BOL: "I have noticed on my TI when it gets warm the entire boat lengthens quite a bit. When the boat is warm the rudder steering lines are very tight, and when the boat is cold the rudder lines are very loose."
Thanks! Sometimes the obvious escapes us.
I got that physics lesson yesterday. Our clan went after our Christmas trees yesterday. When we go back, I made a new pot of coffee. After everyone got their cup, I poured 16 ounces into a pyrex measuring cup and nuked it in the micro wave. Then I poured the coffee into my metal coffee cup and put on and tightened the plastic lid which was cool to cold. I sipped the coffee and everything went well.
About 30-40 minutes later I tried to take a drink and coffee oozed out of the plastic lid's seal on the cup. The grandkids enjoyed seeing poppa cover his shirt with coffee.
Our engineer son/heavy duty construction guy said that when I tightened the cool lid after putting the coffee in the seal was good. 40 minutes later with the the plastic lid had expanded and the seal was leaking.
If a coffee cup lid can expand and contract with temp changes, how much will a kayak expand or contract with temp changes? Or when it is hot' and we put our yaks into a cool body of water or vice versa?
Apparently, the color of yaks can have an impact on this and on the comfort of the people inside the yak. A couple of weeks ago I was discussing color selection with an after market provider of Yak power. He said that the darker color yaks absorb the heat/ultra violet rays at higher and faster rates than the lighter colors. He said that dark red was on of the worse re temp increases inside the yak making being inside more uncomfortable. I know that inside our Red Oasis, it has seemed hotter than the outside air on warm sunny days. It is nice on cool and sunny days.
fusioneng wrote:
EQWPD1:
I have noticed on my TI when it gets warm the entire boat lengthens quite a bit. When the boat is warm the rudder steering lines are very tight, and when the boat is cold the rudder lines are very loose.
I seem to need to adjust the rudder steering line tension every month or so of normal use. Sailing very fast and in heavy wind and waves seems to put more strain on those rudder lines, and they need to be adjusted more often in those conditions. I remember adjusting the rudder lines on my Oasis and Revolution periodically every month or two as well. It's pretty quick and simple to adjust, and it just something I always check when I get the boat out of the garage before leaving. I always keep a screw driver, pliers, and a length of spectra line in my dry bag whenever I go out. Besides needing adjustment once in a while I have never had any major issues with the rudder on any of our Hobies, except one time my friend broke the steering line, but I think he just overpowered it (operator error).
Hope this helps
Bob