: OK, apparently the BB software doesn't do html entity escaping.
: Sorry about that, here's my post, cleaned up to get through the
: software. Also, I'm not sure how to delete the above post. If
: anyone knows, please let me know, so I won't need to do this
: messed up threading again. Thanks :)

: Hello,

: I'm new to kayaking. I've spent some time on sit on tops, and some
: time in a very few sit in kayaks. The first kayak I sat in that
: made much sense to me was Nick Schade's Night Heron. I really
: like skinny boats. I'm not sure why. I'm told they're unstable.
: I was actually hesitant to get in one at first, thinking I'd
: immediately flip it or some other such nonsense, but when I was
: in it, it felt far more natural than wider, more
: "stable" boats did, as if it was part of my body, like
: a good sport bike, and it just moved and did exactly what I
: wanted it to do. I could drive my paddle down right next to me,
: and get a great push off, without having to edge very much, and
: when I did want to edge, it moved with me easily, not resisting
: like the more stable kayaks did. It made sense. Of course, it's
: also an expensive boat to build, incredibly time consuming, and
: I'm honestly afraid it might be beyond my skillset.

: Then I discovered Skin on Frame, and specifically, Yostwerks. These
: boats are beautiful, look simple enough to build, in theory (I
: just torched my first attempt, but I was also learning to use my
: new saw at the same point, and I've got enough plywood left over
: to start my next attempt without even buying another sheet :) )

: However, I've been reading a fair bit about the virtues of short
: boats. As I am not a very athletic paddler, and am more than
: happy bumping along at 3-4 kts, if that much, I'd pondered
: trying to put together a boat that's both short (<15
: feet) and narrow (<20 inches) I've noticed that there are
: a number of long, skinny boats, and a number of short, fat
: boats, but few short skinny boats.

: I only weigh about 150 sopping wet, and I'm 5"10", so
: getting enough buoyancy and displacement shouldn't be a problem.
: I'm half tempted to try either shortening a Sea Rider, or
: perhaps trying to narrow up a Sea Tour 15R.

: I'm a little hesitant to start mucking with other peoples designs
: before building my first boat, but I've talked to a number of
: people that say this is pretty much par for the course, and how
: people arrive at the boat that's best for them (after no small
: amount of experimenting) Is this a good idea? Is this a stupid
: idea? Any advice for determining how to go about doing this the
: intelligent way?

: Thanks. :)

: -- James

Agree with Dave, but the 15R isn't all that wide, you'll never notice the width. It's got a fairly skinny bottom and waterline, that's what you feel, not the overall beam.

Bill H.