I have been toying with the idea of a tandem for a while now. A friend that has never paddled asked me if I had one. Said has wanted to go paddling but since she had never been she liked the idea of going 'with' someone in a boat. That made sense to me. Since I have been toying with the idea anyway I was thinking I might work on a design for a tandem even if I never build it.

I have some basic questions that I simply do not know the answer too. Where do you locate the cockpits relative to the LCB? I place the backband 14" back from the LCB and so far all my boats have balanced quite well with no weather cocking at all.

No clue where to put it on a tandem. My first thought is use that as a center point and place the cockpits equal distance from that point. But that is just a guess.

Also, what is the 'normal' spacing between the coamings/paddlers? I can measure and come up with something but just wondering if there is a typical measurement? Obviously don't want to be kicking the person up front in the rear end all the time. Of course I can see where that could be a good thing too! :) A little motivation maybe.

Last question. Assuming this would be a long boat is a rudder an advantage? I am not a big fan of rudders but with a newbie in the front and a longish boat that could be a little hard to turn, it seems like a rudder might be a good addition?

Jeff