Scotty

Yes I can see your concerns and I'm not saying their not valid. I did not
catch the begining of this thread, only the post with the said link, nor
that someone wanted a two person boat in the first place. I think you could
do one at about 10 feet without problem, 12 feet for sure, you would need to
have a system worked out for a sliding seat to keep a good trim. (amazing
what a little trim can do for a guy) for going from two people to one.
I will say that though that the calmer waters shown in front of our house
on my site are followed by rappids both up and down river, and I have been
through them in my small boats that are only 24" on the bottom, maybe not
for the faint of heart, or inexperienced, but certainly most doable. We
have done 10 mile floats down river in ours from Sultan to Monroe. We do
occasionally portage, but that is the coward factor that has kept me alive
all these years!.
My fatter personal drift boat WILL have fore and aft decks and about a 6"
cap on the sides. I also sit much lower in my boats than he.
I should also note that I would not recomend using a boat like this in the
winter unless you were on calm water, period.


From the rocky shores of the Skykomish river
David Bosworth
http://www.premier1.net/~daveb/

Backyard Renegade wrote in message
om...
"David Bosworth" wrote in message
...
I think your coming down a bit harsh on the guy, I have seen canoes and
those small squareish kayaks go through better water than that.

Those Kayaks and Canoes are probably closed in and full to the brim
with flotation bags. The Canoes are what they refer to as OC1. There
is some discussion amongst paddlers, with the way you are tucked into
the cockpit of an OC1 with a full deck, sprayskirt, and nothing but
you, your clothes and float bags in the boat, weather these are
actually canoes at all or just funny shaped kayaks that you kneel in
They are not the canoes you see on local lakes, and if they are
they are outfitted, as is the paddler, for those conditions, outfitted
in fact more like a kayak, but that is a discussion for another group.
Still the point is, this kind of water:
http://www.fishingnorthwest.com/imag...sdrftboat8.jpg
and open, flat bottom, 7 1/2 foot boats just don't match. Especially
if the boat does not have proper flotation.
Don't even get me wrong here, I just want to see the origional poster
get a boat *he* can use, and although, the fellow who built this boat
may be very comfortable in it in these conditions, I don' think the
average boater would find it to be the right tool for the job he
described, remember, he is looking for a driftboat for two.
Scotty, the usual suspect