Even in calm conditions I found it impossible to lift my tank/BCD back into the well over the side from the water; I eventually found it necessary to sit with my feet over the side, lean back and haul the rig up my body before swiveling around and dumping it into the well; As I was totally off balance at that point and about to dump the 'yak over, I had to do a back roll off into the water to keep it upright then haul myself back on board. I'm sure with experience it would get a lot easier, but I do wonder just how difficult this process would be if conditions got a lot rougher during a dive.[/Quote]
I dive a pretty heavy rig with typically a single HP100, a Freedom Plate backplate weighing about 10 lbs, and a can light that I am very gentle with. My normal routine from kayak or boat is to undo my waist strap and crotch strap, then remove my weight belt and toss it in the boat, or into the center hatch of my kayak possibly throwing primary mask in too, and closing the hatch. Then I clip off a tag line to the left shoulder d-ring. Remove the BP/W and with my fins still on I grab one hand on my kayak (Either kayak as they load and unload about the same) and push the tank bottom onto the kayak. Then complete the push and just slide the entire unit into the tank well and strap it down. I have never flipped my kayak trying to put singles back onboard. Although the conditions were never horrible we have done it with pretty decent chop to the point that once back onboard I was taking water over the bow occasionally. Make darn sure the hatches are closed at all times unless you are grabbing something out of them.
Sounds pretty much like the procedure I arrived at after trial and error. One thing I did notice is that I don't want a bungie net in the tank well; I want webbing with fastex buckles. The bungie seems to snag the tank/straps/plate/what have you with a will, no matter how hard I tried to keep it out of the way when hoisting the tank/BCD in.
I also leave my fins on until I am back onboard my boat or kayak, then take them off. Unfortunately I do not have a trolly anchor system so once my anchor is mostly up I have to jump in the water and pull myself to the bow to recover it. I do have a safety line running all the way around my kayak though.
Yeah, one of my mistakes was to run the anchor line over the side amidships and tie it off to a handy cleat, instead of through an eye on the bow. The anchor line was in the perfect place to wrap around me/my gear while I was working around the kayak trying to take stuff off. What kind of setups are available to allow you to retrieve the anchor from the bow while sitting amidships? You mention a trolley system, which I assume is for that purpose.
I agree about the fins coming off last. I need to give the whole thing another try; my rig is different now, and I figured out many of the things not to do.
Guy
