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Re: Opinions on Venture 14
By:larry
Date: 7/4/1998, 11:07 am
In Response To: Opinions on Venture 14 (Preston Seu)

> The Pygmy boats were finished a year ago. The birth pains have
> been forgotten so it's time to look for another project. I'm going
> to do it the same way as before, I build the wife's boat first. The
> smaller boat is easier to work with and it makes her happy. With the
> Pygmy boats her Golden Eye 13 came out better than my Golden Eye High
> Volume. I think I was over confident on the second boat.

> Has anybody built a Venture 14 Sport Kayak designed by Steve
> Killing? The plans are sold by Bear Mountain Boat Shop and kits are
> sold by Classic Boat Kits. This is my first stripper boat so I'm considering
> a kit. Any experience with Classic Boat kits?

> Thank you for any opinion you can give.

> - Preston Seu

I recently finished this kayak. It's a cute little thing. It looks similar to the Endeavour 17 - also a Steve Killilng design. The kayak is designed for individuals under 140 pounds so unfortunately I haven't paddled it. She's novice and has no problems getting it track. The only thing I wish I had done was use narrower strips. I cut my own from 5/4" (which is really only about an inch) W. Red Cedar but since there are some pretty severe bending near the stern it would haave been easier with narrower strips. The thickness of the strips was the standard 1/4". Just a word about Steve Killing - he dsigned the Canadian entry into the America's Cup. My thoughts are if some syndicate is willing to spend millions of dollars on a sailboat race and they chose Steve to design their boat, that puts him in a leage all of his own. Fortunately he also likes designing smaller boats - there are 4 kayak models. I have a digitized picture of the Endeavour 17 that will give you an idea of what it will look like. Let me know if you need this I will attempt to email it to you. It's pretty boat. If your interested in learning to build this type of boat check out WoodenBoat or Bear Mountain Web sites - they build the Endeavour 17 in class. I highly recommend it. They are taught by Ted Moores of CanoeCraft fame. Good Luck

Messages In This Thread

Opinions on Venture 14
Preston Seu -- 6/30/1998, 12:37 am
Re: Opinions on Venture 14
larry -- 7/4/1998, 11:07 am