wandering wood duck

I need some help/advice. I built the 12 foot wood duck a couple years ago, and love the boat since I only fish out of it. My problem is that my wood duck does not track well with a cross wind of any kind. Am I doing something wrong, or do I need to add some type of rudder. I am really stocky if that would have any bearing.


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RE: wandering wood duck

Is the bottom of the boat straight and symmetrical? No hooks or curves? If so, it could be all you need is to repack the boat or move the seat a bit.

Does it turn into or away from the wind? If it turns into the wind, move some weight (2 to 4 lbs) from front to back. If it turns away from the wind, move some weight from back to front.

Stocky should actually help some with tracking since that will push more of the bottom into the water, increasing the lateral plane area. Where it will hurt is if it increases the "sail" area. Again, moving forward or backward will fix or at least help with that (same directions as above).

Paddling technique is also a possibility. Pay attention to how you're paddling and see if you notice yourself doing something that could be causing the wandering (maybe unconsciously leaning into the wind or something). Even better, have an experienced paddler check you and your boat out.

Good luck,

Laszlo

 

 

 

RE: wandering wood duck

Im not an experienced paddler but with my WD10 I find that pressure on the foot rests has a big effect on tracking.  I also find myself holding the paddle slightly off center in relation to my body in strong winds to have more leverage on one side. 

My boat usually points into the wind in strong cross winds so I use pressure on the upwind foot rest.  If that alone is not enough I will either offset my paddle to the upwind side of my body or just use a stronger stroke on the upwind side but leave my grip centered on the paddle. 

Right or wrong technique I dont know but it is what I find I like.  Would like to hear more experienced thoughts.  If your boat always turns the same direction in calm conditions I would suspect the bottom isnt straight.

RE: wandering wood duck

I don't know if its considered a good technique, but like Atwoodyducker mentioned, I also find that holding my paddle slightly off-center helps me keep my Chesapeake 16LT on track in a crosswind.

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