For everyone who is following this project, I want to take a moment to talk about what’s next for the big guy/gal kayak design.
I’m happy enough with the trim and the volume for the intended paddler weight of 275lbs that I’m considering putting out a beta version for anyone who wants to be a guinea pig, but I hate the fact that I can’t personally verify how that boat paddles because I’m not the right size.
Like I said yesterday, this is basically a 14% scale up of the 150 pound size of the F1 but I’ve shifted the entire volume of the boat including the paddler position 2 inches forward and it also has a half inch more rocker. I think that actually improves the boat at this size but I’ve also seen much smaller changes ruin the performance of the F1 in the past so I feel like the only way I’m gonna know for sure is to build an exact 14% proportional scale and skin them both, and then give them BOTH to someone who is an experienced larger paddler for comparison and feedback.
The positive thing about building a second exact proportional scale is that if it works as well or better than my modified scale shown here, and then I build a different scaled size of my LPB (like 8%) and that also paddles well and supports the predicted paddler weight, then I can juxtapose that with what I learned about scaling my recent Greenland design (available in 11 sizes) and that will let me create custom sizes for larger paddlers with pinpoint accuracy, without having to proof individual boats.
This isn’t important for small to medium-large paddlers because I already have a scaling system that works very well for that, but this could be a big quality improvement in my largest sizes.
So those are my thoughts right now, and I really wish I could just dig into it right away but unfortunately I have to shift my focus to finishing the sailing system which should take till the beginning of June and then I have to update the canoe building system with new information which will probably take till at least the middle of July before I can get back to working on the big guy boats. I’m not thrilled about that timeline.
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