: George Putz...do you have a title?

: His design for an 18.5 foot

: This sounds similar to the post above made by Chip Sandresky...I think I know
: what you mean...I've seen a similar style on some plastic boats. It's a
: great idea, I just haven't really thought about it...kind of single minded
: focus. I've even seen the spray skirts with two tunnels that go on a boat
: with that kind of cockpit configuration. 18.5 feet will fit in my storage
: space...I'll do a search by author for the book you suggest.

: This gives it the flexibility to handle a varying number

: I might...I kind of like the look of those seperate cockpits...and thinking
: about rolling techniques, though I'm not sure if anyone trains to roll a
: double...do you know anyone who does that?

: Never mind about my request for the title of his book....I'll just visit his
: sight.

: You bet it helps....all the info is great...plus after reading some of the
: threads here on the KBBB, I see there's quite an established SOF
: community. I'm afraid that I might get to liking those SOF boats better
: than the wooden boats already in our family fleet.
: Bill

Bill
You've no doubt seen the book name on Paul's site, but let me add a little color to this...

I'm 6'3" at 250 lbs and rather than build the 17'er as Mike Hanks and others had done ( they are much smaller individuals ) I opted for the 18'er. I built totally according to his forms/design and got a nice looking boat. I also made my own open-double style cockpit which turned out fairly well.

I took it to R2K1 in Wa. and I and Bill Price both tried it out. With my 250 lbs, at the time, I was barely able to get the chines in the water... this is a VERY high volumn boat. I personally don't think that any 3 grandchildren of mine ( 11, 8 and 7 ) could get it down in the water as far as I did... It was very tippy sitting up that high, with the chines out of or on top of the water...

In my estimation, and I'm far from being a designer, it would have taken both Bill and I together to get that boat to perform to any sort of satisfaction for anyone.

Not saying the design is bad... it's just a VERY high volumn boat and in my opinion, too big for anything but a couple of large adults to handle efficiently.

On the Walrus, I would give Mike Hanks an email and see what he thinks about the 17'er and it's possibilities as a double, or open cockpitted boat for two to three smallish children. Mike has built several of the 17'ers and done many modifications to each boat, so I would call him the better authority on that particular boat style.