: How crazy would it be to design my own kayak?
: I've been paddling a Great Auk (17’ 23”) for 5 years, smooth
: Southern Cal coastal waters, mostly point to point. Love it,
: good average speed, strong paddler (for an old guy).

: What I would like to build next is a 20' 20" wide, swedeform,
: but not a surfski. I paddle hard. Last weekend I paddled into at
: least a 20-25 knot headwind, made steady progress for more than
: an hour, and could've done more but Palos Verdes was in the way.
: So I think whatever extra drag a 20'er might have won't be a
: problem. I'd go 22' and 18" but that's too far out there.
: I’m hoping I can gain a full knot over my GreatAuk.

: Plans--there don’t seem to be any that quite fit the bill. Maybe
: I missed something. Nick’s Mystery is clearly the closest
: option. (I don't need to follow race rules. What might the
: Mystery Pirate be like? 22' ? )

: I've made a design with Kayakfoundry (but I had to turn in my PC)
: so now I'm fiddling with BearBoatSP on my Mac, or I can put the
: KFoundry files into a CAD app.
: steep bow, swedeform 11' wide point, draft 4", steep stern.
: I am willing to spend a couple of months and risk $1000 and wind up
: with a floating educational experience.
: I can't see any serious downside except getting 1. non-optimal
: stability 2. a little too much drag (my Auk weighs 75 lbs--I
: don't think I could do that again if I replaced western cedar
: with bricks), 3. difficult to turn (I'm a rudder-boy anyway).
: So my question is: Just how risky would it be to design my own
: boat?

: Or just vote:
: ___ Go ahead, good luck
: ___ Quit worrying, just build the Mystery

: Thanks for reading, and any advice.
: Will

I tend also to be a fairly strong paddler but the long skinny boats have much more drag all the time, even when you're not paddling hard. So you need to look at your average paddling to see if you're always paddling hard or only doing it sometimes. Much over 20' and the drag will be higher than the available power unless you're often surfing off waves. These very long boats also have to be very carefully constructed and engineered to allow them to be light enough to carry while being strong enough to not come apart while paddling. Awfully easy to make a 20' boat that weighs 80 + lbs. or probably worse a very light 20 footer that is overly flexible or won't handle the stresses and starts to come apart. It's not just the design that's important.

Bill H.