: In April I'm going to be doing a 20 mile race on the Charles River in Boston.
: I wanted some advice on attaching a temporary Skeg to the bottom of my
: Guillemot.

: The last two years of this race were plagued with strong cross winds and I
: felt like I used up a lot of energy with correcting strokes. The river has
: manny turns on it but nothing that requires quick action like when
: paddling in the ocean. I figure with a Skeg more of my energy would be
: directed towards forward momentum. I have considered adding a permanent
: retractable skeg but don't want to add the extra weight or to loose rear
: hatch space. I would never consider a rudder.

: My plan would be to shape a skeg and hot glue it on the hull.
: I assume this would be strong enough to stay on for a race but could be
: removed and cleaned up withour much effort. Any ideas on a shape to
: maximize tracking? Any ideas on how to shape the joint between the two?

: Many Thanks

: Jack
I agree, a skeg on my Guillemot made a huge difference in tracking. I simply fastened a thin strip ( I used ash ) onto the hull with hot melt glue ( instead of gluing directly to the hull glue to a strip of masking tape ) and then laminated additional strips on with ordinary wood glue in order to build up the height to approx 1".
You can now remove the skeg, shape to suit, coat with epoxy and glass and re-mount to the hull using hot melt. Taper the skeg towards the rear, a height of about 1" at the rear worked fine for me, improving the tracking but still leaving the boat quite responsive to turns.
My bet is that you will eventually permanently mount this when you see the effects of the skeg on tracking, the difference is amazing.
Jim