Congrats on launching your new boat. Nothing beats that feeling!

Tell me more about the foot peg situation. Why are you more pleased with bolting them through the hull than on the blocks inside?

Mike

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: Before starting in on my marathon sanding session, I took my
: lumpy/drippy-epoxied Outer Island to the Lake Michigan end of the
: Kalamazoo River ("I got a
: gal...in...Kal-a-ma-zoo-zoo-zoo-zoo-zoo-zoo...) Conditions were windy --
: about 25mph -- with 1' chop in the wide river where it meets the lake. I
: didn't venture out into Lake Michigan due to what was probably 4'-5' waves
: out there, in a new boat without knee braces. I should also mention before
: any critique that the only kayak I've spent much time in is my first, a
: Pygmy Arctic Tern: THE GOOD: Fast. Very fast. At 18'x21.5" and a
: round/vee bottom, I was able to maintain speeds against the slow current
: and into the wind that would have been no wind/current conditions for my
: Tern. The fit of the boat was great, too. In my Tern I feel like I'm 'in'
: the boat, like the boat is swallowing me in its huge cockpit -- in the
: O.I. I feel like I'm 'on' the boat, or more one with the boat. There
: didn't seem to be much of any weathercocking. The aft deck is low enough
: that I can lay all the way back on it without any problem. Given the cold
: water and the fact that I haven't Eskimo-rolled outside of symposia so far
: and don't have knee braces in yet, I didn't play around with this. Initial
: stability was better than expected for such a round bottom -- I felt
: comfortable right away, not like the 20" North Bay I once paddled at
: a symposium. Secondary seemed strong, but again I didn't play around with
: this much. The only time I felt a bit skiddish was when I was parallel to
: the 1' chop -- that had me nervous. I felt the same way the first time out
: on big water in my Tern, so I think this will just be a 'getting-used-to'
: thing. I built knob-tightened flush wood hatches, and they stayed
: completely dry.

: THE BAD: O.K., nothing really bad about the O.I. I was surprised, though,
: that it didn't seem to track any better than my Tern (which is a good
: tracker.) It was odd, given that the O.I. has a sharp vee'd stern with
: little rocker and an extra foot on the Tern. I think the rounded bottom
: allows more side-ways movement than the hard-chined Tern. Previously I had
: thought that tracking was a function of length and rocker, but apparently
: flat sides help as well. Edging didn't seem to have much of an effect,
: given that there are no chines.

: THE UGLY: Ain't nuthin' ugly about this boat!

: Given that I have size-12 clompers, I took Jay's advice and added 1/2"
: to the deck above my legs. As I sat in the boat in my living room, I
: thought that I had plenty of clearance and that maybe I hadn't needed that
: modification. But out there paddling with just neoprene booties on my
: feet, I was glad that I did, because it felt more snug. I'm also glad I
: bolted the footpegs thru the hull and not to epoxied-in blocks like I had
: done on my Tern.

: Dean