Hi Ya Roadie-Oh
That sure looks like fun. Nice to see you both enjoy using your new Tandem Oasis. I thought you would be trying to wear out that new A.I. all the time
Yeah I have canned that hatch in the back idea and have been putting the finishing touches on my larger Tandem sailing rudder instead.
I went out with a friend on Saturday for a trial run and my new rudder worked much better than the original stock design.
For the first time ever I was able to take my hand off the rudder control to put on sunscreen for a couple minutes while the boat mostly kept its course without immediately wibble-wabble wobbling all over the place. I was quite pleased because prior to that I was always making constant adjustments to keep the boat on any course and could never let go of the handle. I did not expect to have this result so that was a very nice suprise.
As for sailing in our light breeze that day, 6 to 9 mph, the rudder performed quite well and I was able to milk speed out of the gusts like never before. The boat was moving under sail power alone even up river against a fairly strong current as well as back and forth which was also a suprise.
Im no expert Kayak builder by any means, however it is now my humble opinion, based soley on my own limited experience, that the Tandem Oasis and perhaps maybe even the Outfitter too ought to come stock with a larger sail and a larger rudder. As long as Im dreaming I would also add a slightly stiffer mast and a removable boombat in order to improve overall sailing and handling performance given the added weight of boat and two adult passengers . The cost of these changes is minimal and enhances performance significantly..just my .02 cents (actually about $16.95 plus labor)
Have fun down there..
..................Kepnutz