: Respected sir,
: we are having a in-house sort of rowing boat race. The type of boat and
: specifications all have to be decided, designed, fabricated and rowed (by
: two paddlers) by the team themselves.The course of river is downstream and
: has waves with 8-10m depth..confused between kayak and rowing
: shell...could you help me out with the design parameters..and simple tools
: to develop it..and also with lines plan.

I see you've already been to the design side of this bulletin board

http://www.kayakforum.com/KayakDesign/index.shtml

so you know that there are links to several software programs for designing your own kayak.

I'm curious about the level of this race you are planning to participate in. You can find software that will let you build boats capable of world-record-setting performance--but that costs a lot, and building such boats is also costly and time consuming.

How much time do you have to build this boat, and how much is your budget. Once the boat is built, how much time do you have to train for the race.

If you have a small budget and a short time to build and train then you may not want to get too deep into designing this. On the other hand, if this is for a college class, then you'll get a better grade if you go all out.

If this is not something for a grade, or olympic-level competition, then almost any design will win if you have two strong paddlers who have done some practicing.

Generally speaking, a long narrow boat will move faster through the water than a short and wide boat. Tha assumes it has enough power propelling it. There are hundreds of designs on the market, and several books with design specs in them. I'd suggest you get a book on building skin-on-frame kayaks, or skin boats. Then look at the designs in them and use one of them as a start for your own design. For example, if you take a kayak designed for a single paddler and make it longer and wider it will support the weight of two paddlers, and you should be able to determine paddler seat locations through trial and error.

If you are in a hurry for design and build then a skin-on-frame design is the way to go. It can also be inexpensive and light in weight. The light weight may help with speed.

I hope that was a typo about waves that are 8 to 10 m deep. In water that rough you'd want to be in a rubber raft, with a helicopter overhead to pull you out. No, wait, on second thought, no one in their right mind would want to be out in waves that high--with or without a helicopter.

Fill us in a bit more on the details of what you need, and we might be able to point you in the right direction.

Hope this helps

PGJ