<Rick.Sylvia_at_ferguson.com> wrote: >Anyone have any knowledge of...building and paddling the Panache by >Laughing Loon? The link...is http://www.laughingloon.com/panache.html Yes, it's a nice boat. Veyr strong tracking, not too bad for rolling, a long, narrow waterline, so quite fast. It's not maneuverable enough for my tastes. Secondary stability is good, but edging only helps turns somewhat---it really does track hard. It should have plenty of room for your weeklong trips. You should be fairly comfortable in the 3' waves of the Chesapeake, but it really isn't a "surfing" hull. Wooden kayaks are actually quite rugged, so no worries about the shallows. >According to the manufacturer, it will take a new boat builder about >300 hours at a materials cost of between $500-$700. Does that sound >accurate? Yup. If you're a good "scrounger", you can build it for $4-500 including the cost of the plans. Email me "back-channel" and I can give you a pretty good idea of who to order from to get the best materials at the best prices. >I also intend to do some modifying - add a day hatch, Great idea! Making a flat area on the aft deck while you're stripping will make the addition of the day hatch simpler. > additional deck rigging, Easy too. There's no hard and fast rule that says where and what deck rigging to install on your wood boat. You built it, the decisions are entirely up to you. > a compass mount and You can go surface mount or recessed...depends more on the specific compass you want to mount. > a skeg (or rudder if skegs can not be added for some reason) Easily do-able, but it already tracks very strong... > unexpected but necessary expenses have forced me to reconsider the expenditure for a nice new fiberglass boat to replace my Carolina. So, I'm back to thinking about building one. The big turn off is the time required to build it and the difficulty in finding one locally to test paddle. Good for you. I'm attracted to some really nice composite boats, but I can easily build 3 or 4 wood kayaks for the price of one production model. "Do you have time, or do you have money?" is the big question! >SNG is a lot faster to build, and CLC is within 4-5 hours drive, but frankly, I'm not attracted to the looks of the SNGs. Me either. There are better S&G designs out there than CLC's. By the way, Nick's Kayak Building Bulletin Board is a must: http://www.kayakforum.com/cgi-bin/Building/index.cgi There is also a Kayak Builders' "Meet at the Beach", Saturday, June 15th at Bluff Point State Park in Groton CT. Rob Macks, designer of the Laughing Loon kayaks will be there, as will Nick Schade of Guillemot Kayaks and Jay Babina of Outer Island. Shawn Yahoo! Games - play chess, backgammon, pool and more http://games.yahoo.com/ *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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