Message-Id: <199911081327.IAA05114@pike.sover.net>
From: "David Keefe" <lamoille@sover.net>
To: <baidarka@lists.intelenet.net>
Subject: baidarka First-timer seeks advice -- boat don't fit!
Date: Mon, 8 Nov 1999 08:26:10 -0500
After a couple of years of lurking, reading and dreaming, I've begun my
first Aleutian kayak. I was getting really psyched, but hit a major snag
yesterday.
I'm working on the deck of my boat, building it according to Wolfgang's
book, and I've gotten to the point where I check it for fit by propping it
up on blocks and trying to fit into the space between knee and back braces.
When I tried to "get in", there was nowhere near enough room. It doesn't
seem to be a matter of length of the cockpit area; but rather the height of
the interior space. It's really hard to even fit my shoes under the knee
brace, and I can only get to where my shin bangs against the underside of
the knee brace well below my knee. I could only get in by lifting the deck
up, sitting on the floor, and setting it back down again. When I did that,
it became apparent that I also do not have enough height for my feet, once
they are in place. There also didn't seem to be any room to raise my knees
much at all. In order for the boat to fit and feel right, I had to add
about one and one-half inches of interior height. The space between the
knee and foot braces (25") seems right, although I need to move forward a
few (3-4?) inches away from the back brace in order get my feet and knees
in place. This doesn't seem a problem to me, as I had assumed I would
install a separate back brace of some sort to sit against anyway. I used
Wolfgang's suggested cockpit length of 24 inches. The only real change I
made to his instructions (which so far have been quite complete and clear
-- Thanks, Wolfgang) is to reduce the height of the back brace about
one-half inch.
I'm about 5' 11" and 170 pounds, slightly long of leg. I wear a size ten
shoe and plan to sometimes paddle in cold weather (I'm in northern Vermont)
with somewhat bulky footwear. I've paddled a few kayaks, but never a skin
boat. I'd like to stay close to the traditional design, although the
waters I will typically paddle in will be more sheltered than open ocean
(mostly lakes).
So what do I do? It doesn't seem like modifying the deck will help,
because even if I could lower the back deck or make the cockpit longer, it
wouldn't give me any more foot room. It doesn't look like changing the
shape of the forward deck could result in much more foot room or knee brace
height. It seems like the only thing to do is make the boat deeper by
changing the location of the temporary stringer used to install the ribs.
Easy enough to do, but adding an inch and one-half to the height of the
hull seems like a fairly big change and I'm wondering how it will affect
the boat's handling.
Should I just add the interior height? If I add an inch and one-half to
the middle, how much of that extra height do I carry out to the ends?
Should I add almost as much at the ends, so as not to change the rocker
much, or should I add only a little height to the ends so the bow and stern
aren't changed much? Am I correct in my thinking that this is the only
modification that will make my boat fit me?
Have other people had this problem? I'm not really all that big of a guy,
and it seems like others must have encountered this, unless I've done
something stupid or am misunderstanding something.
Any advice from those more experienced would be greatly appreciated.
Wolfgang -- are you out there?
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