Turn the sound on! I build a LOT of prototype kayaks but it’s very rare for me to land on a candidate for further development. This is one of them.
To recap: I’ve been working for about 10 years on a kayak for self-support trips on rivers that have a lot of flat water but the occasional class III or even class IV rapid that can’t be portaged. This is prototype .
This time I decided to throw out everything I’ve done before and combined the proven ergonomics and cargo spaces of the deck of my stubby version F1 kayak design, with the simplified hull of a North Alaskan kayak, with some alterations to both.
Due to its rounded shape, lack of stems, and shorter waterline, this hull represents the least practical wetted surface you can have while still preserving enough length to hold sea kayak speeds. The big risk with these end shapes is the possibility of excessive turbulence at the entry point or a draggy vortex at the exit. It’s just plain luck that neither of those things is happening, giving me an insanely quick little boat that easily holds sea kayak speeds with less drag.
Stability was a bit confusing. With a greenland paddle it felt identically stable to my F1 kayak, which is deliberately designed with less initial stability than most kayaks but much more secondary stability. With my white water paddle though, my brain switched into thinking it was in a creek boat and I unconsciously tried to push on the edges harder than they would let me resulting in a couple surprise braces. This is something I can easily modify on the next version if I decide to.
Interestingly, the kayak holds a straight course when it’s up to speed despite having no stems to speak of. This is one of the big advantages of the less boxy hull shape. Maneuverability speaks for itself, and comfort is identical to the F1, meaning that I could sit in it all day long.
Next steps are to test it loaded and unloaded on flat water and whitewater. The design could still crash and burn, but I’m hopeful, and excited to have a fun new toy!
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