The New Towline and Modifications.

    The PeakUK Towline Out Of The Bag (Promotional Photo)

I decided that it was time for a proper towline, the one I had been using had been cobbled together using an old dive belt, a line from Bunnings, an old fishing float and a net bag to hold the line from Kathmandu. It worked but wasn't very user friendly and in a proper emergency it probably would snag and be clumsy to use.

So time to find a proper one!  I had a look on the internet and of course could have saved my time and gone straight to Expedition Kayaks, where there was a genuine choice of several leading brands. In the end I chose the PeakUK towline, a brand that EK have just started to stock and has a good reputation for quality. 

When I took delivery of the Valley Etain there were two complimentory Sea Kayaking DVD's included from Valley ( Thanks by the way!) by Gordon Brown. I will post a review later, but they are well worth watching. One item was about towlines and made a lot of sense. So I set about modifying the rig to make it even more user friendly.

The first thing was to untie the knots at the carabiner end of the line and move the float about a boats length down the line. This stops it snagging in the deck lines on the towed kayak and facilitates a free run when the carabiner is released.

Secondly, at the carabiner I sewed the line together with needle and whipping twine and then whipped it so that the end was smooth and again snag free.

Thirdly, I daisy chained the line from the bag end to close to the float and secured it with the spare carabiner (provided).

I can use the line daisy chained for short tows, particularly into the wind or sea, where the towed kayak will be reasonably close behind.

Should I be towing down wind or with the sea, then I will undo the daisy chain and use the full 15 metres of line, to ensure that the towed kayak doesn't run into the back of me.