: Hi Reg: A beautiful design on Joe's incredibly graceful boat.
: At some point..would you comment some on what you did for hatches, and the
: deck line intallation.
: Look forward to hearing about your recent trip!
: Bob

Thanks Bob, I chose not to put hatches in this one, nor did I do hatches in my Coho. I have been camping out of whitewater kayaks for over thirty years and I don't find it that big a deal to get things out. Not having hatch access I did have to give some forethought to the deck fittings and grab handles. I installed twelve t-nuts in the deck. Two are 1/4" for the grab handles and eight are #10 for the deck bag/perimeter line turtles from Kajaksport. The near ones were installed to be out of the way for any sweep strokes etc.. The two center turtles on the front deck were placed at mid paddle blade while in rolling set up. Ever see someone try to roll with the blade under a deckline? All fittings are removable for waxing or refinishing the boat.

Ah, last weeks San Juan Islands trip. It was a great trip with great folks but the weather left a lot to be desired. We ended up getting in 37 miles in spite of the weather. We avoided the gale force winds and paddled in the windows of mild weather. The heaviest conditions were in East Sound on Orcas Island. Waves were bearly capping so I would guess 12-15 mph. I played around paddling in all directions and the boat was easily controlled. From a fully broached position I could bring it back around with very little edging and sweeping. I would still like to find the limits of the boat while paddling with some stronger paddlers. Joe said that it was balanced fore and aft for wind surface. I found this to be accurate. The more I paddle it, the more I like it.

Reg