Re: [Paddlewise] short[er] sea kayaks

I paddled one of the Pygmy 14-footers (don't remember which one) a few years
back and it was very twitchy for a person of my height and weight (6'2" and
220lbs). It also would not turn for me in the conditions (white caps on the
Columbia River) and I was reluctant to edge it (no drysuit). So I just
paddled the damn thing backwards until I was where I wanted to be and got
the hell out.

If you just want a lighter easier-to-handle boat for paddling more-or-less
in a straight line then I think that any of the stitch-and-glue plywood
kayaks would be a good choice. You can build them outside on a porch if the
weather is suitable for curing the resin. I built an entire interior of a
32-foot sailboat on the porch of my house during a winter in the 1970s and
then installed it all into the hull once that arrived the following April. I
festooned the porch with plastic but didn't bother to heat it.

The plus was that I could watch my wife and (then) baby daughter through the
front windows while they were warm and comfy. Or maybe that was a minus.

We had a lively discussion of a sea-kayak "playboat" here a few months back.
Depends on what you want in a shorter kayak. When there are models of
white-water playboats that cheerfully support 250lb paddlers in a 7-foot
overall length (albeit somewhat wider than 23-inches) there is no reason why
a 12 to 14 foot sea kayak cannot be made that gives good performance for
larger paddlers.

The "rockhopper" is a sea-kakyak playboat that looks a lot like some of the
"river runner" white-water kayaks of about a decade past. The rockhopper has
an adjustable skeg for longer paddles but enough rocker to swivel about in
rock gardens. I spoke to a paddler who actually tried one out but not,
unfortunately, in the conditions for which it was designed. Too bad. But he
said it was a great little boat. Hopefully someone will import it into the
USA but the Pound Stirling is getting expensive and at BP599 it would be
well over $1500 here, I suspect.

I asked Necky and Seaward reps to come up with something at the September
Kayak Seminar at Port Townsend, WA and received polite attention. At least
they didn't laugh at me. The Necky people were the most reponsive which
makes sense since the guys at Pt. Townsend also do w/w.

Craig Jungers
Royal City, WA

On 12/3/06, Wntrwren_at_aol.com <Wntrwren_at_aol.com> wrote:
>
> I am thinking about building a Pygmy Arctic Tern 14 kit. I really like the
> idea of a light, relatively short kayak especially as a second boat [I
> paddle a
> 17.5' Pursuit]. However, I'm not overly enthusiastic about the actual
> building
> process with its necessity for a dedicated work space and the use of messy
> epoxy resin and fiberglass cloth. I am open to the outright purchase of a
> production boat, something around 14 or 15 feet with a beam no greater
> than 23
> inches. I once upon a time owned a Mariner Coaster which was one great
> little sea
> kayak despite an over-all length of only 13.5 feet but it seems that the
> Broze
> brothers have taken early retirement and, alas, the Coaster is no longer
> available. The Wilderness Systems Tsunami 14 [composite] looks interesting
> but
> seems a bit on the tubby side and is not exactly a lightweight  though I
> have
> never paddled one or even seen it up close.I'd like to hear from anyone
> with
> thoughts about well-designed, shorter fiberglass sea kayaks.
> John
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