: I still have all of the stations from the Georgian Bay project (2
: sets actually). Could I just shave them down a bit (say ~10%)
: and reduce the distance between the stations by the same
: percentage to get a boat that would fit my ~145 lb wife a bit
: better OR should I consider a different design? If so, is 10%
: enough do you think? If it is not a good idea, what other
: designs should I consider based on the above criteria?

: Thank you in advance for your suggestions.

: -Jon

Scaling boats is not as simple as you might imagine, or perhaps it would be better to say that when you scale a boat, the result may not be quite what you expect.

If everything was scaled down by 10%, the kayak would be 10% shorter, 10% narrower and 10% lower. You might think you would have 90% of the stability you started with, however according to the formula used to calculate the stability of larger craft, you would actually have 66% of the stability you started with.

Not all the formulae intended for large yachts work perfectly when applied to kayaks, but the fact still remains that a 90% scale kayak has much, much less stability than the full size version and probably only about 2/3.

Have a look at this discussion on the subject.

http://www.woodworkforums.com/f33/scaling-down-128959/#post1253818