: Thanks Bob. My brother Mike is in trouble because he didn't tell me
: about the SOF forum at Qajaq USA (and he even has a sticker from
: them on his truck).

One step at a time. Get you going here, then move on to Qajaq USA. Not only do I have the sticker, my wife designed their logo, and I was a board member early on.

: My son, Peter, is familiar with the Greenland style paddle and
: wants to build one. He knows what Mike uses so he doesn't think
: it is lame. We talked about the advantages and disadvantages of
: the styles (mine is a wood euro because Fishstalker was designed
: for fishing the lower section of some of the larger rivers in
: Puget Sound) and he loves the idea of the Greenland paddle.

: I kind of skipped over the Kidarka for a couple reasons. First was
: the complex shape on the stern (we're doing this together but
: Peter insists on doing most of the work once I show him how).
: Second is the fact that he is about to really start growing. I
: don't want to build a boat for him and have him outgrow it in
: two or three years. I am less concerned with too much boat
: because most of our trips (after the first few in sheltered bays
: on Lake Chickamauga to make sure he can control it) will be in
: deep, slow, sheltered, creeks that flow into the Tennessee
: River. We'll look at the Kidarka again and see how he feels
: about it.

Check out the Sea Pup. http://yostwerks.com/SeaPup2.html
If you want it wider (20" might be good), just scale ALL width dimensions evenly. I have done something similar with both the Kidarkas and the Sea Fleas, except I lowered the height, and scaled the length on three out of four of them.

: I don't understand about performance of single chine boats
: suffering when the beam gets over 17". Fishstalker is
: single chine with a 23" beam and Mike liked the performance
: (I have only paddled a three other boats, two of which were
: similar hull designs - George Putz's Walrus and another plywood
: Walrus - so I really can't compare). Mike did say that it was
: hard to roll but easy to right (it doesn't like to be upside
: down - and neither do I) but it is still quite agile and tracks
: well.

You didn't ever paddle my Arctic Tern?

Fishstalker is shorter in length than most sea kayaks, so its wetted surface is lower. It is a very nimble kayak, but isn't made for lots of miles. If it had a recessed coaming, with a lower aft deck, it would be a wonderful surf kayak.

If done properly a wider single chine kayak can perform well, they just TEND to have a higher wetted surface than multi chine kayaks, slowing them down slightly.

The pic below are of my kids' Kidarkas