Paul,

A lot of good info. to chew on and further investigate.

As far as length of the kayaks, The reason I limit myself to 15' is not only cartopping (yeah, the overhang is "only" a foot more on each side, but the longer it is the more clumsy it can be to try to put on top of the car), but also I am thinking about building area, storage, other reasons. I realize that I am probably oversimplifying everything, in regards to hull length, beam, vs. handling, however I plan on making the boats for two slightly different uses so that it will give me an excuse to build two, and if my wife enjoys kayaking, a further excuse for building more.

Paul P.