Kayak crossbar

Before I go and reinvent the wheel, I know this has to have been done already, but a quick search in the forum netted nothing.

I want to connect two Outbacks together with say 6 foot PVC, or fiberglass pole crossbars. Does anybody know off the top of their heads the subject title I can search under? I plan to use this for both sailing and pedaling. I can think of a couple of different ways along with the potential pitfalls I'd like to avoid if possible.

THANKS

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TC

Go to my website, 3rd page, bottom, to see how Jeanne and I do it. This has worked fine sailing all over Mission Bay.

http://home.earthlink.net/~leinfam/

The key is using the tail of the tiedown straps to tension the tube directly above the middle of the boat (between the two drain holes). The extra lines I ran (x-pattern) turned out to be unneccesary.

Note the strut between the masts. It is just notched on the ends, holes drilled in the ABS, and bungee cords wrapped to hold it in place. You could use 1" PVC pipe instead of masts, to secure the front strut. The strut is only there to keep the bows in line...they are free to swing up and down with wave action.

Regards, JimL

Thanks for the info and ideas. I also had pondered using cross bars or wires and am glad to hear there is no need.

I would imagine it would feel as steady as a rock, hence the possibility of stretching a tramp or net between the bars, but can't think of a real need ( for me) to justify one.

The big question is, How well does it sail??? Aside from any coordination issues with your sailing partner, any problems with racking, handling, or trackng???

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TC

The setup shown is extremely stable, and we caught a good wake (while downwind and pedaling) and went FAST. The parallel sails are at a disadvantage on a beam reach, all the way up to close hauled. It works, but not nearly as good as a broad reach or downwind.

It's fun to experiment with, and will cost about 10 bucks or so.

I have thought that the single large tube could be a useful tool for rescue work. If you had a pair of pull points, anchored through the drain holes, already in place....it would be possible to quickly clamp two boats together. Longer open water crossings would be safer with the option of quickly converting to a "cat". This is assuming two boats travelling together.... hopefully no one is heading out alone.

Regards, JimL