: Howdy all,

: i'm building a Seatour 15 EXP. Studied all i can find and layed it
: out, but I've got 2 questions that i just cant figger out.

: 1. keel...using 1' x .75" lumber. Is it flush with the frame
: bottom or raised .25"? The multi chine design dosent have
: the additional side offsets either, correct?

: 2, stems...mebbe when all the chines and gunwales are in this
: becomes obvious, but it aint to me as yet. What is the
: relationship I am trying to achieve with these angles? Not that
: i wouldnt appreciate actual dimensions, but i'd rather
: understand the whys. Tom's directions are very clear, but i dont
: have any boat building experience to say "what looks
: right".

: This is my first boat, and wont be my last (gotta make at least one
: more , for my son!) but i'd like to get it as right as possible
: from the jump.

: thanks
: dave

I made the keel a quarter of an inch proud of each section. This ensures that the skin touches only the keel and chines, and doesn't touch the sections.

Unless you try to do something very radical, the angle of the stems doesn't make any significant difference to performance. Build what looks good. If you have looked at a few of the kayaks on the Yostwerks site you are pretty much an expert already. Some performance characteristics do get attributed to stem angle, but there is not a lot of science to it, and two or three inches either way won't be noticeable. On commercially built kayaks the long upswept bow is there because makers know that this sells kayaks, not because it imparts some performance advantage. Racing kayaks only have plumb ends because they need to maximise waterline length within a fixed maximum overall length. For what it is worth the horizontal distance from the tip of the bow to the start of the keel on my Sea Tour 15 EXP is 13 inches. Eight and a half inches at the stern. There is a bit of a convex curve at each end, only because I thought that a gradual curve up from the keel to the bow would make stretching the nylon skin easier.

Best of luck with the build.

Jon Mortimer