Mike, how much did you raise the bow on the plywood version? I put off Jeff's until after New Year's, but am inclined to add a little rocker to it.

: Erez,

: My first Walrus was made according to the specs in Putz's book. It had a
: weathercocking problem. The kayak has a strong straight keel with very
: little rocker. The bow also plunged more than I like. I did two things to
: fix this on my second (the plywood one) Walrus. I raised the bow and moved
: the cockpit back. This solved the problems that I had with the first
: kayak. Again to figure out how much of a change to make to those two
: items, I ended up looking at other kayaks that had similar hull shapes. I
: moved the cockpit back a couple of inches and the result was fantastic.
: When I modified the design for the third kayak, I kept the cockpit
: positioned proportionally in the same place.

: I thought about taking the kayak out without a deck, to try to find the best
: position. I didn't do it though. It has a very low sheer, and I did not
: want it to become a submarine its first time out.

: Mike