I agree, it looks fantastic.

But consider this...

Lunch.

I'm just saying, maybe consider the hatches as it would add versatility to your craft. I partially would like to have hatch space on some of my builds.

i was enthralled by Nick's MOA night heron as well.....

but i ended up doing hatches....and frankly, i think it looks ok.  i do use my night heron a lot and was very particular about balancing aesthetics with functionality....and i just could not get comfortable without hatches and the issues it would create.....

in addition to lunch - and you can't paddle if you don't have lunch - there are just things that you may want to bring along - extra water, a small tripod chair, some extra clothes for changing weather, etc that if you don't have access to storage you may end up trying to put on the deck/under bungee....and that does not look nice.  in my night heron, for example,  i have a place for a camelback water bag that goes in the rear hatch and then lays up against the rear bulkhead and a  tube that comes out to bring me water - very slick - lots of fresh water - nothing on the deck :)...but need a rear hatch

next, the night heron is an awesome touring boat - which means you can click off a lot of miles and explore.....but if you want to do that, it really benefits from a retractable skeg....and its hard to have a skeg without a rear hatch.   and if you are going to have a rear hatch - a front hatch balances it out.  last year i took second place at the big-little-boat-festival in the eight mile event in my night heron....only beat by a purpose built racing style kayak.  but you will want a retractable skeg if you are doing distance work.

finally, this boat you should have bulkheads... and if you don't have a hatch, you can't ensure that your compartments are dry.   you could build without bulkheads and then you need to install float bags....but i think they are a real hassle to work with.

on hatches, there are a couple different hatch options that range from them being a decorative element to flush hatches that, if done well, practically disappear.  if i really wanted that look (no hatch look) i would consider one of the flush hatch options.  

below is my night heron...and on this boat i did some things to make the rigging blend in with the hull (except the neon - which was there to prevent people from running me over).  but i used a rigging scheme with no bolts and the accompanying silver dots....so its kind of like black on black....and i think it came out pretty slick.

finally, i would also say the night heron just paddles exceptionally....so you may find you want to use it becuase it just goes so well.... and that little functionality i talked about above will be valued...the one at MOMA isn't going anywhere.

h

   I'll echo what Howard said...

the one at MOMA isn't going anywhere

Nick builds some spectacular boats for the well-to-do. Many hang on the wall and never see water. A lot of them are missing what I would concider important safety features like deck lines and bulkheads (flotation chambers).

Again, as Howard noted, it is possible to hit the balance of esthetics and practicality.

Dan

Ever the contrarian, I say that hatchless is fine and in some cases better. I built my WR18 hatchless, with bulkheads and with a skeg. Here's how I handle the various iisues:

Lunch - Fits in the chest pocket of my spray skirt. Exra provisions can be tucked into an otter box which lives behind my seat. Energy-dense food with high electrolyte content is what you need for a day of paddling. Eat the high-fiber healthy nutrient (and high volume) stuff before you head out and after you've gotten back. When you're loading for fuel instead of feast, carbs and fats are your friends. Their high energy density will allow you to fuel yourself all day on a small easily carried bundle. Trail mixes, chocolate, salted nuts, etc. are the kind of thing that you want to carry. Some hard candies are good, too, for both fuel and keeping your mouth moist.

Water - 2-liter camelback on my back, another 2 liters in the cockpit for long trips and a couple of liters in the truck in case I come in dry. The water in the cockpit is in 1-liter bottles betweet my hips and the sidewalls. Right now they substitute for hip braces but eventually there will be hip braces with integral bottle holders.

Skeg - I installed a Guillemot retractable skeg before I attached the deck. With that design the blade slips over a stainless steel pin and is attached by a stainless steel cable. The housing is thicker than any other part of the boat except for the coaming and it is bedded and glassed the same way that the keel trunk on my schooner was - same thickness of fillets and same glassing schedule (that was for a 125-lb drop keel). The cable run is a piece of plastic tubing that is attached to the housing with 2 stainless steel hose clamps and sealed with RTV compound. In the event of a grounding, the blade may come loose or break, but any damage that would require internal access would also have made a hole in the hull. Everything except the plastic tubing can be easily serviced from the outside.

Sealed bulkheads - Both bulkheads have drain plugs at the top. The 1" diameter is enough to allow ventilation during storage as well as the insertion of tubing for pumping (including a vent tube). You can also insert lights and inspection cameras through the plugs, so keeping the volume dry and verifying that it is dry is no problem.

Extra stuff - I try not to bring any. I might not build my boats as light as Howard does, but leaving stuff on shore can make up for that and is a lot easier. The lightest, cheapest and easiest-to-pack stuff is the stuff you leave at home.

So hatchless life is not only possible, it's pretty easy if all you're doing is a day trip. Camping, of course, is a different story but I've got a Faering Cruiser for that.

Laszlo

laszlo has some great points....and i thought i could share some additional thoughts.

first, it's important to understand your boat and what you like to do for a paddle.

the night heron is only 20 inches wide....so it is a very narrow boat relative to a traditional touring kayak which will typically be 23 inches.   so water bottles as hip braces... while they work on a west river 180...probably are not going to work on a night-heron.   if i am not using a camel back, i have a holder for a 22 oz water bottle on the center line underneath deck right in front of the cockpit or put a water bottle behind me on the bungees.

as for lunch and where you put it, i like lunch.  while i have never camped over night on the boat, i do routinely go on relatively long day paddles with paddling time of three to five hours 12 - 20 miles and will take a long lunch break in the middle.    while i may carry energy bars and something quick to eat in my life vest, if you want a relaxing lunch, it will probably be challenging to get it all in your vest.  i like to actually keep my vest light, and while you can put a camelback on your back.....i prefer to not have my life vest loaded down with anything other than essentials.  i do a lot of group paddles, and while not over the top or very heavy, folks routinely are not focusing on the most compact approach.   i routinely see folks with a couple tuperware in a dry bag.. plus drinks.....just not stuff that you would typically put on a deck.

i certainly get the point about one inch holes/with drain plugs....and what you can do with them.  i would just say, the forward hatch will be far away deep in the cockpit....and well, inserting lights and camera's and trying to look into a one inch hole and is a bit beyond what i am prepared to subject myself to.  a hatch is just a lot easier.

my final point is about extra stuff....and i totally agree that i don't encourage extra stuff.  but there is a difference between extra stuff and stuff that you need to make your journey comfortable in addition to lunch.  for the longer paddles, for instance, its pretty common that the day may start cold and then warm up....and the ability to swap out some stuff can make the difference between suffering vs having a nice day.  my final point on this would be about safety.  try not to come home dry....stay well hydrated and make sure you have enough water and nutrition for the paddle you are anticipating.    

all this said, both options...hatches and hatchless are possible.   i think its really about knowing what you want to do.

h

laszlo has some great points....and i thought i could share some additional thoughts.

first, it's important to understand your boat and what you like to do for a paddle.

the night heron is only 20 inches wide....so it is a very narrow boat relative to a traditional touring kayak which will typically be 23 inches.   so water bottles as hip braces... while they work on a west river 180...probably are not going to work on a night-heron.   if i am not using a camel back, i have a holder for a 22 oz water bottle on the center line underneath deck right in front of the cockpit or put a water bottle behind me on the bungees.

as for lunch and where you put it, i like lunch.  while i have never camped over night on the boat, i do routinely go on relatively long day paddles with paddling time of three to five hours 12 - 20 miles and will take a long lunch break in the middle.    while i may carry energy bars and something quick to eat in my life vest, if you want a relaxing lunch, it will probably be challenging to get it all in your vest.  i like to actually keep my vest light, and while you can put a camelback on your back.....i prefer to not have my life vest loaded down with anything other than essentials.  i do a lot of group paddles, and while not over the top or very heavy, folks routinely are not focusing on the most compact approach.   i routinely see folks with a couple tuperware in a dry bag.. plus drinks.....just not stuff that you would typically put on a deck.

i certainly get the point about one inch holes/with drain plugs....and what you can do with them.  i would just say, the forward hatch will be far away deep in the cockpit....and well, inserting lights and camera's and trying to look into a one inch hole and is a bit beyond what i am prepared to subject myself to.  a hatch is just a lot easier.

my final point is about extra stuff....and i totally agree that i don't encourage extra stuff.  but there is a difference between extra stuff and stuff that you need to make your journey comfortable in addition to lunch.  for the longer paddles, for instance, its pretty common that the day may start cold and then warm up....and the ability to swap out some stuff can make the difference between suffering vs having a nice day.  my final point on this would be about safety.  try not to come home dry....stay well hydrated and make sure you have enough water and nutrition for the paddle you are anticipating.    

all this said, both options...hatches and hatchless are possible.   i think its really about knowing what you want to do.

h

   Guys, am in the middle of building a Night Heron and this discussion is quite motivating! Thanks for the different viewpoints.

Kurlanny

   You know one of the reasons we build our own boats is to do what we want with them.  If you build it without hatches you can put hatches in later if you change your mind.  It's easier to install one in than uninstall one out. However both are feasible. 

I built a hatchless stripper Greenlander Night Heron with no bulkheads in 2007-2009.

Joining the deck to the hull is definitely a challenge with no hatches, but it is doable.  I had planned to build with hatches, but the kayak was turning out considerably heavier than I had hoped, so I left off the hatches to save some weight and to finally finish the project before I ran out of steam (I stopped recording hours after 400).   I used the kayak for years without hatches or bulkheads.  I only did day trips and used long float bags to limit the flooding in the event of a wet exit.  I used a dry bag between the seat and the after float bag to carry stuff I didn't want on deck.  I eventually added an after bulkhead and a stern 8" deckplate hatch, sticking with a float bag for the bow.

So, building with hatches and bulkheads certainly makes a kayak easier to use, but I had many enjoyable years before I added a hatch and bulkhead.

Len

i wanted to bulld on Len's thoughtful comments above:

if you don't want hatches, you should consider working without bulkheads and use a float bag. to ensure the boat has buoyancy should it role over.

this also makes it very easy to ensure it gets dried out.

that said, i would be very careful without an aft bulkhead and the structural weakness it could create with no support under the back of the cockpit.    there are just so many common scenarios where somebody is going to accidently sit on the back of the coaming and with a rather flat aft deck, its hard for me to fanthom it not caving in if that happens.

however, the back bulkhead is readily accessable so you could go hatchless to start but install something like a 4 or 5 inch big beckson hatch that you could remove when storing the boat to ensure it all gets aired out/dry and just use a float bag for the front of the boat.

anyway....just my thoughts.

h