: Someone who I respect with tons of paddling experience and build
: experience has suggested I would be wise to put a skeg in my A.
: Hawk build.
: So, how does one determine what size skeg to place in a kit boat

What kind of waters do you plan to paddle on? I found my Guillemot L to be perfectly manageable without a skeg, on rivers or on small lakes with under 5 knots of wind. But, by the time the wind got to 10 knots with 1' seas on the stern quarter it was a miserable beast. The skeg made my boat a dream to paddle in all sorts of wind and waves.

If you want a skeg, then about 20 square inches if fine. Mike Trutwin, Ettienne Muller, and I have posted reports on building a skeg in the past 18 months.

http://www.kayakforum.com/cgi-bin/Building/index.cgi/md/read/id/217414/sbj/other-skeg-for-existing-guillemot-l/