Sea Island Sport Customizing....?

I posted earlier about rigging the Wood Duck for fishing. Then I found the Sea Island Sport. I think that would be a better fit for rigging with fishing gear. I guess my question is how much can be customized on these boats? I think I would like to enlarge the cockpit area. I dont want to take away anything that may be structural though.

 

How much support from the designers do you receive here during the build? 

 

Thanks,

Matt


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RE: Sea Island Sport Customizing....?

I saw your other post and was thinking about a reply.

I have a WS Ride 135, a WS Pamlica 10' a new Wood Duck Hybrid 12 and a Mill Creek 16.5 Double all fitted out for fishing. The plastic SOT Ride is great for fishing, but not in bad weather. It is roughly equivalent to the Sea Island Sport. You get very wet, but it is stable and virtually unsinkable. You could borrow some ideas from the plastic fishing kayak world to fit it out and it is easier to customize wooden construction than plastic.

The Wood Duck 12 I have built for fishing has a built in battery box, fish finder and aerated live well that drops into the rear hatch. I also put flush mounted Scotty "Low Profile" rod mounts on the front deck just in front of the cockpit coaming. That gives me 2 hands free rods rigged as downlines. It seems fine for calm water fishing, but I have not tested it in rough water yet. I am not sure how well it would do offshore in bigger swells. You can put a spray skirt on, so the potential is there. The transducer does shoot through the hull behind the seat inside the cockpit, but the wooden hull creates a blurred area on the display in the top 6 inches of the readout. Not a big deal, and it is nice to know that you can mount a fishfinder inside the hull of a wooden kayak without major issues.

The Mill Creek double is great for striper fishing on lakes, but it is very unweildy when paddled by a single person in rough weather. It's heavy and the bow weathercocks severely with a quartering wind which makes it very challenging to handle, even with a rudder. Basically you have 4 feet of boat behind you and 12 feet in front with the weight toward the rear. It works well for 2 people, but that is why I built the Wood Duck. 

I am happy with the Wood DUck 12 as a fishing kayak and I think it is one of the most comfortable and stable fishing platforms available in kit or plan form. I saw on the shop cam that Eric Shade has just built a 14 foot version of the Wood Duck. I think that if you are going to fish offshore, that might be your best bet. It might be worth waiting for the plans to come out.

I will try to post some additional pictures on the web page I have started, but if you have any more specific questions, feel free to ask.... Here is a link to a few pictures

http://woodduckhybrid.homestead.com/Main.html

RE: Sea Island Sport Customizing....?

Wow, thank you for the info. Your Wood Duck sounds like the plan I had. I may just stick with that. The offshore fishing will come later. I am new to kayaks and will be in the bays for a while until I know what I am doing.

 Question about your transducer...

Are you shooting through the plywood? I was planning to overdrill a hole and then refilling with epoxy/chopped fibers for the transducer to shoot through. I read another stich and glue forum, I wont mention the name not sure about the rules for that, but that is what everyone over there does. No complaints from them. 

 

How heavy is you rig? Do you need a cart?

 

Matt

RE: Sea Island Sport Customizing....?

On the Mill Creek, I cut a square about 4 inches on a side out of the bottom of the hull and put a piece of 1/4 inch plexiglass in. I epoxied that in just like the plans here for a window in the bottom of the Mill Creek in the "Tips for Boatbuilders" section. That worked great.

In the Wood Duck, there is no flat bottom although right behind the seat at the back of the cockpit it is almost flat. I wanted to see if the transducer would shoot through the wooden hull so I glued it down there. It does work and seems to be accurate. There is a black line along the top of the display that I assume corresponds to the interferance from the wood with it's small air voids. The surface line appears to be about 6 inches worth of display, so the deeper the reading, the less it will be noticable.  

You made me curious about the weight, so I just went and weighed it. Totally rigged with battery, depth finder, aerator and seat, it weighs just under 55 lbs. That would make it about 20 lbs lighter than a comparable plastic boat. 

I am posting some more pictures of the rigging on my web page now, so I will give you a link to check them out in a bit. 

RE: Sea Island Sport Customizing....?

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RE: Sea Island Sport Customizing....?

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RE: Sea Island Sport Customizing....?

Thats awesome info. 55lbs is great! I dont think I am ready to tackle the strip built decks yet. Would the stripbuilt be lighter than stitch and glue or is the the opposite?

 

Matt

RE: Sea Island Sport Customizing....?

The advertised weight on both models is the same, but it will vary with how much cloth & epoxy you use. With just stripping the deck, I doubt it would make more than a pound or 2 difference one way or another. I put in a forward bulkhead 3 feet aft of the bow, so that adds weight on the bulkhead & hatch sill, but gives me a watertight flotation space on both ends. I also put 2 layers of glass cloth on the inside of the rear deck so it would not flex while supporting the weight of the full livewell and reinforced the cockpit rim with 8oz tape. Then there is extra wood & fiberglass in the dash console, battery box & livewell construction. I am certain I saved some weight on wooden blocks in the bow & stern instead of end pours, and by lightening the coaming with a strip rim & a single layer of 4mm ply covered with carbon fiber/kevlar for strength. I traded weight savings in constructon with added weight in gear and electronics. I probably have 10 pounds just in the aerator, battery and fishfinder.

In answer to your earlier question, I don't need a cart as I can easily carry it over one shoulder to the water and lift it over my head with no problem, even fully rigged. I have a utility trailer with racks bolted to it for transportation so I can slide it right on at about waist level.

If you go with a plywood deck, I don't see why you can't install the same type of modifications as long as you plan it out before you glue the deck down. It is much easier to work on the inside of the hull without the deck attached and I basically finished the interior before I even started on the deck.

RE: Sea Island Sport Customizing....?

Sounds good. I would do the interior before installing the deck.

 

One last question...

Hows the performance? Stablilty, paddling and what not compared to a tupperware yak.

I am new to kayaks.

I appreciate all the help. Thank you so much.

 

Matt

RE: Sea Island Sport Customizing....?

I had to bump this back up to the top-this post was collecting dust in the 376-400 post archive area and I believe it deserves a second look by some and a first look by others like myself...Jayarbro-you da man !!! great boat and your fishing accesories are awsome...On the duck link picture what are the 2 plastic things forward of the coaming??---CZ

RE: Sea Island Sport Customizing....?

I am just starting to build my first kayak, tha Sea Island Sport.  Jayarbro's pictures (Great Job by the way) gave me lots of ideas and encouragement on how to customize my individual boat.  I planning to incorporate some built in rod holders as well. I will keep you posted as I progress. 

RE: Sea Island Sport Customizing....?

So I take it that the 2 black things forward of the coaming are rod holders. In the customizing dept I was wondering what to do with my paddle while I am fishing. Idea's...CZ

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