Whow, what's that, I thougth when I stumbled over the "hydro skeg" at internet today.
Next thougth was: Shit! Did I decide finally, after years, to have a variable skeg built into my AnasAcuta and do I find 3 weeks after completing, a much better system.
It has also a name: Murphy's law, from good old, never dying, Mr. Murphy.
However that's life!
Now to business:
The Hydro skeg is a skeg that is not controlled by rope, or by a stainless steel wire, but by hydrolics.
That´s news and can be a great improvement because the rope controlled skeg is not very user-friendly and the stainless steel operated skeg can have the problem of damaging cq. kinking the stainless steel wire; for instance when landing on the beach while forgetting to retract the skeg.
Anyhow it is new and worth investigating it.
Some textfragments:
The Hydro Skeg (Produced by Kari-tek) replaces the wire or rope with a simple hydraulic system. This new system gives you easy and positive control of your skeg by use of the slider and if the skeg hits a rock, it simply retracts, undamaged
The hydro skeg was designed by a group of sea kayakers who wanted to find an improved system than was currently on offer with a rope skeg or a wire skeg. The project involved both Kari-Tek and Sea Kayaking UK , formerly known as Nigel Dennis Kayaks
Both rope and wire skegs have their advantages - but also their limitations. There are issues with ease of use, degree of control and risk of damage or kinking when rocks are struck. The hydro skeg design addresses all of these issues to give paddlers a reliable, easy, robust, maintenance free system.
The hydro skeg offers an increased degree of control and reliability through the use of well proven hydraulics. There is a small hydraulic ram fitted underneath the deck slider and another ram fitted on the skeg. The result is a greater degree of control when using the skeg which allows the paddler to react to different wind/sea conditions. The blade of the skeg is also very robust and if struck it will simply retract without damage to the components. All components and pipes are safely secured inside the hull of the kayak and are fully corrosion resistant.
The hydro skeg can be fitted into new Sea Kayaking UK kayaks or can be retro-fitted to existing kayaks.
The hydro skeg parts are available from Kari-Tek at the special introductory price of £150 (normal price £219). Kari-Tek can also retro fit the hydro skeg to customers' kayaks for £95.
I already informed JG polyester about this new development, so if you are interested you could ask him to import the hydro skeg to built into your kayak. Please keep me informed about your experiences if you do so!!
More information can be found at:
https://www.karitek.co.uk/shop/kayak-skeg-systems
http://www.seapaddler.co.uk/HydroSkeg.htm