: Hi All, Today I launched my new modified Night Heron and it wants
: to make circles, in flying lingo it's called a ground loop, when
: I get
: to a moderate speed it wants to turn and as the turn progresses it
: becomes more acute. the boat is square and plumb I made sure
: by stretching a string fore and aft, I also put small bits of blue
: tape on the water line which came from the plans fore and aft
: and when sitting in the boat someone
: on shore said the forward tape was water level and aft tape was 1/2
: to 3/4/ in. above the water I want to cut the seat and bring it
: back 1 in. but before I start cutting I would like some pro
: advise. thanks again for all your help Nick R.

I have run into this problem on several boats. usually it happens when I stop paddling and cruise, the boat starts a turn either way and it keeps getting tighter, but no problem when paddling. A rental boat was unusable, however. It would just pick a direction, either way, and even paddling with one blade would not keep it straight. When I returned it I mentioned the problem, the rental guy said they take the rudders off to prevent them getting damaged. I put a rudder on one of my own boats to improve tracking, it worked well. So that suggests an easy solution, either add a rudder (my preference) or a skeg.