: I am close to putting the deck on my Chesapeake 17 and I am having trouble
: deciding wether to put in a retractable skeg or not which will be much
: easier to do before I put the deck on. I would be interested in hearing
: opinions from people who have paddled with a retractable skeg or the
: Cheasapeake 17 or both. Does this boat track well enough that I won't need
: a skeg or are retractable skegs just a pain? (I don't have a lot of
: experience paddling ocean kayaks).

: Also I have seen two different designs for retractable skegs for stitch and
: glue kayaks one on CLC's web site and one on Ross Leidy's web site. Has
: anybody had either of these designs in the water? Thanks.

I have been paddling my CH17 since February. I have also only been paddling since February (my first yak).

I wouldn't put a skeg on at this stage if I were you. From what I can tell, the difference in installing now verses later is minimal. In the CLC designed skeg, the skeg box goes from keel to deck. This would be tuff to do without the deck already in place.

I didn't have any trouble adjusting to wind. A little lean, a little more sweep on one side and you are still going straight. In my experience, very little energy is lost in corrective strokes if you add a little edge and don't overdue the sweep.