: I built a Chesapeake 18' that I am very happy with, needed a big gear hauler.
: I'd like to build another similar kayak, but 17' and 1 1/2 - 2 inches
: narrower.
: I can see how shortening between stations will be an easy way to get to 17'.

: When you reduce the beam, where do you take the space from so that the bottom
: curve of the sides still matches the outside edge curve of the bottom?
: Narrowing the bottom should reduce the length of the outside curve making
: the side pieces too long???

: Thanks
: Randy

There are a couple of ways of tackling this. One is to scale ALL the measurements (not just the length) by some appropriate percentage. One guy here in NZ turned a Chesapeake 17 into a 23 foot double this way.

The other way, which (I am told)is fine for minor changes in beam is just to build the boat normally using a shorter spreader stick. If the panels dont match, the offending bit just get trimmed off.
You will get a slightly deeper V along the keel, and slightly less rocker doing it this way. With such a small change to the beam, I dont really think the difference in panel length is going to be a problem.
When I built my first boat, I deliberately left the bottom panels about 4" long at the stern, and trimmed them to match the sides after stitching in case I had made a terrible blunder-I built it from the plans in the New Kayak Shop book, and some of the printing was a bit hard to read on account of its size.
I hope to get to the stitching part in a couple of weeks, so I will let you know how it goes.

Pete