This will be my first, second and third builds, all wrapped into one project. Yes, that does sound a bit crazy! But all for good reason. Here's the background:
Last summer/fall, I had the chance to introduce a friend to the world of paddlesports, both in kayaks and canoes, including her first wilderness canoe trip! Needless to say, she was hooked, and asked for some help in choosing a kayak to buy for this coming season. As I listened to her needs/wants/limitations in a kayak, it quickly dawned on me that the correct kayak for her wasn't a kayak at all, but a pack boat style canoe. Unfortunately, we have a limited number of options of manufacturers and models available in AK. As I was interested in having a solo boat of my own, and was interested in building a stripper, I got some advice from the forums here and we set out with a plan: build one cedar stripper to use as a male plug, test paddle it, and if it works out, create a female mold from which to lay up two final boats.
We set out a series of criteria for the boats:
Solo day tripper/light weekend tripper. 220 lbs will be a typical upper end load, which represents a weekend trip for her, and day tripping for me.
Light enough to be portaged and car topped by a 5-6" woman. 35 lbs max, target <30 lbs (in composite layup, cedar obviously exceeding this).
Paddled either as a pack boat, with kayak seat and double bladed paddle, or with a kneeling thwart.
High secondary stability, decent-good primary stability.
No whitewater paddling.
Decent speed.
The production boat that appears to come closest to what we were looking for is the Swift Keewaydin 14, while the Ashes Solo Pack plans came very close (though a bit short). In the end, I've decided to try and create my own design based around these, while also pulling some measurements from my Kestrel 140 kayak. I've attached the first version of my efforts, and I think I'm heading in the right direction. I work a remote camp-style job (working for a few weeks away from home, then off for a few), so my free time over the next few weeks can be spent designing, redesigning, and refining the plans. Any feedback or critiques are appreciated, as I know this will be a work in progress for a while.
The numbers where it's at:
14' LOA
13' 8.5" @4" water line
28.1" beam, 24" gunwales, 26" @4" water line
Rocker: 1" stern, 2" bow
In the mean time, during the last few weeks while home, in addition to refining our list of requirements and design criteria, we got started on a strongback, No pictures I'm afraid, and right now it's just a pile of pre-cut wood, as we've delayed assembling it until we're ready to build in order to save some garage space in the mean time. Come mid-April, however, I'll be home for a few weeks with plenty of time to start making some serious progress on the stripper build, so I'm counting the days until then!
Last summer/fall, I had the chance to introduce a friend to the world of paddlesports, both in kayaks and canoes, including her first wilderness canoe trip! Needless to say, she was hooked, and asked for some help in choosing a kayak to buy for this coming season. As I listened to her needs/wants/limitations in a kayak, it quickly dawned on me that the correct kayak for her wasn't a kayak at all, but a pack boat style canoe. Unfortunately, we have a limited number of options of manufacturers and models available in AK. As I was interested in having a solo boat of my own, and was interested in building a stripper, I got some advice from the forums here and we set out with a plan: build one cedar stripper to use as a male plug, test paddle it, and if it works out, create a female mold from which to lay up two final boats.
We set out a series of criteria for the boats:
Solo day tripper/light weekend tripper. 220 lbs will be a typical upper end load, which represents a weekend trip for her, and day tripping for me.
Light enough to be portaged and car topped by a 5-6" woman. 35 lbs max, target <30 lbs (in composite layup, cedar obviously exceeding this).
Paddled either as a pack boat, with kayak seat and double bladed paddle, or with a kneeling thwart.
High secondary stability, decent-good primary stability.
No whitewater paddling.
Decent speed.
The production boat that appears to come closest to what we were looking for is the Swift Keewaydin 14, while the Ashes Solo Pack plans came very close (though a bit short). In the end, I've decided to try and create my own design based around these, while also pulling some measurements from my Kestrel 140 kayak. I've attached the first version of my efforts, and I think I'm heading in the right direction. I work a remote camp-style job (working for a few weeks away from home, then off for a few), so my free time over the next few weeks can be spent designing, redesigning, and refining the plans. Any feedback or critiques are appreciated, as I know this will be a work in progress for a while.
The numbers where it's at:
14' LOA
13' 8.5" @4" water line
28.1" beam, 24" gunwales, 26" @4" water line
Rocker: 1" stern, 2" bow
In the mean time, during the last few weeks while home, in addition to refining our list of requirements and design criteria, we got started on a strongback, No pictures I'm afraid, and right now it's just a pile of pre-cut wood, as we've delayed assembling it until we're ready to build in order to save some garage space in the mean time. Come mid-April, however, I'll be home for a few weeks with plenty of time to start making some serious progress on the stripper build, so I'm counting the days until then!
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