Expedition Mods & Outfitting

The boats at Rob Mercer's Office

The task of getting your boat sorted for a trip like this is no easy one, especially when the design is a new one to the market. In our eyes the essential advantage we gain from using the Rockpool Taran is found in the shape of the hull. None of us has paddled a boat that covers ground in rough water they way it does, and absolutely smokes down-sea the way it does.
Holding to my theory that 97% of the reason you should buy a kayak is below the waterline, that the hull is the overwhelmingly biggest factor in the way a boat performs, we've set about over these past months getting the basic shell of the Taran personalised to our own requirements for this particular expedition.
We decided a sail was a must considering the distances we're covering & the option of using them as an extra safety measure if things go pear shaped. The one thing we're not likely to be short of on our trip is wind. The fitting of a sail was problematic to the Taran's raised & angular foredeck. A standard tiller fitting through the deck with some reinforcement underneath was just going to create a stress riser somewhere else, so Rob recruited carbon expert Ian Dixon to the cause to build us a bracket.

Rob & Chris working out the fit for Chris' 'Excalibur' bracket.

The result looks like something from a medieval dungeon, but when fitted distributes the significant load from the sail under power through to the gunwales of the boat & stops the possibility of the deck being placed under too much strain. It's multifunctional too, if anyone messes with us on the trip, we can use it as a torture device or general pain dispenser. Pirates of the Coral Sea beware, you ain't seen a weapon like this sucker before...

Mark's Taran with orange Excalibur & Flat Earth Sail fitted.

I wasn't enamoured with the Taran's seat, so I pulled it out completely & put in a Bumfortable, a gel seat made by Steve Gurney in NZ, from Gurney Gears. It raised my position slightly and decreased my initial stability, but also gave me a higher strike point for my catch & great ergonomics, a trade off I'm willing to accept. It's definitely the most comfortable kayak seat I've ever used, not comfort in a 'sitting on the showroom floor' way, but comfort from the perspective of providing tremendous support for a dynamic stroke, which is really what a 'comfortable' seat should do.

Mark's Bumfortable, drink tube & day hatch

I wanted a day hatch that I could fit my helmet through, as we have a few landings that involve a surf across the top of coral cays & reefs, so fitted an extra bulkhead & a Valley 8" hatch & rim. My day hatch is about the same size as the standard Valley volume, which I figured I'd need for long days at sea. Rob used a smaller KajakSport hatch, while Chris devised a North Water on deck system which is practical & as with most things Chris does, cleverly thought out.
Rob fitted a brilliant electric pump using his pneumatic switch installation. By all means ask him how he does it, just don't ask him to fit one for you….
Our advice from adventure racers like Toby Cogley & Matt Blundell was that carrying water in your PFD can affect your overall paddling performance by as much as 5%, so we've drilled a tube hole in the decks so we can carry our hydration systems in the cockpit. Rob & I are using the Geigerrig hydration system, which has been awesome in testing. Those of you familiar with my handyman skills will be amused to hear that I even managed to glass in some saddles for a bungee system to keep my spare Geigerrig on the floor of the cockpit, a real masterpiece of profesional fibreglassing….
Chris & I both wanted a footplate system more in tune with tradition racing kayaks & skis, so ordered a custom made Onno Gas Pedal system from Pat at Onno in Hawaii. These have slotted into the Yakima foot brackets & give us a firm bar to drive against, a better shot at getting leg drive though our heels rather than the balls of our feet, & a very direct, surf-ski-like transfer of rudder power. I figured that was an important thing considering the style of trip we're undertaking, big water, down or at worst across the wind, and although the Taran hull works reasonably well without the rudder, it's an integral part of the design and makes it an amazing handling boat downwind.
Add to that various camera mounts, GPS mounts, personal tethers, tow points & the process has been both long and also rewarding from the perspective of working out what is hopefully going to work. My guess is that I'll have a few other better ideas by the time we return but hopefully they're minor!
We have a working bee planned for Saturday in either Bundaberg or Hervey Bay where we're planning on tuning  few things, but otherwise we're ready to go & looking forward to heading north tomorrow morning.