> I am constructing the Patuxent 19.5 from a CLC kit. I have stiched the
> hull together and checked the hull for "twists". As instructed,
> I placed two sticks perpendicular to the chine four feet in from the bow
> and stern. Squatting down I brought the top of the bow stick to the bottom
> of the stern stick, checking to see if they were parallel. I observed a
> small gap between the sticks on one side of the kayak. When I twisted the
> hull to bring the sticks flush, I noticed that both the stern and bow tips
> appeared cocked or leaned in one direction, away from the keel. I
> confirmed this by taking a string and placing a weight on one end, then
> hung the string from the center tip of the bow and stern. Niether was
> centered. When I centered the tips, the gap reappeared between the sticks.

> I spoke with someone at CLC, who stated that a minor gap is almost
> unavoidable between the sticks and should not compromise the boats
> handling. I would just like a second opinion on this before I glass/glue
> the hull in place. place. I want to race with the boat and want the hull a
> perfect as possible.

Dave, don't worry about this. The reason winding works is that it greatly magnifies errors in twist. Say the boat is a foot wide at the point where you place the stick. So the distance from centerline to the sheer is .5 feet. Now assume the winding stick is 4 feet long and the boat is 1/16" twisted - that's less then most 'glass and a lot less then most plastic boats I've checked. Two feet out, at the end of the skick, the error will show up as 1/16" x 4 or 1/4" which looks big, but we see that its not. If you don't understand how this works you'll spend days chasing tiny errors that don't even come close to being important.

I have some more good news. I've paddled some really twisted boats. Boats where you can see an inch or more twist. And in 95% of cases you can't tell when paddling them.

If you want to know what bugs me a lot more than twist, it's the bows and sterns on many multi-chine boats. Sight straight down the stems and you'll see how the planks often form a zig-zagging line. I don't know how builders can let this happen - it would drive me nuts (even though it doesn't matter when paddling). And it's so easy to avoid.

Chris