: 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

Thank you sir for your response.Since the boat race is planned to be conducted on mid-March 2010 and paddlers who are students yet to be trained in rowing its tough decision in deciding kayak or row shell. I have read that row shell is much more faster than kayak. Is it true? Since one of our competitor team has decided on constructing a wooden row shell of 4.5 m length and 1.5 m beam and if we decide to go on with SOF type kayak of maybe about 4-5m length and 0.5-0.6m beam which one will be better.The row shell having 1.5m wil have more of drag resistance i suppose.We are thinking to give a month long lessons on rowing for our paddlers( each weighing 65kg). Ours is a low-budget (around $550-600) students work. Our race is planned on a downstream portion of the river, maybe rough..but not sure.
Hoping that you could guide me through the designing and construction stages please detail me some two paddlers kayak dimension best suited for our purpose.