AE Convertible won't set up straight

[Steve]

Last weekend I used my AEC but it wasn't set up right and holding her head straight became a chore.

So I now set it up at home taking all the time in the world, and despite inflating, deflating, shifting, adjusting and inflating again I can't seem to get the bow equal on either side. This tells me the kayak won't cut the water evenly and so I'm fighting the sea rather than gliding through it.

These pics show my best attempt. You can see that while the starboard or right hand side bow is nicely rounded:




the port (left) is bunched up and twists the outer shell:




Feeling by hand, the bow aluminium spar seems to be square in the middle. Is the backbone too far forward? You can make it out about halfway through the skeg.



Another (maybe related) issue is the port chamber that runs along the length of the kayak seems to kink slightly inwards where the 2 chambers meet.

This summer I'm planning to keep the kayak inflated throughout and only adjust the final psi before each trip, so I'm keen to take the time to get it just right.

I use the AEC on open waters, in conditions up to wind force 5 with a fairly heavy swell, so any power loss I can avoid helps

Thanks for any ideas or thoughts!

[rlpugh1]

Looks like the aluminum rib is out of place. The aluminum rib should be seated into black webbing sleeves/pockets located on the top and bottom of the tube cover at the end.

Pull the tube and aluminum rib all the way out of that end of the kayak and make sure that the rib is installed into those black sleeves on the gray tube cover. Then re-install and make sure that the rib not only stays in the pocketed sleeves, but that it is also all the way at the end of the outer cover.