: I am thinking about the Greenland-style skin-on-frame boat that I plan to
: build and wonder if anyone has some thoughts about how much rocker to put
: into the boat. I have been paddling a Valley Pintail and love the
: maneuverability and playfullness of the boat. I would like to keep that
: maneuverability and yet have some tracking ability as well (always the
: trade-off)in my SOF. I know I can't have both...but how much rocker
: provides something nearing the maneuverability of a Pintail?

Yikes! Tough questions, Linda.

My boat has ~1" of rocker, which isn't much, and it tracks pretty strongly for me, though it's more maneuverable than my Nordkapp. How was it when you tried it?

My next boat will have 2" of rocker, but it will also be a foot longer and at least an inch narrower.

: The boat will
: probably be 15'6" long and 19" wide if I build it to my
: measurements. Any thoughts will be greatly appreciated!

I would suggest that you consider going narrower. My boat's only 3/4" wider than that and you said you were swimming in it when you tried it at Delmarva. You're definitely a bit "narrower in the beam" than I am, so it would seem that your boat should be, too. From an anthropometric standpoint, my boat is hips plus 1 1/2 fists for me. The next one will be only hips plus one fist.

As for depth, I made mine one fistmele (6.5" for me) from the top of the gunwales to the bottom of the keel stringer, rather than to the top of if. This is ~ 1 inch lower than typical recommendations. I also made my coaming ring only 1" high. This reduced my "layback height" by 1 1/2"-2" compared to many SOF boats and it's really nice for doing layback rolls. I did this because I have a relatively short torso for my height. Considering how petite you are, you may want to consider similar modifications.

If you want to get together some time and try the boat out again, let me know. I'm adding more padding to tighten the fit and I'm sure I can rig some additional temporary foam for you.

Did you paddle John Raleigh's boat at Delmarva? He built it to be low volume, but has decided that it's a bit too small for him in the foot area. Perhaps it might be a good test vehicle for you to try?

--
Regards

Brian