Making the double

By popular demand, some info and picks about making the double kayak.

I started by ordering plans for the Chesapeake Double, but was advised that it was really a lake tourer for 'Fat Americans' - stereotype or tautology depending on your point of view, and that I should consider the Sport Tandem instead.
Unfortunately, the plans revealed that this was too long to fit in the workshop, and so with some trepidation, I decided to have a go at adapting a design in 'The New Kayak Shop' by Chris Kulczycki. Essentially it is a cut and shut design, stretching a Chesapeake by adding about 18 inches of length to the mid-section, while (hopefully) retaining the proven lines. This left some anxiety about exactly where to place the cockpits, and how to arrange the deck line such that the forward paddler was not 'swamped' - hence the 'step'.

Construction pictures:

Canadians

Took the Canadians - people not boats - for a trip down the Straits in calm and very warm conditions. Tony who is an experienced seakayaker from Salt Spring Island (near Vancouver Island, BC) used an Anglesey Stick for the first time and was an instant convert. 

Susan and Tony were both good a finding fossils wherever we stopped, and were impressed by the 'history' emailing this comment once they were back home:

We really enjoyed the paddling trip, we were out of shape, but paddling alongside such history and pageantry is so beyond our scope here that I think of it constantly.  Here there is  NO history, there it is ALL history. Loved it.

Shots from the trip to visit Nelson (about 20k paddle, but riding the tide, so equivalent to about a 12k trip).

Low key paddling

Tim only had a couple of hours to spare, but the weather on Saturday was warm with light winds, so we had to get on the water. A trip round Llanddwyn beckoned. Rich and I paddled the double (still in sea trials really), and Tim his Capella on the way out, with Rich and Tim in the double on the way back. Why am I boring you with this detail? - speed versus effort. Without us really noticing until we talked about it later, the doubles pair were gentle cruising most of the time while whoever was in the single was paddling hard to keep up.


Sausages served on 'the plate' and very strong tea courtesy of Tim's trangia, and too many tea-bags. The very observant will notice that the picture is actually from another trip - nobody managed a camera........
Lots of wildlife to look at, particularly seals, though we gave them a wide berth as it is the season for their own wide births.

The stealth boat

I have been cheering up the 'teach yourself boat-building boat' which looked rather sorry for itself in comparison to the double.
The boat is built from plans for the Chesapeake 16 LT (Light Tourer) from Fyne Boat Kits, very cheap ply, and various scraps of wood that were laying around.
After the first round of construction it looked like this.
Once Catherine paddled it on a reasonable trip (20k), it deserved a make-over, and now looks a little better, if somewhat fishy. Note the sophisticated deck hatch made from a BDH bottle embedded in foam, improved cockpit rim, footrests, etc.





The question now is - what to build next?
and who for?