: I have the plans for a kayak that is almost 19' and would like to change the
: design into a 17' for storage and building reasons (basically room). Has
: anyone here used the formula in Nick's book to scale down (or even UP) a
: design? I know I have to take into consideration displacement, but by
: scaling it down it better suits my weight. If I keep the cockpit in the
: same location, balance shouldn't be a problem either. I plan on keeping
: the width the same too.

: Any experiences? Thoughts?

with the little bit of design experience I have... I would say that if you are going to change the length of the boat and plan on keeping the same hull/performance characteristics you should scale down every single measurement by a given percent... so if you are going from 19 to 17 feet you should scale down all other measurements 11% or so... it will make for awkward measurements but in the long run your boat will perform exactly as the designer wanted. if you want a 17 foot boat you should get plans for a 17 foot boat... but with what you have you should either scale down the whole thing or sacrifice a proven design and take whatever you get from the modified design

For what it's worth

DAVE

yes goerge this is spell checked.