: Some of you may be interested, so I thought I should mention that I
: found some photos of the old 14 ft tortured ply design that I
: took from a book many years ago and posted them on my site.

: The book it came out of is ancient (± 35 years old) and I am sure
: it is out of print. I can't remember the author or the name of
: the design.

I would presume it was by Dennis Davies and one of the DK series.

http://dennisdavisdesigns.weebly.com/index.html

Sea Kayaker magazine did an article by CLC and called it the Skua 16 and later the Yare. I did a variant - sea kayak bow, less rocker, proper bulkheads etc. and paddled it for the last decade as my expedition kayak, obviously with fixed bulkheads which helped hold the shape as well as deck beams. A tippy kayak, looking like a racing K1 when inverted. Very good for skill - your skill level went up or you go down! Fortunately I paddled with my partner and her Mac50 has the volume to make up for the lack of volume in my Mist. I've since replaced Mist with a Mac50L, also narrow and tippy though at 510 mm beam is much more stable.

: The design is actually quite effective for anyone up to about 160
: lbs. The waterline is full length and rough water handling is
: good.

Though there is a tendency to imitate a submarine. As long as you ignore this and wait, patiently, until the bow rises out of a swell it has dug itself into, then there's no problem.

: Generally a great boat for small women and teenagers. It is also
: very lightweight and very cheap to build.

Two sheets of ply and finished with a rudder, 18 kg.

: A note on design variations: I once stretched the design (length
: only) to 15 ft

Mine was 5 metres.

: and installed an ocean cockpit

I used a keyhole cockpit.

: A rear bulkhead with a plastic hatch in it would be
: a good addition too.

I used proper ply bulkheads, 2 hatches with neoprene hatch covers with ply over sheets.

: I also reduced the radius on the rear deck

Increased foredeck curve and quite a bit of aft deck curve for volume.

The blue kayak on -

http://home.clear.net.nz/pages/grantglazer/Kayak/Sandy.htm

Alex