G'day all! I just finished building the 17' Endeavour from Steve Killing's design. I think it's a beautiful boat that'll suit my needs as far as camping goes and such. My problem however is that now that the boat's finished, and I've tried it out in a few different situations, I find it doesn't really track all too well. Now I'll admit, I'm pretty new to kayaking, but as far as I'm concerned, my skills are "up to par" so that shouldn't really be a problem. Now, when I talked with some other builders about the possibility of putting a rudder on this boat, the advice I was given was "it's up to you". I don't like rudders myself, and I thought that the design could do without one. But now I see that I made a mistake, and I would like some advice on fixing the problem.. I can see a few options offhand:

1) a skeg - a stupid looking thing that takes away from the beauty of the boat.

2) put up with it - don't do anything, leave it the way it is regardless of how hard I have to work to keep the boat from trailing off course.

3) a fixed rudder - a rudder that I would somehow fasten to the kayak in a more or less permanent way

4) a removalble rudder - a rudder that I could somehow attach to the stern that in the event I don't want it I can remove it (so far I like this one, but I've got a case of "designers block" trying to figure out how it should work/look)

5) sell the boat for scrap, and start all over with a different design..

Any comments/suggestions/experiences/etc... in regards to this topic would greatly be appreciated..

P.S. Has anyone here ever built one of Bear Mountain's Kayak desings such as the Endeavour?