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Re: Skin-on-Frame: kayak proportions
By:JohnAbercrombie
Date: 12/12/2014, 7:20 pm
In Response To: Re: Skin-on-Frame: kayak proportions (Allan)

A paddler needs to be able to go faster than roughly 4.5 knots or about 8 km/h to get any benefit from a waterline length over about 15 feet. So unless your daughter is stronger than average, she would probably be slower in an 18 foot kayak than a 15 footer because of the increased wetted area. On the other hand if you go down to 14 feet, that is getting closer to the point where she will fairly soon be limited by the potential speed of the hull.

My suggestion is consider something close to 15 feet and keep it quite narrow.

Those are good points about waterline length and wetted surface.
One thing to remember is that in a design with lotsa overhang on the ends (Greenland, Brit Boat) there's a big difference between LOA and LWL.

A 13.5' Mariner Coaster has about the same waterline length as a 16' NDK Romany, for example (and has no trouble keeping up, either). Most casual sea kayak paddles in my club seem to average in the 3-3.5 knot range, so maximum speed potential of the boat isn't much of an issue. As mentioned, the wetted area is likely to be more important.

Messages In This Thread

Skin-on-Frame: kayak proportions
Gero Verheyen -- 12/12/2014, 4:49 pm
Re: Skin-on-Frame: kayak proportions
Allan -- 12/12/2014, 6:30 pm
Re: Skin-on-Frame: kayak proportions
JohnAbercrombie -- 12/12/2014, 7:20 pm
Re: Skin-on-Frame: kayak proportions
Gero Verheyen -- 12/12/2014, 10:37 pm
Re: Skin-on-Frame: kayak proportions
JohnAbercrombie -- 12/12/2014, 11:00 pm
Re: Skin-on-Frame: kayak proportions
Marc Upchurch -- 12/13/2014, 9:57 am
Re: Skin-on-Frame: kayak proportions
Gero Verheyen -- 12/13/2014, 1:53 pm
Re: Skin-on-Frame: kayak proportions
George Groshong -- 12/13/2014, 2:32 pm
Re: Skin-on-Frame: kayak proportions *PIC*
JohnAbercrombie -- 12/13/2014, 3:40 pm
Re: Skin-on-Frame: kayak proportions
Gero Verheyen -- 12/13/2014, 4:28 pm
Re: Skin-on-Frame: kayak proportions
john vanburen -- 12/15/2014, 9:40 am
Re: Skin-on-Frame: kayak proportions *PIC*
Gero Verheyen -- 12/15/2014, 10:31 am
Re: Skin-on-Frame: kayak proportions
JohnAbercrombie -- 12/15/2014, 2:29 pm
Re: Skin-on-Frame: kayak proportions
Gero Verheyen -- 12/15/2014, 4:59 pm
Re: Skin-on-Frame: kayak proportions *PIC*
Mike Bielski -- 12/15/2014, 10:44 pm
Re: Skin-on-Frame: kayak proportions
Gero Verheyen -- 12/15/2014, 11:01 pm
Re: Skin-on-Frame: kayak proportions *PIC*
Mike Bielski -- 12/15/2014, 11:19 pm
Re: Skin-on-Frame: kayak proportions
Gero Verheyen -- 12/16/2014, 9:03 am
Re: Skin-on-Frame: kayak proportions
Mike Bielski -- 12/15/2014, 11:28 pm
Re: Skin-on-Frame: kayak proportions
Gero Verheyen -- 12/15/2014, 11:03 pm
Re: Skin-on-Frame: kayak proportions
Bill Hamm -- 12/16/2014, 12:18 am
Re: Skin-on-Frame: kayak proportions
Marc Upchurch -- 12/16/2014, 8:00 pm
Re: Skin-on-Frame: kayak proportions
Mike Bielski -- 12/16/2014, 9:33 pm
Re: Skin-on-Frame: kayak proportions
Gero Verheyen -- 12/16/2014, 10:35 pm
Re: Skin-on-Frame: kayak proportions
Mike Bielski -- 12/16/2014, 11:22 pm
Re: Skin-on-Frame: kayak proportions
Gero Verheyen -- 12/16/2014, 11:29 pm
Re: Skin-on-Frame: kayak proportions
Bill Hamm -- 12/17/2014, 12:50 am
Re: Skin-on-Frame: kayak proportions
Mike Bielski -- 12/17/2014, 9:33 am
Re: Skin-on-Frame: kayak proportions
Bill Hamm -- 12/17/2014, 12:48 am
Re: Skin-on-Frame: kayak proportions
Gero Verheyen -- 12/17/2014, 7:39 am