: When you say radius of the stems do you mean looking at the hull from the
: side? The other aspect to maneuverability is the depth/length of the v
: section in the water,,check out the development of the hull shape of a
: Cirrus to see what I mean. Going forward the side/bottom panels develop as
: rounded a shape as possible with the stern chines being more sharp and
: squared off although for a shorter length.

: IIRC the Shearwaters have temporary forms in the ends that should reduce the
: sharpness of the ends at the wateline. On the Merganser 17W I made there
: aren't end forms but he said the Mergansers now have them.

: I'd be curious to see how a Merganser 17W made with end forms turns out. I
: took out(3/16" at bow, arc over 6") some of the bottom panels
: curve at the bow which made for a fuller bow at the water line and
: conceivable a wide entry angle to make it turn from the bow more easily.
: It actually didn't make a difference. Theorectically that should have made
: the hull more easy to turn and reduce weathercocking. The 17W is more
: maneuverable than the Merganswer 17,18 and Shearwater 17 but I think most
: of that was from less draft and the extra beam allowing more of the ends
: to lift up on a lean. But compared to the Merganser 16,17,18 and
: Shearwater 17 the 17W weathercocks more with more of sense that the pivot
: point is forward of the paddler so it doesn't respond as well to a lean.

I was simply refering to the side view profile. I too though my Merganser came out with a bit of extra pinch at the ends since I did not use any temp end forms.