Anyone carried one or two 10 ft kayaks on deck?
We carry a 9' kayak on the starboard deck and lash it to 3 stanchions starting at the front of the cockpit. I truly hate it as it leaves only one clear route to the foredeck or the mast. But my wife loves having it, so.....
If anyone has any other ideas, I would surely love to hear about them.
I've thought about this a great deal as I love kayaking, but I can't think of a better option for carrying one. I've seen several boats in our harbor with a kayak lashed to the stanchions up forward on either side, but I am reluctant for the very reason stated. We also thought about pack rafts since they are super easy to store in their un inflated state, but getting in and out of it would be an issue and would probably mean taking it on a dinghy ride to shore then inflating it. They also cost upward of $800 each. We have our dinghy on davits, so I suppose we could carry a kayak or two on the deck forward of the dodger, but that would cause the same visibility problem that having the dinghy there created.
Yeah, I was wondering about the visibility problem, as well as windage and access to the foredeck. I looked at some inflatable kayaks at Dicks sporting goods website. There are quite a few models shown which makes me wonder if these are quite popular. The captain would not want to use precious battery power to inflate them, I guess I could just blow and blow. They are not cheap
We had an inflatable that came with the boat when we bought it. It was one of the higher end models. Dana hated it as it did not track well. I hated it as it took up a large amount of locker space. No winning here I guess.
My suggestion is to try out what ever inflatable you are looking at before you buy or make sure they have a good return policy.
My plan is that the first time we have boarding waves, the kayak is getting jettisoned over the side. Till then, I have a very appreciative wife.
Wayne
Thanks all for the replies