I mention in an earlier post that I spent about three months last summer (2009) looking for a boat to build.
She would have to be very sharp and pointy, particularly Greenland-like in form, but not an extremely long boat that tracks like a rail, because all too often I need to be able to turn in tight places, like the back waters in our local Lake Blackshear, or when a marsh stream runs out and it's either back up 100 yards or get out, sink in three feet of mud and pick it up to turn it around.
I still have recurring dreams of a skin boat, and am starting to be convinced that one might survive in the oyster beds and pokey-stick laden water I paddle, but not just yet, so I'll stick with wood/glass/epoxy composite for now.
Asking all over everywhere - several paddling lists/message boards, mainly - I got plenty of recommendations, looked at a lot of sites and pictures. After all this research, I finally decided on the Esk14, by Selway-Fisher, a design firm in Wiltshire, UK. I really love the lines of this boat, and stitch-n-glue (stitch and tape in the UK) is an easy, strong design that can take some punishment as long as it isn't a huge tree limb falling on it.
Life, lack of workspace and my impatience to get out of my LL Bean "Manatee" (Old Town Loon re-branded) made me postpone work on this boat. Now it's back on my mind.
My current thoughts:
The width is still about right, but I may add 6" or so by stretching the stations out by an inch each.
The hatches on this boat are particularly small, and there is lost storage space in the bow and stern because of fixed/sealed flotation chambers. Because US regs don't require them, and I don't want them, I won't put these fixed chambers in, so will lose the structural support of these two bulkheads. To make up for it, I'll use deck beams of some kind; probably laminated and/or sawed out. On the stern deck, it'll either be flattened out and put in a big hatch or do without bulkheads altogether and use float bags - need to think about this more.
I think I'll paint it a bright red-orange, after reading an article on color selection as it applies to visibility at sea in Adventure Kayak magazine. Even if orange, I gotta tattoo it some way though.
No comments:
Post a Comment