: Short boats may be cute but, that's about all. The short waterline guarantees
: funky hydrodynamics. Read slow. Read poor glide. Read poor tracking.
: Hull speed will be the square root of the waterline length times 1.34. Altho'
: most of us aren't interested in hull speed we all want as much glide as we
: can get. If you build short you arte giving away glide.
: I paddle a 14 foot pirogue. It has a 12 foot waterline and is much harder to
: propel than my kayak which has a 15+ foot waterline. The pirogue is S&G
: and is 45 lb. The kayak is S&G and 35lb. I can go twice as far in the
: longer boat. The pirogue is a lot easier to portage and easier to fish out
: of but, that's about all.

Waterline length alone isn't everything for speed, nor glide. Biggest problem with a very short boat is it's very difficult to make it directionally stable, won't go in a straight line. So you spend considerable effort steering.

Bill H.

Bill H.