: Beautiful job of combining designs John :) As long as we are
: talking skegs I have a question. Rather than installing an
: adjustable skeg several forum members have said they installed a
: permanent skeg approx. 1" to 1-1/2" deep and 16"
: to 20" long and that was all they needed to control yaw in
: their boat. I personally don't like the thought of 8" to
: 12" of skeg sticking down under my boat looking for
: something to snag but I do want a retractable skeg. I have been
: trying to come up with a design that would lower a longer,
: flatter portion of the skeg into the water so I get the same
: surface area of skeg without the extreme depth.

: Question is; is this practical ?Is there a design already that I
: don't know about or has it been tried before and didn't work ?
: Thank you,

I should have prefaced my OP by stating that I have never paddled a boat with a skeg. I hope to get out tomorrow and give this puppy a try. I was actually hoping for some wind in the 10-15 knot range, but the forecast on Squam Lake is for calm winds.

BUT, since you asked, my thoughts on the design were guided by my 25 years experience as a racing sailor. When designing a sailboat for efficient upwind perforance, one wants to maximize the "aspect ratio" of the two major lift generating foils of the boat. In other words one wants a tall mast with a short boom so that the sail is tall and thin. One also wants a deep, thin keel. Considering the keel: the theory is that the leading edge of the foil is cutting into standing water which gets the water moving in a lateral direction. Therefore, the rest of the keel to the trailing edge, is pushing against water that is already moving laterally, and is not contributing to lift.

Now consider a cruising sailboat. The keel may have its leading edge very near the bow and the trailing edge very near the stern. The rudder may be incorporated into the trailing edge. Cruising boats will heel more for a given wind speed/sail configuration, and cannot sail nearly as close to the wind on a beat as a modern racer. However, the cruiser could easily withstand a beaching that would destroy the racer.

It all depends on what you want to do, and what your experience is. I did give some thought to a fixed skeg. It would enable me to drag my kayak up the beach, alone, by the bow, without much damage. I would have been able to install it in a day, instead of the two months it took me to rig up the retractable one. The down side is that it would have to extend much further along the keel for a given amount of lift, adding to total drag, it would not be adjustable so that I could change the amount of weather/lee cocking for the conditions, and I would not be able to retract it completely for high manuverability in the narrow creeks in which I sometimes find myself. Plus, IMHO it's pretty darn cool.

I was also influenced by Bob Johns empirical comments on my thread "How Big is Your Skeg?".
http://www.kayakforum.com/cgi-bin/Building/index.cgi/page/4/md/read/id/216221/sbj/strip-how-big-is-your-skeg/