I currently paddle a Cape Charles 17. I'm thinking of switching to a Chesapeake or a Patuxent 19.5. Has anyone here paddled the CC 17 and one of the others? I was wondering how much faster/more effecient the Patuxent was than the CC. Is it also noticeably faster than the Chesapeake? How does the 21.5" width of the Patuxent compare to the CC? What about the degree of difficulty in building these boats versus the Cape Charles.

I am also curious about using 3mm ply for the hull. Has anyone else done this? On my CC, I used 4mm ply hull with one layer of glass and 3mm decks with no glass.

On pictures of the Chesapeake that I've seen, the bow seems to turn up slightly at the ends. Is this real or an optical illusion? I didn't think it was possible to get plywood to curve in two different directions. If it is an upswept bow, was it hard to get the plywood to cooperate?

john

john@gearaid.com