I had never considered the battery being completely submerged ST.......an excellent point. That would be a heap-o-water however (i'm visualizing that movie with Gene Hackman and Ernest Borgnine  ). I will take my chances with the 12 volt system thinking its better than not even though less than perfect.

You have mentioned the flotation bags twice now......the first time escaped my attention (Sometimes I need to hear things more than once). WW paddler strategy which would be very wise indeed for my particular application.....that is if I should ever actually muster up the courage/expertise to undertake the trip. As of now I am rather cowardly and shy away from anything resembling heavy water unless a reasonably accessible shoreline is not far off and then I do rather well. Better a cowardly dog than a dead lion (somewhere in proverbs perhaps?).

I see they offer a spray skirt for the Sea Wind at the builders web site. $475 seems excessive but maybe you could find a regular kayak cover to fit?
A little modification you could add a hole to snake out a bilge hose.

Not sure about hooking to 12 volt battery? What happens if you fill to the point battery is under water?
I know they make small portable bilge pumps for little fishing boats that run off D-cell batteries that are in a waterproof case. As soon as float raises, pump turns on then shuts off when float drops. A automatic system on the cheap.

If you took up all extra space after gear, say by adding floatation bags fore/aft and had a power bilge pump, you could at least have a margin of safety if the weather changed faster than you could get out of, or a rogue wave washed over your boat.

Boat can't fill with water if there's limited space for it. Worse case you get wet but stay floating until bilge pump kicks in.

Lot's of room to experiment and maybe find that level of comfort needed if you attempt a solo trip.

I have actually gleaned quite a bit of info about kayaking around Isle Royale. Definitely on my bucket list. The book I have break the route on the north shore into 10 mile segments......basically safe harbors.

I would also have a dry suit and communications devices wether an Epirb or SAT phone and also a SPOT. Of course you might be "expired" by the time anyone shows up. Have plenty of time and a good weather radio and plan accordingly. The hour paddle we spent on the Lady in open canoes a few years back was very intriguing.......seemed like it could be a special trip indeed with the right boat.

Spray skirt is probably wishful thinking but I remember reading about a kayak at Isle Royale that took a wave and filled up and when the water went forward into his bow he had a very tough time indeed controlling his boat. If it is bad enough for a spray skirt probably best not to be out.

ST also mentioned something I have already considered and that is a bilge pump.........except I would do 12 volt system and a switch. The boat is certainly capable of handling a battery as I have already found out.

The island is an extraordinary place........it is not a national park for nothing.

But first things first. I will get some big water experience on the nice warm ocean first and see what kind of water I can handle and learn the capabilities of the boat as well.

I've backpacked Isle Royale 3 x but never canoed it.
One trip we were camped at Windigo waiting for water shuttle back to Rock Harbor.
It was around 4th of July if memory serves.

A solo kayaker came up the narrow of Washington Harbor and took the camp next to us.

He had come around the North side solo from Rock Harbor thinking it was better to paddle into prevailing W-E winds.

He said he had rolled 2 x along shore and 1 x trying to get into Harbor.
He was a very experienced paddler and dressed in a full neoprene wet suit.

Said that if he wasn't good at doing Eskimo Roll, he would of drowned the first rollover.

Only escape on nasty part of North shore would be to try to beach wherever you could on the rocky shoreline. Probably a last ditch effort and not advisable.

Fog was a big issue along with wind/choppy seas.
He said he was using kayak compass on deck to stay oriented

I had to ask if he would do it again, and he said never solo but maybe with other experienced paddlers.
He was shook up enough he hitched a ride on water taxi to Rock Harbor.

That was in 80's and we have Google Maps now, so maybe a really detailed look at shoreline would reveal some spots you might be able to put-in at if things got dicey. Maybe lock into GPS.

He could self rescue, don't know what you'd do in open canoe if a rogue wave hit you and boat filled up?
Maybe you could modify some kayak float bags to fit and minimize the flood area.
That and a spray skirt, maybe some kind of manual bilge pump you could modify to pump with you foot could aid in a bad situation.

Whatever precautions/modifications I made, would get a test run in some warm water to see how it went.
Superior will kill you if you don't give it the utmost respect.

MT,
I don’t think a spray skirt would be necessary or help much. The SeaWind looks like it’d be pretty dry and if you were shipping some water you probably shouldn’t be out there. I don’t really know. Maybe if it was rigged up to another SeaWind, catamaran style, you could use one??

I do know that kayaking you seem to be paddling in the water, not over it, so you dress accordingly.

Lake Superior,
It can be rough, but early summer seems to be a better time to go, mid-June to late July. The cold surface water keeps the air near the surface cool and acts like a thermal blanket deflecting the warm summer winds from reaching the water surface. It seems to break down near August and you’ll typically have more layover days later in the summer.

Isle Royale,
There’s a long shoreline from the south end clockwise around the west side where there doesn’t seem to be any safe landings. It’s a long run to make without any escape routes. I’d look it over very closely and research some first hand info.

Nifty tale Jim........

I am drawn to the big lake. Did the fellow in the Sea Wind have a spray skirt? I think they do make them......Scott Smith who makes the Expedition mentioned something about getting some made.

Yup, not going to roll a Sea Wind right side up (at least a mere mortal isn't). I sort of am inclined to like the idea of a Yak paddle in rough weather, easier to reach out with corrective strokes and bracing seems like it would be better with something a bit longer. On the other hand Verlen Kruger who has paddled incredible distances in some gnarly water always used a single blade with his Sea Wind. I have some pics in the book "All things are possible" which shows Verlen launching his boat in some amazing surf.

One day I would like to circumnavigate Isle Royale and while I would do it solo some company may be best. Put it in your back pocket and once in a while pull it out and chew on it some. My understanding is the north shore is rather nasty.

Post trip
Each kayak trip we learn a bit more about kayak tripping on this big lake. Some of the stuff we paddled Martha & I don’t know if we could have been much help rescuing each other if we’d been on our own. It’s an area we’d love to return to and explore more. There’s a lot of Lake Superior where there’s a road or train track nearby, but this whole trip was very isolated and beautiful.

August 6, 2013
In the morning we launch ourselves in the river and paddle out through the mouth in the surf while Carl waves goodbye. There’s heavy skies and thick fog. The fog teases us to paddle closer to shore to maintain our heading, but the breaking waves near shore send us out farther into the lake. Finally the fog clears. The wind is coming out of the east, an unusual direction, so some of the points and capes Bruce is worried about aren’t as bad as he’d feared. We make it to Indian Beach and our pickup. The Indian Village is getting ready for a Powwow and some of the gals are dressed up in their dance dresses. Kids are swimming in the lake and it’s raining again.

August 5, 2013
We get a good start but it only takes an hour and we can feel the wind & waves building. We’re trying to put some distance in, so not much stopping to explore. We get around Point Isacor, one of the obstacles we were worried about. It wasn’t bad-bad, but not a great place to stay either. We stop at a crummy little bay for a break, long rocky shoreline today and not many options for stopping. Chantal isn’t feeling good today, bad cramps. She’s done, won’t eat. But every little bit she does eat seems to perk her up and it’s “lets go”. Post trip we found out she needed some surgery. Hope she’s doing better.

Today the waves are a bit to our side and quartering in front of us. Martha’s had two weeks of tripping without any “Zen” paddling. There seems to be a challenge everyday. With Chantal not up to top form, the troops are ready to be done. We make it to the Dog River and its expansive camping area. We all take advantage of the relative warmth of the river water for a bath. Bruce is able to get a cell signal and calls to make arrangements for an early pickup tomorrow.

We meet Carl camping nearby. He’s tripping in a SeaWind canoe. So I chat him up about the pros and cons. He can carry more gear but there’s no self rescue if he flips like kayaks can. He also said he switches to a kayak paddle in following seas so he can react faster to broaching on a wave, since he never knows which way it’ll turn after his rudder lifts out of the water. The SeaWind can be hooked up tandem to another SeaWind like a catamaran, but Carl’s paddling solo. So tomorrow when we leave he’ll be waiting for better weather. No hurry, he’s done this before.

MT
IMO fishing and kayaking don't go together. At least in the type of kayaks we used. Limited space for fishing gear to begin with and tough to land any fish on a closed deck with spray skirt.

Your Kruger style boat would work better for fishing.

Not any weed beds that I saw, looked pretty sterile to me. I would think you'd have to focus on the river mouths.

Wait a couple weeks for the finish. ~ early Nov.