It would be interesting, and perhaps instructive, to ponder the future of amateur home-built sea-kayak developments over the next several years, in terms of design: materials: and construction methods.
On the design front, I guess that the basic parameters for sea-kayaks already exist, but could we see a move away from the more traditionally-based designs with upswept bows and/ or sterns to more ‘modern’ interpretations? And will computer-assisted design programmes become more accessible to the amateur designer-builder? In terms of materials, widespread use of exotics may still remain outside the realm of the amateur builder, but what else might be on the horizon replacing or augmenting ply and/ or timber stripping? Current construction methods appear set in concrete, with a few minor variations on the themes of S&G and strip-plank, but is anything else likely to appear that might be adapted by the home builder? I exclude skin-on-frame from this as it appears to be a minority interest, although still a valid approach. I’d find it interesting to hear the views of others. Always nice to think about ‘what might be’! Get those creative thinking caps on, guys! WordsmithI just had the opportunity to sped a week with a friend in Boston who is sailing in the Volvo Ocean Race. The sailboats are 70-ft in length and average 25 knots and due to their speed are always close hauled it seems. What I learned is that the placement of the chines was very important to the strategy - whether they anticipated more or less time in heavy vs light air. there was also the matter of materials - lots of money begets a lot of carbon fiber material. Still, at the end of the day it was all about weight and hull design. Imagine a mono-hull sailboat cruising at 25kn in 20 kn wind. Can we apply the same principals to kayak design. I don’t know. After may years of sailing I am on my first kayak build. JD