Thanks for the compliment.

I thought it might be a waste of time to put in the hours on the deck pattern if I didn't like the way it paddled, but stripping in a pattern doesn't add a lot of time to it if you consider all of the time it takes to fiberglass it and add all of the details.

If I would have made a basic test model I would have skipped the bulkheads, hatches and any other details required to get it on the water. But, then I would have had to build another to get the deck pattern I wanted. I could have then sold the test model or used it as a guest kayak.

Fortunately, it all worked out in the end and I'm glad I went with the deck pattern I did.

Dale

: Dale,

: You and John built beautiful kayaks. I'm sure you were both hoping they'd
: paddle great "straight out of the box". That must be part of the
: learning experience. It's a huge leap of faith committing cedar, glass,
: and most importantly--time--to a design that has never gotten wet before.

: There's a reason there are so many 7th generation Guillemots out there--it's
: because there are so many 7th generation Guillemots out there. Nick has
: already tweaked the design, and there are already existing boats for
: prospective builders to test paddle. Having the offsets in a
: widely-published book doesn't hurt, either. $50-100 for professional plans
: are not a Bad Thing. It's proven, people can decide they like it, then
: build it.

: You did an amazing job on the "Dream Weaver" design, but you might
: not have if you viewed that hull design as a prototype. Remember Phil
: O'Connor's 'Trinity GT' from R2K? He spent something like 40 hours on it,
: and it was solid WRC. You spend a ton o' time getting the strip design
: just perfect, and then the boat handles like you know it will when it gets
: wet.

: The King is on my short list now, too.

: Shawn