> I am thinking of building a round bottom stich & glue for my next
> project, specifically the "Tripper" from Noaha's which from what
> I can tell is very similar to the" Yare" from CLC

The round bottom boats, including the Yare which are in Chris Kulczyki's book appear to be very functional and simple to make. Go for it. With a round bottom there are fewer seams to tape, and it looks like fewer `stitches` than with a hard chine stitch and glue. Should be a bit faster to construct than a hard chine.

> I am looking
> for a day tripper, something that is a little more challenging and
> responsive to paddle than my current hard chined ST Charles, but am
> concerned about the stability due to the round bottom.

My experience witha round bottom canoe is that the first few minutes you are scared of falling out, and then after that you grow to love the thing. I find my canoe to be extremely `stable' as long as I don't have a rigid definiton in my head of where the bottom ought to be. That is, I can lean the boat WAY over on its side when solo paddling, and not get a drop of water in unless I'm sloppy handling the paddle. With an aluminum or plastic canoe, when you tilt it like that, the floor is at a distinct angle. Woth a round bottom boat, there is no real distinction between the floor and the sides, so whatever is down is the floor at that time. Words may not be the best way to describe this.

Once you get acclimated to the boat you'll find that any movements you make will produce a corresponding, consistent, movement in the boat. If you really want to capsize, you can do it. On the other hand, if you want to predictably lean our boat so far over that the water is almost over the top, well, you can do that, too. The amount of control is potentially greater.

Do you feel safe is such a boat? Not at first. Eventually, though, when you have been in some choppy water and seen (felt?) how well the water slips around the smooth lines of the hull you will acquire a healthy respect for these designs.

One tip (umm, maybe I should say one suggestion): RELAX. Get your weight down low (easier in a kayak seat than in a canoe seat) and just SIT. Let the water rock you like a babe in a cradle. Then, slowly: move an arm, a paddle, a gentle stroke. Stay loose and relaxed and let the boat cradle you. It wil rock to one side, and then, just like the cradle it will rock back. Gently. In its own good time. Once you get the feel for it, and this may take only a few minutes, you can push that thing to its limits. Here is where you convince yourself you made a good boat.

By nature of the design, the round bottom has a bit deeper draft (at the centerline) than a flatbottom or v bottom boat. On the shallow stream by my house that means my canoe hits botttom a bit more than I would like, but the rounded hull shape lets me slide off the rocks easily, so I have some scrapes on the bottom, but no severe gashes.

Generally, it is easier to produce plywood boats if the curves are not too severe, or go in several directions at once. This frequently translates into hard chine designs for plywood boats. Ont the other hand, people who build strippers don't even speak of `hard chine' at all. They have been very happy with round hulls, and keep building them.

Hope this helps. Paul Jacobson