: Tom,

: You certainly have more experience than I do. I have built only three S&G’s
: and fussed with skegs and seat location to trim for wind. I can only agree
: that it is easier to move the paddler (and seat) if there is room in the
: cockpit opening and clearance forward is usually more available than back.
: In S&G’s bulkheads limit how far the coaming can be moved.

: One can make a good attempt to design a wind neutral kayak by balancing the
: lateral areas above and below the waterline. The wind force acts through
: the centroid of the area above the water. And the lateral force of the
: water acts the centroid of the area under the waterline. So the trick is
: line the two centroids up vertically. If the wind centroid is behind the
: water centroid the kayak will weathercock. So you go to the trouble to
: design a kayak with the length, width, rocker, chine height, center of
: buoyancy location, deck height, bow height, stern height, etc. you want.
: Then you check the lateral areas and centroid locations and then adjust
: the bow height and stern height to align the area centroids. You should
: have a kayak that is close to being balanced. But when a kayak moves
: through the water its center of lateral resistance moves back. So all of
: this lateral area calculation is approximate. So in the end you move the
: heaviest weight (the paddler and seat) to trim the kayak. And if you do a
: test paddle during construction you can move the coaming while moving the
: seat location. Moving the paddler back increases the bow height, lowers
: the stern height, raises the forward keel (increases forward rocker) and
: lowers the aft keel (decreases aft rocker) all reduce weathercocking. It
: also moves the lateral area above the waterline forward, moves the lateral
: area below the waterline back, and moves the center of buoyancy back. All
: this number crunching (engineering) is supposed to reduce the number of
: prototypes necessary to create the final design. In building a touring
: kayak, it probably is quicker to just build the prototypes.

: Have a great year,
: Dave

Biggest reason I've found for designing a boat that weathercocks is if you try to make it wind/current neutral you can end up with leecocking in certain circumstances and that trait can be dangerous.

Bill H.