Subject: Re: [baidarka] Playboat (was Short baidarka)
From: wolfgang brinck (nativewater@yahoo.com)
Date: Fri Dec 09 2005 - 10:04:26 EST
--- Christopher Stewart <stewtone@msn.com> wrote:
Because you can't brace while flycasting,
> stability
> matters more than speed. I notice that Zimmerly wrote that
> retrieval kayaks
> ranged up to 12' long and up to 30" wide, which is about the size
> of many of
> the sit on top kayaks that most people around here seem to use for
> fishing.
> Since the SOT's center of gravity is higher, though, a retrieval
> kayak could
> be narrower and still achieve the same stability.
>
> From your experience with this kayak (and others), do you think it
> would be
> a good choice for flyfishing? If so, what size, and if not, what
> design
> would you recommend?
>
A ten foot long retrieval kayak with a 24 inch beam is definitely not
an ideal fishing platform. For a guy your size it doesn't have enough
volume and it wouldn't be stable enough.
If you don't want to go the outrigger route that William Nettles has
suggested, you might want to start with the SOT hull dimensions and
copy those since they work. In a sit inside boat you would be
sitting lower and therefore be more stable, but I wouldn't knock more
than two inches off the beam to compensate for that. Also keep in
mind that if you use one piece ribs for your SOF construction, the
bottom of the boat will tend to be more rounded than in a plastic
boat. This will tend to make it less stable and will take away the
advantage of the lower sitting position.
Sit inside kayaks of traditional dimensions are limited for fishing
since it's hard to turn around to get access to stuff on the back
deck.
The main appeal of SOT kayaks from what I can tell, and they are
quite popular along the Pacific coast as well is that you don't need
a trailer and a boat ramp to go fishing. You can launch off any
public beach and be on the fishing grounds in short order. The other
advantage of SOT's is that you can launch them through low surf
without needing to have rolling skills.
A SOF version of a sit on top fishing boat is not high on my list of
boats to build, but I have pondered how you would build one. They are
after all practical craft. My first attempt would be to go for a
stable hull. I would do a cockpit sufficient to sit in with my knees
up, probably 48 inches long and line it with 1/8 plywood glassed
over. The rest of the boat would be skinned over in the usual way.
You would have to figure out some kind of drain. The main advantage
of an open cockpit that I can see is that it gives you greater
freedom of motion so you can turn around and pull stuff out of that
milk crate that fishermen like to bunji to their back deck.
I guess the SOF fishing kayak would be more a labor of love than a
money saving venture since used rotomolded SOT's must be fairly
cheap.
Wolfgang
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