: The Disko Bay was Rob Macks' newest creation (first paddle on Sat) as far as
: I could tell. He held forth with great enthusiasm and authority about the
: origins of the design; but I just thought it was pretty. It seemed much
: shorter than most of the others. Maybe someone could give a more elaborate
: description (Rob?).

: I also thought the magnetic hatch covers were pretty neat, but they seemed to
: get a somewhat cool reception.

: Rob "100yds from Narraganset bay and never paddled" P

I was inspired by the lines of a West Greenland kayak documented on page 103 of the book "Contributions to Kayak Studies" edited by E. Y. Arima,(sorry but I believe it is out of print) from the Disko Bay region of Greenland.

This kayak is a low volume hard chine design with dynamic and dramatic overhanging bow and stern stems. It has a wonderful sheer line who's lowest point is about 2 ft from the stern and climbs pass the cockpit and then sweeps up to the bow.

I've not built a hard chine design before and decided this would be the boat.
I'm happy with the handling of this design and need to spend more time in it. I noticed a lot of the other low volume Greenland designs at the “Meet” had similar lines so I guess this is popular kayak.

I'll have pictures and plans available in a month or so, check my web site.

The Greenland paddle I made for use with this kayak is also documented on the same page. I made my paddle about 7' long. I'm used to my Aleut paddles which are about 8' long and found the shorter Greenland style less to my liking. Specifically my natural hand placement hit spots on the Greenland blades that I had perhaps flattened too much and I found this uncomfortable to grip. On my Aleut paddle the loom is about 2' wide and my hands remain on a rounded shaft for cruising. I guess this is why most Greenland paddles I've seen are quite round in this section. Makes for a lot of excess wood in my book. I’ll have to experiment further.

Interesting that you should comment on the cool reception the magnetic hatches have received. I don't know why. I guess people can't believe they will hold. Had a guy ask if they would stay on if he rolled it. I said yes. He rolled it. They stayed on and dry.

All the best,

Rob Macks
Laughing Loon CC&K
www.LaughingLoon.com