Short boats may be cute but, that's about all. The short waterline guarantees funky hydrodynamics. Read slow. Read poor glide. Read poor tracking.
Hull speed will be the square root of the waterline length times 1.34. Altho' most of us aren't interested in hull speed we all want as much glide as we can get. If you build short you arte giving away glide.
I paddle a 14 foot pirogue. It has a 12 foot waterline and is much harder to propel than my kayak which has a 15+ foot waterline. The pirogue is S&G and is 45 lb. The kayak is S&G and 35lb. I can go twice as far in the longer boat. The pirogue is a lot easier to portage and easier to fish out of but, that's about all.

: hey all,
: This winter I would like to try making a concept again. I would like to make
: a small craft that is stable, tracks and has enough speed not be
: frustratingly slow. Very easy to store and very lightweight. Something
: that can be put into any body of water. My current thought is something
: between 10 and 12 ft (smaller is better) and open cockpit like a covered
: canoe. Basically a retreval kayak (ala Morris) but in a covered canoe
: form. So my questions: Has anyone tried such a thing (SOF or otherwise)?
: What dimensins would work best? I would love to keep it as short as possible
: but am willing to go up to 12 for more performance. Has anyone built
: something in the 10-12 ft range that can comment on how much of a
: difference there is between 10 and 12 ft?
: The width. I'm thinking between 26 and 29 inches. If Morris can get away with
: 24 inches, is there any reason that 26 or 27 would not work?
: Thanks,
: scott