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A Carrying Yoke for Kayaks |
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Equipment:| There's gotta be a better way to lug a kayak." Who hasn't had that thought during a particularly long carry? Wheels can be great, but they tend to be expensive and bulky, and they don't work well on uneven ground.  Voyageurs
North Productions came up with the clever idea of a carrying yoke
for kayaks, called a "Kayoke," designed to clamp across the inside
of your cockpit so that you can balance your kayak comfortably upside-down
over your head, a la canoe-portaging style, giving new meaning to
the term "gear head." Its inventors and manufacturers are paddlers
who thought to use stainless springs and plated bolts, and to finish
its laminated oak with marine-grade epoxy. Sleek and lightweight,
the Kayoke is a padded wooden yoke that weighs less than two pounds
and tucks easily into a hatch when not in use.
The standard-size Kayoke, at about 18 inches wide, is designed for kayaks with narrower cockpits. We experimented with kayaks, and discovered that they balanced comfortably for carrying once you struggled the heavy combination up onto your shoulders. (This was definitely easier with some help from a partner.) We found the shoulder pads well placed and nicely padded for both an average-sized woman and a large man, but, depending on the boat, we noticed that the unpadded yoke itself tended to press uncomfortably across the back of the neck to varying degrees. If the manufacturer were to add some more bend in the yoke itself or some additional padding in the neck area, it might alleviate this problem. To fit rotomolded kayaks and most large cockpits, try the Kayoke XL, at 22 inches wide. If you try to use the standard size in these bigger cockpits and just set it in a narrower position, the balance is thrown off and, in some cases, the thigh braces interfere with the setting of the clamps. On the other hand, the XL may be too wide to fit into some of the narrow cockpits. Since it is important to get a good fit for your kayak, if neither of the two sizes is suitable, Voyageurs North Productions will "custom" build the Kayoke to fit any cockpit dimension for the same suggested retail price.
Price: $89.95 |
