: Bruce, after building my banana boat, it started as a NorthBay on the drawing
: board then got totally reworked, with much more bow volume and rocker, it
: struck me how much tension the spread sheer clamp construction puts into
: the ends limiting the dead rise angle to a tight degree. It looks good but
: without a high bow, long overhang or moderate rocker the bow tends towards
: a low volume at the waterline exacerbating any weathercocking or bow
: burying tendencies. Hulls that are built up over molds or simply without
: sheerclamps did better in that area. Any thoughts?

On the XL I originally added dead rise to the panels before I put on the sheer clamps, but after I kluged it together, I decided to go to the original profile. The additional dead rise was too overpowering visually. And I was worried about weathercocking. I have never built over molds as I do not want to spend as much time building the stongback/mold as I spend on the boat.The shortened versions have very little rocker and moving the seat/coaming back absolutely cures the weathercocking. I do not have any trouble with the bow diving into waves. The volume in the bow appears to be ok. The full size with the seat in the CLC position does weathercock slightly and takes a strong lean to turn, Shortening the lenght by 18 inches and moving the weight center back changes it completly. The boat is agile, stable and takes a whole lot less effort to move through the water. I use it during the winter and use the smaller 20 inch beam boat durring the summer. zI never paddle the standard lenght XL.(The 20"beam 17 foot Northbay is not what you would call stable, but it sure is fun.) PS: John at CLC conceded that moving the seat back would improve the handling.
Bruce