WAVEWALK FISHING KAYAKS BLOG » kayak

Another Good Day For Wayne Taylor Kayak Bass Fishing In Florida

W kayak — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:12:03 +0000

Fishing for bass has been Wayne’s passion for decades.
However, fishing out of an ordinary fishing kayak was out of the question for him, as it would be for most anglers. Several years ago, when he was 68 years old, he got himself an early W300 model, and outfitted it with a pair of rowing oars – He needed the extra precision in positioning his kayak for casting, and for reeling in the big ones.

Back then, the stabler W500 series was merely at an early research and development stage at Wavewalk.
Having a somehow impaired sense of balance, coupled with a talent for design and craftsmanship, Wayne created a pair of DIY outriggers to fit his his W300 kayak.

Wayne recently wrote us: -”I haven’t made any more modifications to my Wavewalk. It’s set up perfect for me.”

Bass in Fish Net

Three years ago, Wayne sent us this video showing him rowing his W300 kayak with deadly precision, from a fish’ standpoint (or should we say ‘swim point’?…).

Reade more about kayak bass fishing >>

Micronautical Design Applied to Fishing Kayaks

W kayak — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 16:21:21 +0000

Micronautical Design is a concept that I thought of years ago.
It’s about making very small watercraft such as kayaks, canoes, dinghies, etc. more friendly to the people who operate them (-sounds like a god idea, eh?… ), and through this increase the overall performance of these small, personal boats (-it works! …)
Technically speaking, it means developing the new possibilities offered by our invention named “Twin Hull Personal Water Craft” , which was granted U.S. utility patent number 6871608

When it comes to designing or outfitting fishing kayaks, Micronautics can improve the boat’s ergonomics, bio mechanics, lateral stability, tracking, speed, mobility and ‘fishability’ (-we all know what Fishability means, don’t we?…)

A Micronautical approach can improve motorized kayaks, whether they’re outfitted with electric trolling motors, or outboard gas engines.

I created the Micronautical Design website years ago, and didn’t pay much attention to it until recently, when it occurred to me that following the amazing developments in W kayak sailing, fishing, rowing, and motorizing, the Micronautical site itself could benefit from being redesigned, outfitted with some new features, and loaded with new content focused on fishing kayak design and outfitting. Needless to say, that the Micronautical site features the work of many wonderful people from around the world, whose creativity helped propelling the W boat concept to the forefront of small boat design. The site is still in a reorganization phase, and we’ll add more stuff to it in weeks to come.

This blog, Wavewalk Fishing Kayaks, will keep being the place where things happen on a continuous basis – It’s Wavewalk’s main broadcasting channel, and the place where sensible kayak anglers and paddlers meet!

Yoav

W Kayak Transom Motor Mount For 20″ Long Propeller Shaft

W kayak — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 19:24:15 +0000

W kayak transom motor mount

Model TMM 20 For motors featuring a 20″ long propeller shaft.

Kayak Compatibility: This W Kayak Transom Motor Mount fits W kayaks from the 500 and 502 series.

Motor Compatibility: The W Kayak Transom Motor Mount fits electric trolling motors, and outboard gas motors up to 2hp. We recommend outfitting the motor with a long, articulated tiller extension that enables the driver to steer from a position that’s closer to the middle of the cockpit, rather than from its rear. Important: This model of W Kayak Transom Motor Mount can take only a motor featuring a 20″ long shaft. A motor with a shaft shorter than 20″ would be useless for steering if mounted on it, since its propeller would turn in the space between the W kayak hulls, and not below them.

Material: The W Kayak Transom Motor Mount is crafted from 1″ thick Trex board.
Trex is an environmentally friendly, composite material made from recycled and reclaimed plastic, and reclaimed wood. No trees are cut down for the purpose of making Trex. This material is widely used as decking and railing material since it will not splinter, rot or deteriorate due to harsh weather or insects. Trex resists damage from moisture and sunlight, which makes it a better alternative to wood for this matter. Unlike wood, Trex requires no painting, coating or maintenance.

Dimensions: This W Kayak Transom Motor Mount is 4.25″ high and 22″ wide, and it weighs 6 lbs.

Attachment: This W Kayak Transom Motor Mount is easily attached to the W kayak by means of two bolts. We recommend attaching the W Kayak Transom Motor Mount as close as possible to the cockpit, in order to improve stability, access to the motor, control, and safety.

Attaching Instructions For This Motor Mount Model

Remove the bungee hooks from the cockpit rear
Place the W Kayak Transom Motor Mount on the deck, in the location where you’re going to attach it, preferably as seen in these images
Mark the position of the two holes, and remove the mount
Drill the two holes in the deck with a drill bit whose size is slightly bigger than the bolts’ 5/16 diameter.
Install the bungee hooks back in their place
Insert the bolts in the mount’s holes, put the mount in its place, and push the bolts down, into the hulls
Tighten the nuts with the metal part facing downward, to secure the mount in its place

The kayak’s plastic wall will get slightly squeezed between the mount’s horizontal plate and the nuts.

More about motorizing your W kayak >>

9.6 mph With a 3HP Outboard Gas Engine On A W500 Fishing Kayak, By Gary Thorberg, MN

W kayak — Sun, 09 Oct 2011 22:56:42 +0000

Gary Thorberg, from Minnyaks, in Farmington, Minnesota, mounted a 3HP outboard gas engine on his W500 fishing kayak. His goal was to break the speed record for this kind of watercraft, and he did it, big time, clocking 9.6 mph. Interestingly, there was no difference between upwind and downwind, which raises the possibility that Gary simply reached the upper limit of this motor’s speed, which is limited by factors such as RPM, propeller size, pitch, etc.

9.6 mph is over twice the W500′s hull speed. Hull speed (a.k.a. Froude Number) is a constant number that increases relatively to the hull’s length at waterline. In other words, it’s harder to make shorter boats go at higher speed than it is to make longer boats to go at high speed.
Gary’s W500 was planing.
In comparison, here is a quote from an article about dinghies outfitted with outboard motors:
“Another option is an outboard motor. Two horsepower per meter can reach hull speed. Ten horsepower per metre will put a flat-bottomed dinghy on plane. A 10-foot (3.0 m) dinghy with a hard V-bottom hull and a fifteen horsepower outboard can reach speeds of 25 mph (40 km/h).”

To put things in perspective, the W500 is about 3.5 meters long…

NOTE: This video shows an experiment, as part of a research and development (R&D) effort. It doesn’t mean we recommend, or rate the W500 for any motor that’s over 2HP.

Read more about motorizing your fishing kayak >>

Cartop Fishing Kayak – Attaching Your W500 On Top Of Your Car Rack

W kayak — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 20:07:38 +0000

Gary Thorberg, Wavewalk Kayaks’ dealer in Minnesota, sent this picture of his car topped W500:

“You don’t need a truck!” Gary says.
Well, he’s right, and furthermore, you don’t even need a special kayak rack, because it’s so easy to attach the W500 to any rack, from any maker.
And if you want to attach a pair of W kayaks to your car rack – no problem: You just lay them side by side, with the bottoms of their hulls facing each other, and use the same straps, bungees or ropes to attach them, and shown here, in a picture taken by Eric, our distributor in Norway:

In comparison, some of the bigger fishing kayak models out there are so big and heavy (a.k.a. barges) that they require transporting with a trailer, since it’s almost impossible to car top them.
Other sit-in and SOT fishing kayaks don’t fit directly to your car rack, so to need to waste money on a special kayak rack that makes your car rack unusable for other purposes…