Re: [Paddlewise] Pygmy Arctic Tern

From: Matt <mkayaks_at_oz.net>
Date: Tue, 4 Mar 2003 00:07:40 -0500
Somebody (who I've lost track of in the shuffle) wrote:
>Regarding CLC v. Pygmy, I think Pygmy's multi-chined decks are more
>attractive: by using several panels, they are able to get a deck with 
>positive sheer (the curve between the stem and the stern, like a 
>banana). Try holding a sheet of stiff paper in an arch, like a deck, 
>and now try to bend it on the other axis at the same time.

Alex responded:
>>>>>With a curved deck you can still get a sheer line though the centreline

won't "dip". If it does you either have the ends too high or the deck too 
low to get into the cockpit. A curved deck is made up of (usually) 4 
pieces, one on the foredeck, one each side of the cockpit and one aft deck. 
With this number of pieces it is easy to follow the sheer of the
deckline.<Snip>>>>

The real reason for the Pygmy's multi-chine deck is to allow the paddle
stroke to be nearer the kayak by cutting off the knuckle busting corner that
sticks up and out further if those small deck panels are not present. The
reason I know this for a fact is because I suggested to John Lockwood that
he do it this way for that reason sometime between 1993 and 1995. Later John
came by the shop one day when another friend of ours just happened to be
there with a kayak he built (along the lines of our Mariner II) with him
that had this feature on it. We showed John what I had meant, how it looked
and how it worked that day. This would have been about 1995. My brother Cam
had first used this extra chine in the Coaster prototype's plywood deck
about 10 years earlier. I'm unaware of this being done previously but
somebody probably did it that I'm not aware of. John converted his Goldeneye
using this extra deck chine and introduced his Osprey model in 1996.

BTW, there only needs to be two panels to get a longitudinally curved deck
center line. 
The transverse curved decks of the CLC boats extend out beyond the side
panels making the deck hull joint stick out even farther (to have to be
reached over) but the curved deck did lower that seam some in the paddle
area so it wasn't both higher and wider as it had been in the original Pygmy
(the Queen Charlotte).
Matt Broze
http://www.marinerkayaks.com



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Received on Tue Mar 04 2003 - 00:07:54 PST

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