: 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.

: 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

I can't see the pictures (work's computer has them blocked) but the only downside I can think of is a large open cockpit doesn't offer the level of support to the structure that a closed deck does so you'd have to do some design work to compensate for that or you can get a fairly floppy hull. Much like a canoe without substantial rub rails.

Bill H.