: Last week, John Calderia posted a link to a presentation he put
: together to show strip building to his paddling club. I looked
: through it and thoroughly enjoyed the pics of various boats and
: the shots of building strip boats. John, this was terrific!

: While looking at the presentation, I got caught up in looking at
: several "open cockpit" kayaks and have attached the
: pics that most caught my eye. I'm facinated with the idea of
: building an "open cockpit" boat on a kayak hull. It so
: happens that I have a Spring Run under construction and the hull
: is about 2/3 complete and I've been losing sleep imagining what
: it would be like and perform like if I build the deck
: "open" like in the pics. I've already got a Spring Run
: built in the normal manner so building a unique open boat seems
: like an interesting addition to my growing fleet.

What would you use the open cockpit for? If you plan to carry 2 people or a large dog I don't know that the spring run can handle the added capacity without riding very low in the water.

: So, I would like to hear some thoughts on the concept from you
: guys. Not sure if a Spring Run hull would be the best for this
: purpose and maybe a Great Auk hull would work better but I'm
: willing to be adventureous.

: Thoughts???

: Bob Beaullieu