: After several months in my workshop dealing with high humidity, a delayed
: epoxy shipment, wind-blown fiberglass, bugs and bird poop, my two kayaks
: are finally in the water!

: The hull design of these kayaks is similar in most respects to Vaclav's
: designs at One Ocean Kayaks. One of my kayaks is 17.5 feet and the other
: 18.2'.

: The wood is Dakua (similar characteristics to basswood, but redish). Mohagany
: accents.

: During a shakedown cruise of the 17.5, I learned I need to lower the backrest
: a little and perhaps move the paddle park back one foot, but otherwise it
: performed great in moderate wind and seas. I haven't yet found a good
: perimeter line, so that will wait for another few weeks.

: The only significant feature changed from my earlier kayaks is to make
: footbraces out of wood triangles (see bottom photo). This is similar to
: many sit-on-tips designs. I wish I had dome this on my earlier boats. They
: adjust to a variety of leg lengths but have no moving parts and nothing to
: corrode.

: This photo is the 17.5. I'll post a photo of the other boat in a few days.

: Thanks everone for sharing your building tips. I searched this message board
: several times with success to learn about 2-part polyurathane, high
: humidity, etc. :-)

: Cheers,
: John

Boat looks really great, am just a tiny bit envious, supposed to get 6" of snow tonight .

Bill H.