I love my Waterlust Sailing Canoe!
I purchased the boat from the original owner/builder. We think this is WaterlustCanoe #3, the first kit sold after the pair of prototypes were born. I did a lot of work refining, customizing, dialing in the details and finally built the outrigger kit. Building the little amas was fun. Preparing a saggy table and laminating the aka was more involved.
-Outrigger kit - As advertised, the outriggers expand the capabilities of the boat. A sailor can relax a bit more, reef a little later, be afforded a mistake or two, and feel safer in cold water and higher winds. I might not recommend the WaterlustCanoe to a beginning sailor, but the added outriggers make it much more possible. I prefer to sail the WaterlustCanoe without the outriggers, but I put them on for higher winds and cold water. They work great!
-Seating - After trying a few different seats in my WaterlustCanoe, I've settled on an Ergoboost seat from Pelican Kayaks. Designed for fishing, two seats in one, it has a sitting place on the back of the chair. When the chair back is folded closed, you can sit perched up a bit higher to be ready for hiking. I cut half-round notches in the boat's chair rails at various intervals to accommodate the seat frame securely. It is important that the chair is secure so it won't slide back when pedaling, but easy to slide back out of the way for sailing. When sailing from the seated pedaling position, you'll often need to get up quickly to hike out, and it can be hard if seated low. That is why I like the upper perch on the Ergoboost seat. I often sail standing as well, shifting weight from one leg to the other.
-Floatation - The boat has plenty of buoyancy built into the ample storage compartments, but the space under the aft decking, behind the cockpit is wide open. I found that a Rugid BigStone 120 liter drybag fills the space nicely. A waterproof suitcase / floatation bag with an air valve for inflation.
-HobiePedalDrive - Also called MirageDrive. It seems that the Waterlust Canoe was designed around the Hobie pedal drive which works way better than paddling this boat. Your legs are bigger muscles than your arms. When not sailing, the pedal drive is the strong point of the boat, adding a modern advance to an otherwise traditional craft. I was glad to meet the inventor of the Hobie pedal system, who based the propulsion on penguin flippers. I was first drawn to the WaterlustCanoe because of my experience with HobieAdventureIsland kayaks, where the Mirage pedal drive originated.
-Steering - For pedal cruising with no sails, I like two tillers about 9' long, one for each hand. When sailing, I prefer only one shorter tiller, 8' long. I think it's push-pull on one tack and pull-push on the other, you'll know if you do it wrong. Sometimes my tiller interferes with the forward end of the mizzen boom sailing on a certain tack.
-Ballast - The primary ballast is your movable body, of course, but a little more in the right place helps too when sailing this skinny hull. The Waterlust is a full figured expedition canoe, just asking to haul the weight of some gear. When day sailing with an empty boat, I add a couple of items; I carry a 15 pound mushroom anchor that nestles on one side or the other of the dagger trunk, moving it for each tack. Sailing with the pedal drive removed, I plug the pedal drive hole with a 5 pound custom "ballast bar", secured by the pedal clips. I also have an optional daggerboard that is extra long and heavy. With all that, the big canoe almost thinks it is a keelboat.
-Daggerboards - For now I have abandoned the original wood daggerboard to use two manufactured fiberglass boards that are foil shaped. My favorite gives the boat a draft of 29". Shorter than the original tapered design, but about the same surface area. The larger option is a long, heavy Nacra catamaran board, modified with a bit of added lead at the very bottom, draws 41". Solid feel, but too big to handle comfortably. I also made a thwart seat that doubles as a spare shoal draft daggerboard.
-Sails - I think the boat is more balanced and sails best under full sail, including the mizzen sail. With the mainsail far forward, I am not crowded by the boom. My mainsheet is custom mounted in the unused aft mast step. It goes great in light wind and I reef after baby-caps grow into true whitecaps. I find the sail rig a bit heavy and the mast like a log. I fantasize about a lighter weight carbon fiber mast for a Marconi rig with a jib, but will probably leave the traditional rig well enough alone.