Fishing Kayak questions.

[FlaMike]

Some PM exchanges have helped me decide to hold off on committing to any particular design, as what I'm looking for may be close to coming off the design board and onto the building floor, fairly soon!

Looks like I won't have to worry about what to build for the next two weeks or so. And I'll have no trouble resisting building something that might be too much of a compromise, just to get a build started, either.

Wicked Weather, Wicked People, and the Luck of the Draw.

Looks like at least another couple of days of "stay at home" weather. Rain, rain, rain! And when it isn't raining, the wind starts kicking it up a few notches.

And now, due to Florida's rather interesting lottery-style jury selection process, it seems I'm now known as "Juror Number One, in a murder case and it looks like they'll be seeking the death penalty. (Not for me, the other guy who really doesn't want to be there.)

It's a civic duty, one I've gladly taken on, but it is a pain in the keester.

Mike S.
Spring Hill, FL

 

[Kayak Jack]

What is stable?
What is seaworthy?
What is fast/efficient?
What is light weight?
What is inexpensive?
What is easy to paddle?
What is easy to build?

This is why I respect Sea Kayaker Magazine: they provide some numbers for many of these parameters. "Ease" of build could be quantified too, but is still loose.

 

[JEM]

Mike,

I replied to your PM.

Chuck - Something is going haywire with the forum. I got like 7 e-mails notifying me about receiving the same PM.

 

[oldsparkey]

Mike,

I replied to your PM.

Chuck - Something is going haywire with the forum. I got like 7 e-mails notifying me about receiving the same PM.

Something is nutty with it , Neil is checking it out.

Chuck.

 

[bearridge]

Something is nutty with it

:arrow: :mrgreen:

Jack stepping in: Yeah like THAT'S news!

 

[FlaMike]

Matt,

I think we are caught up on the PM exchange. Unless I got it wrong, it was your last reply to me that caused me to post this above:

PM exchanges have helped me decide to hold off on committing to any particular design, as what I'm looking for may be close to coming off the design board and onto the building floor, fairly soon!

Unless, of course, I had the outer wheel on my Secret Decoder Ring set off one notch. . .

Oops! Just checked and see another PM from you, with some questions. Expect an answer on that one, as soon as I post this!

Mike S.
Spring Hill, FL

 

[hairymick]

Mike,

Have another look at Matts Laker mate. As it is, I reckon it is going to prove to be an exceptional sit inside fishing kayak.

The same hull, stretched out to around 15 feet would be awesome.

The hull is only a very little more difficult to put together than a pirogue and the deck is not hard to do either. With the same size cockpit as the 13' version, it should provide all the sea worthiness you need for the conditions you describe.

I have a bloody new computor and it is dead slow on dial up, and can't re-size to post piccies just now, or I would show you what I mean. I believe this little boat will be a beauty!

I will try to re-size as soon as I can but the deck set up Matt has come up with for the Laker is very close to perfect for my kayak fiishing needs. If it paddles as well as I think it will, it will prove to be a very good boat indeed.

 

[FlaMike]

Laker looks good, but I'm not so sure that the Cape Fear with a somewhat modified deck and added cockpit coaming wouldn't be more along the lines of what I need.

But it's a bit soon for me to be trying to redesign Matt's work.

Since the Forum's PM system is acting a bit odd, I started emailing Matt. He asked a couple of questions designed to drag a more useful version of just what I'm really looking for out of me, since I haven't been able to articulate is very well so far.

I'm guessing he has a backlog of ideas on the drawing board, and it may be that one of those will fill the bill for me. At least, it sounded to me like he's come to some sort of conclusion and yet another new design from him is about to surface.

If that's the case, I ready to start my building materials search and do this one up RIGHT! Rather than depend upon the local Home Depot and Lowes, I'll expand my search down into Tampa and St. Pete and locate whatever plywood Matt specifies. I need to roll out that 6 oz glass cloth I have and see how much there is, and re-stock my epoxy supply from Raka.

I don't know if it is a "named design" or not. If not, I might try to talk him into staying with his current trend in naming, but leave the other two cardinal points for other designs, and call this one "Gulf Wind."

I won't be back on-line until tonight, I'm about to leave for jury duty again. My first week ad "conducting the People's Business" is about over and I'm certain it will go into a second week. Not too bad, the weather's not been good for fishing anyway.

If it keeps this up, it will be great boat-building weather though.

Mike S.
Spring Hill, FL

 

[Bootlegger0173]

I have tried and owned several different styles. The best were the Wilderness Systems Pamlico, Heritige featherlite 12ft and 14ft models.

Now, I paddle a Liquid Logic Manta Ray 14ft. SOT and couldn't be happier. It is a bit slower than the others, but is so stable that I can swing my legs over the side or stand up and pole it along if I have to. If I come to a jam or sand bar, I just hop off and flop my rear back in and swing my legs over. Plus I can continue to keep my main gear in my small pack instead of having to take it all apart to fit in little hatches. Fits my style to a Tee.

Additional benefit is that Maggie no longer has to squeeze her aprox. 68lbs. between my legs, which makes effecient paddling a nightmare. Now I just say, "hop in" and she rides in back, like an El Camino.