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posted to rec.boats.paddle
(PeteCresswell)
 
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Default One-Off Construction?

Long time ago, I read what sounded like a comprehensive account of a couple's
construction of a one-off composite kayak. Unfortunately, I didn't capture the
web pages and they seem to have been taken off the net.

(http://pluto.njcc.com/~fmec/ returns HTTP 404: File not found...)


My agenda is that I'm kind of large (6'5", 48" X-seam, broad hips) and I have a
semi-custom lifeguard spec surf ski that fits me....almost.... I've been
paddling it for about five seasons, but the seat well is a good inch too narrow
and higher that I want to begin with.

By the time I pad it up to where my hips don't hit the sides I've got stability
problems - i.e. I spend more time in the water than I want to - and it I'd
guess that my ability to learn better balance probably got tapped out after the
second or third season.

There are a number of surf ski builders that claim to do custom, but each time
I've tried to nail one down for a boat to fit me, the answer has been that my
particular case is too much custom work to be cost-effective.

I like the thing I'm paddling now except for the seat well.

So the thought crossed my mind that maybe the way to go is one-off construction
using this one as a mould/starting point, ripping off an imprint of a seat well
that fits from some other boat, and morphing them.

Anybody had experience in doing something like this themselves or successfully
contracting it out?

I don't plan on learning just to do it once - but am wondering if there's any
chance of finding somebody who knows what they're doing to do it for a cost
that's not too out-of-sight compared to an off-the-shelf ski.

--
PeteCresswell