I built a Wood Duck Double from a kit last year and wanted to pass along some of my impressions of this amazingly versatile boat. I've documented my build and customization process in a blog titled "Building the 'Swiss Army Knife' of Small Boats...Wood Duck Double" on Lumberjocks.com.
The boat is light, fast, and stable. I've paddled it standing up to test its stability and haven't taken a swim yet during these short demos to friends and family! I took a utility approach on this build and painted it flat green. This was incredibly freeing as I didn't have to be as picky as with a "bright" build.
I use it to 1) paddle solo in Lake Superior with a solo spray deck I devised that includes a coaming ring that fits my high performance spray skirt, 2) paddle with my 60-pound lab in Lake Superior (he has his own spray skirt), 3) paddle tandem with my wife in Lake Superior with a similar spray deck that includes two coaming rings, 4) kayak fish with features that include an Anchor Wizard, anchor trolley, Helix 7 fish finder, and a 30-quart cooler, 5) hunt ducks with a devestatingly effective layout blind, and 6) speed along with a Torqeedo Ultralight 1103 AC electric motor.
Major modifications include 1) a fixed hip brace at the stern position, 2) removable hip brace at the solo position, 3) removable hip brace at the forward paddling position, 4) removable 4" raised seat platform for the solo position, 5) Rule 1100 electric bilge pump, 6) Smart Track toe-control rudder pedals at the stern position, 7) Feather Craft sliding rudder system at the solo/forward position (needed more leverage to steer the Torqeedo) 8) removable forward shelf to hold my fish finder, transducer arm, throttle, and hook removal kit, and 9) motor mount for the Torqeedo motor.
The boat really needs a hip brace at the solo position to strengthen the huge, "flexy" cockpit. 84" is a long distance to go without bracing the coaming to the floor in some way. That's an easy, but necessary modification/improvement. The huge cockpit can be a "bane", but that is also what makes this boat so incredibly versatile.
The boat is probably intended for calmer water and the long, low cockpit takes on a lot of water in the steep chop I encounter in Lake Superior. That's why I built the custom spray decks to keep the water out and make the boat more seaworthy.
Regarding the calm water aspect of the boat, it's almost impossible to do a wet reentry when swamped due to the massive cockpit and the low sides. Water pours in during reentry from the sides. You can reenter from the stern in calm conditions. I solved this issue by installing a Rule 1100 electric bilge pump system. This allows bailing of the boat before reentry and works quite well.
The boat makes an excellent layout kayak for duck hunting. I used it all last season with good success. I fabricated a blind that allows me to transport 18 full-size decoys, 2 goose floaters, my 60-pound lab, 12-gauge shotgun, and my blind bag. Ducks literally land at my feet. This setup is right at the 400-pound load capacity and the blind helps keep waves out of the boat!
The Torqeedo motor is probably stretching things a bit for this boat, but I reinforced the rear deck to make it work. I epoxied wood wedges for the top to level it off for the motor mount and epoxied a layer of 1/4" plywood under the deck aft of the rear hatch. I tested the motor for the first time today and was pleasantly surprised at its performance. I had a top, no-wind speed of 8.7 mph and the Torqeedo calculated a range of 31 miles at 5 mph! That's a testament to how fast the hull is designed. I'm looking forward to kayak fishing this summer with an electric motor.
That's it for my praises as well as "nits" of the Wood Duck Double kayak. I've owned 26 small boats over the years and built 10...this is by far my favorite boat!