> Hey Shawn ! I checked out your site and boat construction. Real good. And
> yeah, I like them strippers well built too. Well, I would if I weren't a
> good Christian. I can only like well built......women. O.K. boats too. LOL
> You and Paul have pretty much convinced me to go for the pointy boats. I
> already wrote Nick and questioned him on the benefits or loss of same with
> the widened hull. I doubt I could get into either one, as is, but a couple
> of inches here and a couple there and I may just be able to do it. Oh, in
> case it makes a difference, I'm 50 and getting a little stiff in the
> joints, so, how easy is it to get out of one of them, and if difficult,
> could the cockpit be opened up just a tad to accommodate?? When you spoke
> of practice pools, did you mean a swimming pool or something bigger?? The
> fella in our group that has the kayak, also has a pool and would let me
> practice in it with his "Store Bought". And I noticed the little
> ???pic of the guy doing the Eskimo Roll. What about learning that stuff?
> Is there a site where I could see it and get ideas how to do it? This is
> getting more interesting all the time. Thanks again for all the help and
> advise. I can't wait till I finish the canoe and get to start on the
> kayak. When I figure out which one I want. {:o)

> Catch Ya Later, Rehd

Hi Rehd:

Shawn's remarks are right on target. I agree with on building a boat you can grow into, a boat you love. A "boat's stability" is a variable thing, just as the surface conditions are variable. My Exp. Sgl. is plenty stable enough. It is my skill in the boat that is increasing. I read the water and the boat's movement better and better, and that's what's keeping me dry.

Shawn's right about the "wide vs narrow" boats and their respective tendencies in moving water. "Wider" (that is, higher initial stability) is better, better at staying parallel to the surface of the water. Which in some conditions is not the same as vertical. Narrower can offer some...forgiveness in this area at the expense of feeling "tippier" to the beginner.

Speaking of beginner, I am one. I decided to build a boat when my son's boy scout troop planned a week long trip to the San Juan Islands. The deadline of a trip made a wonderful motivator for my building process. I had logged perhaps... 6-10 hours total of kayak time when I embarked on the trip. The Exp. Sgl. was not a problem for this new kayaker. It's still not all the way finished, but it did a wonderful job for the trip.

I was also a beginner builder too. First boat ever, if you don't count floating pieces of wood in puddles and gutters back when I was in short pants. No fiberglass experience, either. A sufficiently large basement, but not really a "shop". Nick's book has all the information needed to make a strip built boat. This bbs is another gold mine of information.

A couple of other specifics. I enlarged the cockpit on my Exp. Sgl. by feel. I made the original cutout, stood in the hole and tried to raise my leg through the opening. Cut some more, checked again, cut some more. I went round and round until I had an egg shaped hole large enough to stand in (pretend sitting), with a fist's width, to compensate for the thickness of the as yet uninstalled coaming, all around, and still have room to raise my knee up and clear the front of the cockpit with the same fist clearance front and back. My finished cockpit wound up no more than 2" wider than my hips, while dressed in a wetsuit. The cockpit is practically as wide as the boat. One unanticipated benefit of the enlarging of the cockpit is that I can hold my hands lower while seated and not srape my knuckles on the boat. I have since ridden in some wider boats, and I find it uncomfortable to reach out and clear the sheerline.

I don't know how wide you are in the hips, but I have a 38-40" waist, weigh 240 lbs, normal proportions, and I can negotiate my cockpit ok. I have tested it both upright and inverted. The wet exit is much easier that it looks. A dry exit onto a beach is pretty easy too. Kinda like stopping on your bike. At some point, you need a brace, like your foot or the kickstand. The paddle can be used way, and having someone help steady the boat helps too.

I'm not prepared to discuss the rolling aspect, I'm not there yet.

She's the prettiest thing on the beach or the water, looks great wet, pointy and curvy in all the right places, pleasantly snug, and moves like a dream, and she's mine, all mine. Uh, sorry.. got a little carried away there. Don't worry, things like this have a way of working out.

Ed Valley