Re: ch17lt narrowing

Posted by J.Schott on Jul 22, 2005

I wanted a boat that could be rolled easier than my ch17. I am still in the learning stage of rolling, but my re-entries are down pat from unsucessful roll attempts. There are so many mods that I forget what they all are. I wanted a boat similar to the AH or Betsie Bay boats and had the plans in the garage, so I made my own. The narrowing process was pretty simple. The side panels are unchanged, except the stern, from the standard 17lt. I came up with a numeric value to multiply the standard offset measurements of the chine. This gave me the same bottom panel, just narrower. I belive all the chine offsets were multiplied by .9 to get the final modified measurement. The first and last 3 stations are unchanged from the plans, as is all of the keel measurements. Once I got down to the ends of the panels the offsets were changed so little that they blended into the original plan beautifully. Both bottom panels were narrowed by 1" to give the boat a 22" beam. The final outcome is exactly what I was aiming for. The boat is very nimble and tracks well. The primary stability is less than my 17, which was expected, but the secondary stability is better. The tipping point is more predictable which makes it easy to edge the boat. The down side, I am too fat to really enjoy it. Since there is really no coaming or back rest to lean on, my stomach and hip flexor muscles really take a beating. Oh yeah I forgot to mention, the aft deck is flat so there is only about 7" from the keel to the coaming behind the seat, nothing for my lazy butt to lean on. I can paddle the 17 much longer since I can relax and lean on the back rest. I love both boats because they are so different. The modified boat is about 15lbs lighter so it's easier to hoist on top of my truck when I want to go down to the lake for a bit of quiet time. I hope this helped, I have been working 6 day weeks in a 100+ degree shop. My mental capacities are not all there, so I hope this wasn't too confusing. If you have any more questions feel free to ask.-Joey


Photos from "Schott Skunkworks"

In Response to: ch17lt narrowing by scott on Jul 22, 2005

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