Boat Building Forum

Find advice on all aspects of building your own kayak, canoe or any lightweight boats

Re: S&G: Any opinions of the Arctic Tern or Mergan
By:LeeG
Date: 9/3/2009, 2:39 am

: Interesting! I do like the looks and sportiness of the Penguino so I'll have
: to research that as well. I ordered the plans for the Merganser 17w just
: so I could have something to familiarize myself with before I actually
: start any building process. I'm hoping it gives me a better understanding
: of how everything goes together and if I don't build it I don't have too
: much invested.

The Merganser 17W is a very satisfying build and very attractive kayak. I trimed away 3/16" of the bow panels where they meet for about 16" in the bow to soften the entry and make it more maneuverable. I don't think what I did would have given the 17W the anomalous pivot point, if anything it should have decreased the weathercocking. A friend paddles it a lot and isn't bothered by the characteristic but in my mind it's a very different kayak than the 16,17,18 and needs some fine tuning.

The Penquino feels like a slightly bigger Necky Manitou 13. I'm going to fit it with a seat that puts me about 1" off the bottom.

I test paddled the Penquino on a moderately breezy day at all points to the wind and even though it's easily turned it was surprising neutral, very light weathercocking. I still overbuild kayaks for rough use but the neat thing about a 13' kayak is that overbuilt it's still pretty light compared to a 17'+ kayak that's overbuilt.

Messages In This Thread

S&G: Any opinions of the Arctic Tern or Merganser?
Jeff Schaber -- 9/2/2009, 3:12 pm
Re: S&G: Any opinions of the Arctic Tern or Mergan *LINK*
Chris Sperry -- 9/4/2009, 12:13 pm
Re: S&G: Any opinions of the Arctic Tern or Mergan
LeeG -- 9/2/2009, 10:34 pm
Re: S&G: Any opinions of the Arctic Tern or Mergan
Bill Hamm -- 9/3/2009, 9:55 am
Re: S&G: Any opinions of the Arctic Tern or Mergan
Jeff Schaber -- 9/2/2009, 11:13 pm
Re: S&G: Any opinions of the Arctic Tern or Mergan
LeeG -- 9/3/2009, 2:39 am
Re: S&G: Any opinions of the Arctic Tern or Mergan
Jeff Schaber -- 9/3/2009, 8:13 am
Re: S&G: Any opinions of the Arctic Tern or Mergan
LeeG -- 9/5/2009, 2:38 am
Re: S&G: Any opinions of the Arctic Tern or Mergan
george jung -- 9/2/2009, 10:44 pm
Re: S&G: Any opinions of the Arctic Tern or Mergan
LeeG -- 9/3/2009, 2:19 am
Re: S&G: Any opinions of the Arctic Tern or Mergan
Jim Farrelly------WebKitFormBoundary+jH3iW3RBvAm9G -- 9/2/2009, 9:05 pm