The great auk is a fairly high volume boat. If you are not a fairly high volume guy you might find it quite buoyant, and a skeg helpful to keep you on track.

I would say that if you are an occasional fair weather weekend paddler without ambitions for long distances, it is less likely you will need one. If you are more serious, or think you may develop bigger plans, put one in.

I used to be a skegless paddler, partly because I could never find a skeg that I really liked, but as I get older I get lazier, and yes, my recuperation time is longer if I end up straining.

A 10 mile crossing in a quartering sea, and having to constantly correct on one side for three hours, can become a tiresome chore real fast.

Folks have been applying their ingenuity to home made skeg design recently, and there are quite a few nice skeg options around these days.

These days I put skegs in everything. I have done retrofits too, and I know of a couple of cases where builders cut a temporary opening over the skeg location to retrofit a skeg, but you will have a much easier time achieving a neat job doing it while the hull is still open.

If in doubt, take a few extra days and make a skeg. It is all part of the puzzle and part of the fun of DIY.

Here is my skeg system... Et

http://www.etiennemuller.com/SkegProject.pdf