: Several years ago I was considering buying the plans to your North Star. You
: were good enough to email me 4 names of guys here on the Upper Left Coast
: who had also bought NS plans, so I could get some builder info. None of
: these people had made any progress, and it looked like daunting task for a
: neophyte. But now, with 2 more boats behind me and the helpful postings by
: Steve and Arthur, it looks doable.

: The question is, what are your impressions about how this boat paddles
: compared to the SOF versions, particularly those with the articulated
: 3-piece keelson?

: Several years ago I was considering buying the plans to your North Star. You
: were good enough to e-mail me 4 names of guys here on the Upper Left Coast
: who had also bought NS plans, so I could get some builder info. None of
: these people had made any progress, and it looked like daunting task for a
: neophyte. But now, with 2 more boats behind me and the helpful postings by
: Steve and Arthur, it looks doable.

: The question is, what are your impressions about how this boat paddles
: compared to the SOF versions, particularly those with the articulated
: 3-piece keelson?

My friend Bruce Lemmon makes very find SOF baidarkas. I have paddled his boats and they handle well.

I did not care for the seat he was using and the outfitting was not comfortable for me, so it’s hard for me to really compare his boats to mine. To be honest, I’d probably say I’d like mine better anyway.

Obviously I think the baidarka design is outstanding in speed, tracking and maneuverability.

Peter Hunt of Lil’Dauber boats tested boats at last year’s Newfound Rendezvous using GPS and told me my North Star and Shooting Star were the fastest boats there at cruising speed and sprint speed.

Protests can be registered with Peter.

Obviously I’m not going to pretend I’m not biased toward stripper construction over SOF (skin on frame, not son of a b - - -).

There is a lot of talk about the articulated frame of a baidarka increasing speed but I’ve not seen or heard any concrete evidence to support this so far. George Dyson who’s the major speed advocate on the baidarka design does not use an articulated frame on his boats. I don’t know of any pro builders who do.

I believe the articulated 3-piece keelson is more a function of building need then speed. I can’t find very many good clear usable 16’ - 18’ pieces of wood for my boats. I don’t know what yards the Eskimos were getting their wood from but it would seem quite plausible that they had to scarf pieces just like I do to fill their needs.

There is a lot of debate on this but no one I know of is making unusually fast articulated 3 -piece keelson baidarkas.

This is what they are talking about:

“Of all the skeleton and skin boats in the circumpolar regions, none are currently generating as much interest as those of the Aleutian archipelago. Without fail, all of the early chroniclers (that is. of the later 18th century) poured lavish praise upon these particular craft and likewise upon the skill of the native Americans whose crossings amaze paddlers today. These writers spoke of kayaks doing seven, eight and even ten knot speeds. Seven knots for a twelve foot boat? Scepticism rises. Yet these men were sailors who lived, and admittedly died, by the Art of Dead Reckoning and to whom the estimating of speed was therefore of the greatest importance. The seven and ten knot claims, at least, were made by comparison to speed of the observer’s own ships. This fact, in itself, is good reason for further investigation. An error of 10% could be expected but certainly not an error of 100% which would be required to reduce the claims to the present day speeds of three to five knots.”

Quoted from the introduction: ”On the Mysteries of the Aleut Kayak Builders” page 225, from the book “Contributions to Kayak Studies”, edited by E. Y. Arima, Canadian Museum of Civilization Mercury book series 1991.

This book and a 6 hour marathon lecture about baidarkas by George Dyson is what got me interested in building my stripper baidarka versions.

A SOF boat will require, I think, more maintenance than a stripper. The skin has to be removed every few years or less for inspection and repair as well as the frame. I ‘m uncertain on how the water proofness and rot proofness are maintained on the frame and what the life span of the boat is. Internal abrasion between the ribs and skin is another issue.

I believe a stripper is much lower maintenance and will last a very long time.

I think if you like strippers you’ll like my baidarkas and if you’re into SOF you’ll really like those baidarkas.

I think mine are better. But you knew that!

All the best,
Rob