: turned to this forum in hopes of getting some help here. I've gone
: kayaking a few times in the past and really love it. I've
: started to get more into outdoors activities as of late and
: would really like to get a kayak. I'm a hands on person, I build
: a lot of things or customize it to my needs. While looking for a
: kayak i found one for sale that was a skin on frame and had
: never heard of that before, did some more research and found a
: good amount of plans online as well as write ups and tutorials.
: I found Tom Yosts site and really like the idea of building one
: of these. i guess the first thing i should state is I'm 6'3 225
: lbs. So i flipped through his plans to find a kayak that could
: hold my weight and size. needless to say it was all the really
: large ones. not that i have anything against a 17' boat, but
: thats quite a beast to haul around. i started to cross reference
: dimensions of off the shelf shorter kayaks and noticed that many
: of them had a beam around 25 to 27 inches. having a slightly
: shorter kayak in the 12 to 14 range with a higher beam seems
: more appealing to me (I like to fish and backpack and figured a
: wider beam would be more stable as well as hold gear better) all
: that said, 1) am i correct in assuming a wider beam means more
: surface area thus increasing buoyancy in a shorter craft? 2) has
: anyone ever built a SOF kayak that has a wider beam? does that
: affect the skinning process at all? 3) this would be a fun
: project so i would like to keep it on the cheap, whats the
: cheapest wood to use for a first try at this? 4) finally, can i
: take a plan from Tom Yost and change the cross sections to make
: it wider and maybe taller? I plan to draw up all the cross
: sections in auto cad then cut them from 1/2" plywood on a
: CNC machine. I'm sure i will have more questions about this,
: just want to make sure i get headed in the right direction.

: Thanks

: Justin

Check out Tom's Sea Bee, should work just fine for you as is. You can always make them taller, but that effects the performance in the wind.

Bill H.