was by myself and had quite bit of time to reflect on the W kayak and just how well it does work for fishing.
It was raining yesterday and of course you have to be able to keep some items dry. Having those 2 Rubbermaid trash cans one on each side in front of me is ideal. They slide very easily out of the way and in fact deep enough in you can still tuck up into the bow with your knees in the hulls to fight larger fish.
Between the two cans I have all the tackle I need plus drinks, snacks, and assorted tools.
When I transport the boat I put both cans into one hull still out of the rain by the way. The other hull gets the paddle, stakeout pole, net, etc.
I’ll have to do another short video of moving those cans around. I think the only place I really moved one was in that rigging one months back.
Dragging the W kayak is so much easier than any other paddle craft. Yesterday I had lots of dragging over sand bars to get where I wanted. Most kayaks or canoes are horrible to drag. Way too much hull contact and then they tip around throwing your gear all over. Also retry into deeper sections is easy. Just hop in at the edge and tip you way into the water then off you go. Kind of like the ice paddling movie.
–Jeff”
And since this blog is about fun, here’s the movie that Jeff mentioned: