Recent content by PortlandBCS

The increased angle of the strip joints at the stems makes more of a difference then I would have believed. Luckily my first build included a fair amount of rocker. The not-anticipated angle changed my rocker by a half an inch.

Mike, The shear line on the original stripper was 14" at the center and 18" at the ends. The decked canoe is 12" at the bow, 10" at the stern, and 14" at the front edge of the coaming, which is 1" tall. With a do-over I'd make the coaming a bit taller, but that's just picking nits.

Larry, that's a great looking North Wind. How do you like her? Comically, I bought a set of those plans a couple of years ago, but I seem to have a mental deficiency that causes me to want to do things on my own, of my own plan and design. This has led me into deep waters a time or two, and...

Coming back to this discussion after a while. I love all of the fantastic responses and analysis. I've since used the original hull and cut it down to make my decked canoe - it is indeed nearly impervious to following winds. As an addition, I now recall that, surprisingly, one of the best...

Thanks everyone. Prior to the conversion the stripper itself, with ash woodwork came in around 50 lbs. I built it stout because I am not a small paddler and I like to be able to bang and drag my boats without worry. I think I added around 10-12 lbs in the conversion. I used 4oz glass, cedar...

A decked canoe is wider than a sea kayak so that it is stable with a raised seat. It also has a larger cockpit so that one's legs can move around. Having tried a number of different sea kayaks with a variety of seats, I find that my knees and legs are always in agony within about 45 minutes...

Added a seat, hatch seals and straps, deck hardware and too much deck rigging. She turned out just like I wanted. Paddles like the original hull - great sit-and-switch with a bent shaft, great one sided tipped up slightly Canadian style, great with a long double blade - but is nearly...

Next came the coaming. This was tricky as I had to build it to fit a specific spray deck. Spray decks for kayaks are rare for large open cockpits, and I didn't want to pay for a custom one. Turned out pretty good - fits the deck I bought just right. Gotta love a $1 sale on 3" spring clamps...

I epoxied the decks to the hull and had to add center sections as two 8' plywood decks do not cover a 17'+ hull. It was a bit finicky but turned out well. After the epoxy set I cut out the cockpit, sanded the edges flush with the hull (actually rounded over) and glassed everything in place.

Next came the decks. I used quarter inch finish plywood. I should have made stripped decks but was pressed for time. I taped the deck halves nearly together and used the hull to set the angle. Then I glued the halves together with a bead of thickened epoxy. When dry, I carefully removed the...

Next came bulkheads and deck supports, as well as in-wales. The bulkheads and supports were fully glassed. I planed and sanded the in-wales to get them as close to the angle for the decks as I could.

I stripped off the woodwork and carefully measured and marked the hull where I wanted to cut down the shear line. Oh my goodness did this make me nervous - the point of no return. It took me a whole day to decide where to cut and actually saw into the hull.

I paddle a lot of big, open water such as the lower Columbia River and some of the large lakes in Oregon and Washington and have always coveted a decked canoe such as a Kruger Sea Wind. Those, however, are ridiculously expensive, so I decided to build my own. Two summers ago I built my first...

Thanks again to all. In regards to the skeg, my thinking was of a retractable skeg, ala a sea kayak, to be used for stretches of sit and switch cruising. This relates to part of my concerns. Many years of physical employment, hobbies, and recreation have left me with wrists and hands that are...

Excellent responses - thanks to all. I'm definitely planning to reduce the length of the new hull; 17 is too long for wind waves that have a shorter frequency and I don't foresee tripping out of the new hull. I'm shooting for 15-16 with the new boat. I love the idea of differential volume and...