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Folks,
Just finishing up my first build, WD14, and had a coaming question...is the lip for the skirt really needed on a wood duck?
I mean, this is the cadillac of kayak's as far as space goes, and I'm really just a recreational pond and small lake paddler (fishing) and don't envision ever rolling this thing unless completely by accident..
I custom made my coaming ring out of thin strips of cherry, glued and clamped on a form I made from a sheet of old plywood and some drywall screws..I laminated the strips 5 thick (about 3/4") and the finished ring is 3/4" high...I was going to layer thinner strips around the top for the coaming lip, but then wondered if I really need to do that at all...
BTW..the cherry coaming is already epoxied onto the boat and looks awesome! came out really nice...and was EASY to do..I have NOT fiberglassed over it yet, though.
Am I missing a major advantage of the coaming lip, or does it really not matter? I'd be apt to just round over the ring and finish the way it is now..
Thoughts?
BTW...just finished my first greenland style paddle, and that came out pretty nice as well...almost time to put it in a pond :)
3 replies:
RE: Wood Duck 14 coaming ring
I don't roll either but I always wear a skirt. It keeps water dripping off the paddle out of the boat and catches the unexpected wave when the breeze picks up. I also find the coaming lip serves as a handle when moving the boat around. -Wes
RE: Wood Duck 14 coaming ring
It may be the Cadillac of kayaks to you, but it's just a piss-ant speed bump to many power boaters. They'll all avoid you if they see you (wouldn't want to scratch the gelcoat, after all), but there's a lot of them who either have no idea about the strength of their wakes or just plain don't care.
I got hit by an accidental powerboat wake on otherwise totally still water. It submerged the bow of my WD12 all the way up to the coaming, then broke over the cockpit and slapped me in the face. The only thing that kept the cockpit from flooding was the spray skirt (and the geek strap kept my glasses from going overboard).
I've also had powerboaters and jetskiers attempt to deliberately swamp or capsize me. Again, the spray skirt (and the excellent stability of the WD series) kept me afloat.
There's just something about internal combustion engines that brings out the worst in a lot of people. While the vast majority of power boaters are fine courteous folks who will take care to keep from disturbing other boaters, there's enough bad apples that unless you are in a no IC engine body of water you want a spray skirt.
There's also the reasons that sskiff mentions above.
Have fun,
Laszlo
PS - there's a youtube video showing Kurt Maurer rolling a WD12 without a spray skirt. He says that it took on almost no water.
RE: Wood Duck 14 coaming ring
» Submitted by sskiff - Wed, 4/25/12 » 11:46 PM
Would love to see a pic, sounds pretty. I'm thinking you replaced the spacers with the cherry and the actual coaming piece is per plans? Or is that cherry too? Pics, we need pics!
Only thoughts I can add are that when exiting the boat all my 225 lb are on the sides of the cockpit ring and it's working pretty hard. No problems or even flex after building by plans. Other thought is the ability to put a cover on it for transport. We live in florida and one of our boats has the graphite/epoxy bottom so it will need to be transported upright and a cover will keep weather out.