Re: [Paddlewise] Design Decisions

Nick wrote;


>I will confess to designing a boat to fit in a display space I had at a
>show. I'm not too proud of this reason, but it did get me to design a 10'
>long boat.

Squirt boat?

(SNIP)

>This is not just laziness on the part of the designer or consumer,
although
>that can be a factor. Good designs rarely come from radical departures
from
>tradition. They are more often a result of slow evolution and tweeking of
>previously successful ideas in an effort to make them "better".
>

It's a fine line between using tradition as a guide for departure or as a
box for containment.

Should one retain a traditional feature even when one knows it may not be
necessary or may not be as good as something new or different? While
radical departures from tradition are fraught with risk they can produce
fine boats.  It would be nice if people judged boats on their merits not
their antecedents (or lack thereof).

In many cases a radical departure can lead to a new perspective such as the
SOT, folding kayaks, or inflatables. Many people persist in treating these
boats as "not being kayaks"  because they don't resemble traditional native
craft in appearance or construction. We touched on this in our discussion
of certification and one has to wonder how many people would be allowed to
take a certification course in a Klepper, Wave ski or a Aire kayak?

Fortunately keeping a good idea down is difficult.

Cheers,
John Winters
Redwing Designs
Specialists in Human Powered Watercraft
http://home.ican.net/~735769/




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