Review of RM P&H Capella 160

I purchased a used P&H Capella 160 kayak, as an extra for guests, then decided to sell it again - with no guests in sight because of COVID-19. Nevertheless, I wish to review it since it was a respectable kayak. 

I found no serial number and don’t know its age. The earliest Capella 160 versions had just two hatches, with squarish hatch covers. This one is newer and has three round/oval hatch covers. These are available from Kayak Sport if replacement is needed. By now, P&H has been sold to Pyranha and the entire Capella line (with its variety of dissimilar models) has been discontinued. 

Specifications:

• Length: 16' 4"

• Width: 22”

• Bow, Stern, and Day hatches
  

• Weight: 51 lbs

• Cockpit: 31.5" x 17"

• Rope Skeg (reasonably easy to work on)

• Kayaker weight range: 110-232 lbs (from P&H 2007 brochure)

• 3 layer polyethylene construction

The Kayaker weight range above looks too generous on the upper end. Anyone over ~200 pounds might find it overly snug.

This is the first rotomolded kayak I have purchased ... among many composites and one ABS plastic boat. I trusted that the 3 layer polyethylene construction made it stiffer, faster, and perhaps more durable than a single layer. I purchased this used and immediately corrected some issues:

• the skeg was not seated properly and was not happy to be fully retracted

• the seat padding was torn loose

• spiders etc. had seized occupation

Now the boat was in decent shape and was ready to go, but only after I purchased a skirt.

The kayak fits OK. The stout thigh braces are bolted in, but can be moved to accommodate your leg length. However, after trying several locations I still found the thigh braces to be uncomfortable. I removed them but saved them for later replacement if wanted.

The Capella 160 has the same seat as my P&H Classic Cetus. This seat back works for me. Most kayak seat backs require that I modify them. My lower back is a bit crooked from a long-ago ski accident, so it’s picky. I need lower back support, but without compromising my amusing layback roll.

This kayak has a good reputation, albeit not exciting. I was eager for a test ride or two. The Capella 160 evolved through various versions, even one that a reviewer claimed would weathercock so badly that the skeg could not fully compensate. I didn’t want that! As a rotomolded kayak it would be expected to be slower than an equivalent composite version. I must live with that as something I already knew (‘caveat emptor’ – or does that mean ‘the cave is empty’?).

The hull has little rocker, but is raked at the bow lessening its water length. I wouldn’t approach hull speed anyway, even if going downhill. The cockpit is quite roomy for entry/exit, but holds me firmly enough. The cockpit opening is a bit larger than in my Classic P&H Cetus, which is actually a longer boat overall, at 17’ 11”. The deck rigging is as expected for a sea kayak. My guess is that the kayak is a little heavier than the specified 51 pounds, perhaps the hatch covers etc. were not included. The day hatch is accessible when underway and has a snap-on hatch so its closure is obvious by feel. Some newer kayaks have a fourth ‘glove box’ hatch just fore the cockpit. I find these to be slightly in my way for a self rescue when reinserting my legs, but otherwise find them convenient.The Capella 160 has no fourth hatch, while my Cetus does.

The kayak came with a Lendal paddle, probably a carbon shaft and fiberglass blades – no model name on the paddle, only the Lendal name. The paddle had interesting aspects:

• crank shaft

• 4-piece paddle with three Lendal Paddlok ferrules

but most interesting

• both blades were left handed.

Asymmetrical blades are like gloves and should be mirror images of each other. However the blades were rather large and symmetrical enough other than the tips, so I used my Werner Shuna blades as templates and cut the blades to be properly asymmetrical. It ended up fine and sturdy. The Paddlok mechanism is both simple and effective. However, since I don’t particularly like crank shaft paddles, I then sold this 'Lendal Shuna' paddle as a separate item.

Test Run #1

This 8.66 nmi. run was in light wind with many power boat waves in the first two nautical miles. I found that the kayak weathercocked, but the skeg easily tuned this out. The Capella handles well yet seemed quite average to me, neither fast nor slow. The relatively rockerless hull would still turn OK with appropriate edging.

Upon finishing the test run, I found too much water in the rear hatch, yet none in the bow or day hatches. Did I not seal the rear hatch properly? The rear cover is rather hard to close, so perhaps I was not careful enough. Were the hatch cover well sealed, my guess would be a skeg box leak. So I’ll investigate further at the next test run.

In preparation for that next test run, I moved the seat back slightly to see whether this would diminish the weathercocking. The seat is movable with 3 sets of mounting holes, so I was able to move the seat back without savaging the kayak cockpit. The nuts on the bolts were very hard to get at and therefore difficult to remove – yet I triumphed. Many kayak factories hire tiny (but strong) elves for construction tasks in such tight spaces. Presumably P&H hires leprechauns from Ireland.

Test Run #2

I guess the salient questions are:

• does the rear hatch really leak?

• did moving the seat toward the stern lessen the weathercocking?

This run took the same route as Test Run #1. Upon completion, none of the hatches had leaked – hooray for that! The wind was quite light, so it was a bit difficult to assess the weathercocking. Nevertheless, I claim that moving the seat a bit to the stern improved matters. Certainly, it was not worse.

I kept a leisurely pace of 2.7 kt. With a similar lack of effort, my Cetus does 2.9 kt. The Capella 160 wants to track and requires overt effort to turn – again compared to the Cetus.

As mentioned earlier, removing the thigh braces proved more comfortable, but leaving them in place probably would have helped rolling.They will go to the next buyer. Oops ... now it's gone.

Moon #2 - Mixed Semidiurnal Tides

The Mixed Semi Diurnal Tide

The place on the earth closest to the moon experiences a tidal bulge, and the location on the diametrically opposite side also experiences a tidal bulge. In a subsequent blog article we will explain why there are two such diametrically opposed bulges, but here we will discuss the effects of those two bulges. If earth were a perfect sphere covered by just water and no land masses, then as the earth rotates any given location would experience two equal high tides and two equal low tides each lunar day. However, the large land masses on the planet complicate this significantly. The seas cannot move freely around the globe because they run into these land masses so that the tides establish much more complex patterns.

In those cases when the sun, moon, and earth fall on a straight line (full moon and new moon), the bulges will be larger, leading (within a few days) to higher high tides and lower low tides, hence larger tidal ranges. Recall from an earlier blog entry (Moon #1) we saw that from one moonrise to the next is about 50 minutes later the next day ... on the average. So the lunar day is 24 hours plus 50 minutes ... on the average. So those two high tides and two low tides fall within 24 hours plus 50 minutes ... on the average. Hence, from one high tide to the next low tide is 6 hours and 12.5 minutes ... on the average.

Typically, most areas have two high tides and two low tides each day. When the two highs and the two lows are about the same height, the pattern is called a semidiurnal tide. If the high and low tides differ in height, the pattern is called a mixed semidiurnal tide. There are even areas which have only one high and one low tide each day, which is called a diurnal tide. The areas where I paddle (the west coast from Washington through British Columbia) have the mixed semidiurnal tide (although the tides around Victoria, BC can be weirder). Here’s a representation taken from the Internet:

Notice that the horizontal axis is the lunar day i.e. slightly longer than the 24 hour day.

The situation with tides is complicated enough that extensive “tide tables” have been created to cover most areas of interest on the earth. It is very instructive to look at an extract and I’ll pick several days at Surge Narrows on the east side of Quadra Island in British Columbia, Canada.



2020-07-13 Monday

12:48 AM PDT 14.7 feet High Tide

1:08 AM PDT Moonrise

8:01 AM PDT 7.7 feet Low Tide

2:02 PM PDT 11.8 feet High Tide

6:09 PM PDT 8.7 feet Low Tide



2020-07-14 Tuesday

1:24 AM PDT 14.4 feet High Tide

1:26 AM PDT Moonrise

8:40 AM PDT 6.6 feet Low Tide

3:14 PM PDT 12.4 feet High Tide

6:59 PM PDT 9.8 feet Low Tide



2020-07-15 Wednesday

1:46 AM PDT Moonrise

1:59 AM PDT 14.1 feet High Tide

9:14 AM PDT 5.6 feet Low Tide

4:13 PM PDT 13.1 feet High Tide

7:52 PM PDT 10.7 feet Low Tide



Notice that we have two unequal high tides per day and two unequal low tides per day (mixed semidiurnal). Also, the lunar day is about 20 minutes longer than 24 hours, not at the 50 minute longer average. The maximum tidal range occurs on Wednesday from 14.1 feet (high) to 5.6 feet Low); so the range is 8.5 feet. And is the time from one high tide to the next low tide 6 hours and 12,5 minutes? No, it wanders around quite a bit. Now let’s move about a month later:

2020-08-10 Monday

5:20 AM PDT 7.4 feet Low Tide

12:12 PM PDT 12.0 feet High Tide

4:49 PM PDT 8.2 feet Low Tide

11:33 PM PDT 13.8 feet High Tide

11:49 PM PDT Moonrise



2020-08-11 Tuesday

6:11 AM PDT 6.7 feet Low Tide

1:32 PM PDT 12.2 feet High Tide

5:37 PM PDT 9.4 feet Low Tide



2020-08-12 Wednesday

12:00 AM PDT 13.5 feet High Tide

12:11 AM PDT Moonrise

7:04 AM PDT 5.9 feet Low Tide

2:43 PM PDT 12.7 feet High Tide

6:30 PM PDT 10.4 feet Low Tide



Monday and Wednesday are similar to the earlier table extract. But Tuesday looks more interesting. Did the moon not rise that day? Exactly so, but from the moonrise on Monday to the moonrise on Wednesday is 24 hours plus 22 minutes – so really no surprise. The lunar day is longer than 24 hours so if two successive moonrises are spaced just right they can occur just outside the boundaries of a day (Tuesday in our example). Further, Tuesday has two low tides, but just one high tide. That’s because the second high tide has just barely slopped over to Wednesday.

A Useful Application – The Rule of Twelfths

As mentioned earlier, most places I have paddled on the sea have ‘mixed semi diurnal tides’). Recall that this means that there are typically two high tides and two low tides per day (semi diurnal) and that the two high tides are of different heights and that the two low tides are of different heights (mixed). Recall that from low tide to high tide takes 6 hours 12.5 minutes ... and from high back to low, another 6 hours 12.5 minutes. These are average numbers, with significant departures from those numbers as shown earlier.

The sea level change from high to low tide (or vice versa) is not linear, looking more like a sinusoidal shape. For example, if we start to evolve from low tide to high, the sea level increases slowly then accelerates then slows back down until high tide is reached. The 'Rule of Twelfths' gives a quick estimate of the expected tidal level at various times during the level change.

Rule of Twelfths

• In the first hour the tide level changes by 1/12 of the range. - slow

• In the second hour the tide level changes by 2/12 of the range. - moderate

• In the third hour the tide level changes by 3/12 of the range. - fastest

• In the fourth hour the tide level changes by 3/12 of the range. - still fastest

• In the fifth hour the tide level changes by 2/12 of the range. - back to moderate

• In the sixth hour the tide level changes by 1/12 of the range. - back to slow



Note that the above assumes 6 hours, close enough to the average value of 6 hours 12.5 minutes. You should now adjust for the actual time interval. So if the time interval is not 6 hours then the one hour becomes total time interval divided by 6. Our rule of twelfths replaces ‘the hour’ by one sixth of the actual time between high and low tides.

A More Accurate Rule of Twelfths

• In the first segment (actual time/6) the tide level changes by 1/12 of the range. - slow

• In the second segment (actual time/6) the tide level changes by 2/12 of the range. - moderate

• In the third segment (actual time/6) the tide level changes by 3/12 of the range. - fastest

• In the fourth segment (actual time/6) the tide level changes by 3/12 of the range. - still fastest

• In the fifth segment (actual time/6) the tide level changes by 2/12 of the range. - back to moderate

• In the sixth segment (actual time/6) the tide level changes by 1/12 of the range. - back to slow

The Rule of Twelfths works particularly easily when tidal height values are expressed in feet. If the tidal range is 14 feet then the twelfth is 14 inches, or if the tidal range is 9 feet then the twelfth is 9 inches, and so on. Further, the sequence 1/12, 2/12, 3/12, 3/12. 2/12, 1/12 (versus time) agrees quite nicely with the actual sinusoidal shape of the tide level versus time.

A practical example:

We’ll create our own (realistic) data, but note that this sort of information (for many locations) can be downloaded from the Internet well before your trip. Let’s say we decide to paddle from Discovery Islands Lodge on Quadra Island, BC to the nearby Octopus Islands. As true flatwater paddlers, we would choose to go through Surge Narrows at slack as we head NW toward the Octopus Islands. From the current table (not shown), slack occurs at ~10:05 AM. It takes about 30 minutes to get through the narrows and on to Yeatman Bay. There we will take a break (maybe about 10:30 AM) and some of our group decide to take the hike into Main Lake.

So what is the tide going to do to our kayaks while we’re gone? Looking at the tide table, I see for the day of interest:

• 04:49 AM PDT 11.97 ft High Tide

• 11:31 AM PDT 03.51 ft Low Tide

• 06:31 PM PDT 14.04 ft High Tide

So between our landing at 10:31 and low tide at 11:31, the sea level will drop by 1/12 of the range (11.97-3.51) ft/12 = 8.46 ft/12 = 8.46 inches (semi-accurate). Fussing Further doesn’t matter much here. Nevertheless our result is not quite right, because the time difference from high to low is 6 hrs. 42 min. not 6 hrs, exactly. So the step change is not 1 hour, but 1 hour 7 min. Hence, between a somewhat earlier landing at 10:24 and low tide at 11:31, the sea level will drop by 1/12 of the range i.e. by 8.46 inches. This is all approximate anyway, so being off by 7 minutes hardly matters.

Remember too that the tide table itself is not precisely for Yeatman Bay. The point is that if the hikers are back within 45 minutes, their kayaks will be higher and drier than when we left them. But if we delay too long, the tide will rise again. And what if we are significantly delayed on our walk? I always insist that we tie up the kayaks anyway and even leave someone behind to mind the boats.

Notes:

1. As seen, the tide falls for the hikers. After their return, the tidal range here from low then back to high is a respectable 10.53 feet. So if the hike starts late and/or is slower than planned, the tide will actually be rising again. There are places where ranges over ~6 hours can be 56 feet (e.g. Bay of Fundy) so these calculations become more crucial.

2. It took 6 hrs. 42 min. For the tide to fall from high to low, not that different from 6 hrs. In fact it can differ more significantly, so these calculations again become more crucial.