A leaner kayak

 While I am still adding varnish coats to the new deck of my current kayak, I am already thinking ahead.  The plan is to add a blue/gray stripe at the sheer on my kayak's white hull and then add a white stripe on my wife's blue/gray kayak hull.  Aesthetic touches to make the two boats coordinate more closely.

But I also have an idea for a new modified kayak hull.  With minor changes to the current offsets, I want to produce a hull 159 inches long by 25 3/4 inches wide with almost the same height (depth?) as our current kayaks, not drastically different, just slightly 'leaner' than what we already have.  It should be lighter and more cartoppable.  Every time I design and build something, I am always asking how it could be improved.  These are not meant to be high performance kayaks, just nice looking and functional.

I already have outline drawings for the ten frames, plank keel, and two stems that will be needed.  The most critical piece of lumber is the plank keel.  Looking for a plank about 9 inches wide, 11 1/2 feet long, and 1/2 inch thick was asking a lot.  Couldn't find what I wanted in one piece, so I bought two shorter planks and will scarph them together to get what I want. Anything thicker than 1/2 inch will add extra weight and be more difficult to bend for the keel rocker.  I plan to plane it down to 0.4-inch thickness.  

The culmination of my previous project.  I had to rebuild that trailer and replace the deck on the more distant kayak hull in the photo.  Yes, that is snow outside.

 

You may notice the previous kayak deck lying on the floor on the right side of this photo.  I can't think of any use for it; probably will end up cutting it into pieces for trash pickup.  The price of progress; the new deck is better looking.

I am going to start a new blog entry.  I discovered that the new 'leaner' design requires more than a minor change in my table of offsets.  Also, I want to explain (to remind myself) just how all those dimensions are obtained.