> Paul,

> I've mentioned this before but, I highly recommend making the bow upright
> 4" shorter. This is how the original designer Norman Skene designed
> it. If you look at his drawings in the Appendix, you will see the bow
> upright is 20" with a fraction that is too small to read. Skene's
> drawings also make the bow look higher. Putz's version suffers from a
> plunging bow and weathercocking. It is my understanding that Skene's
> dimensions should not have the same problem. I raised my bow 1" and
> it suffers from these problems. My next one will be 4" above what
> Putz calls for. If you are going to spend the time to build the Walrus, I
> think you should get a kayak the performs well in higher seas, plus I
> think the higher bow looks better. If you feel differently, please let me
> know, as I haven't yet committed to the higher bow.

> Mike

Mike,

As luck would have it, ('cause I sure didn't plan on you wanting to raise your bow by 4 inches) you can use these graph points without modification for the forms. They are designed to allow up to a maximum of 4 7/16 inches additional rise at the bow.

The bow and stern do not need forms. Their height is determined by a simple wood spacer acting as a height gauge. When I shortened the forms I left some leeway at both ends. Since the boat is built upside down, to give your boat an additional inch of rise at the bow, make the bow spacer an inch shorter. For the 17 footer that would give you a spacer that was 3 7/16 inches, instead of the 4 7/16 shown on the chart.

These spacers are little more than blocks of 2x4 stock, and their size can be changed with a single sawcut.

If you want to raise the bow by 4 inches, then your spacer is going to be only 7/16 thick. At that size I'd consider just laying a scrap of 1/2 inch plywood on the ground, and going for a rise of 3 15/16 inches. I can't see where the extra 1/16 inch would matter.

Of course if you want to go even more, the 18-1/2 footer numbers would allow an additional bow rise of over 7 inches !

I have no idea if adding 4 inches to the bow height would improve things, but I hope you will try it. After you build that second boat you will be in the unique postion of having two very similar boats, with just that difference, and you should be able to see if the change is worthwhile. Please keep us informed.

For those who want to introduce more rocker than the design has, or want to have much greater rise at the ends, just raise the forms with appropriately sized spacers.

Since these forms are made with straight cuts -- no curves -- if you want to modify them by making them narrower or wider it is easy to do. If you want a shorter or longer boat you can change the spacing between the forms, too. heavier paddlers who can be expected to displace more water may want to make the sides an inch or two higher, too. Again, this is easily done, all you need is a ruler and a pencil to mark where the sheer chine should go.

Hope this helps.

Paul Jacobson