Builders' Forum |
|
| ↓ Scroll to Last Comment ↓ | Forum Guidelines | Builders' Forum |  RSS
|
sea kayak/ surf ski hybrid...?
Can anyone kindly suggest a source of plans for a home-built lightweight S&G craft that would combine the visual and practical elements of a sea kayak with those of a surf ski? There certainly doesn’t seem to be anything out there like it at present!
The Sea Island Sport sit-on-top doesn’t qualify (sorry, CLC!) – too beamy, not long enough, too heavy when built, but the open cockpit is in the right direction. Intended use would be purely recreational paddling in protected waters, with no need for under-deck storage. I have seen CAD drawings (but not construction plans) of a S&G surf ski that had the right lines, but it was full of ply stiffeners and webs to handle the structural stresses of playing in surf – I’d think a conventional ply/ epoxy/ glass monocoque construction would suffice for what I have in mind. Important design elements would include long, fine, sleek sea kayak-like lines: minimal freeboard: open cockpit for easy entry and exit. I guess that an existing conventional sea kayak design could be adapted, but a custom-design would be better. I’d be interested and grateful to hear any suggestions or links. Happy Easter to all… Wordsmith9 replies:
RE: sea kayak/ surf ski hybrid...?
Check out the front page of www.surfski.info. There's a homebuilt wood surfski there that links to a couple of other homebuilt wood projects.
Also there's a new surfski - the Nordic Kayaks Fusion that is trying to achieve exactly what you're talking about - combining the elements of a kayak & surf ski.
At the least you could contact the builders & exchange ideas.
Rob Mousley
www.surfski.info
RE: sea kayak/ surf ski hybrid...?
Thanks, Laszlo - the San'O is not available in plans-only format, but isn't quite what I have in mind anyway. I won't be venturing near surf - this is purely for flatwater paddling. I guess a better description for my concept might be 'ocean ski' or more precisely with me - 'Bay ski'!
Rob - thanks for the references to the SurfSki site: I had a look at the photos of Steve's craft - just what I had in mind! I will try to follow-up with him through the SurfSki site... many thanks both.
Any other thoughts/ contacts/ ideas out there?
Wordsmith
RE: sea kayak/ surf ski hybrid...?
G'Day Wordy,
I've been looking in to this a lot lately and am currently designing my own. However, the following might get you thinking:
S&G
*Use the CLC Pax 20 as a platform. Big open cockpit a la surf ski, add a hump in the middle and a scupper for drainage.
* Modify a chesapeake if you don't want a racer.
* Stephens boat is awsome and fast. I raced against it earlier in the year. Very fast but it did have a more powerful and newer engine
* check out the "hayes homebuilt": at www. surfski as well. i've corresponded with hime Brad and he is happy to email the design files.
* Aparently a guy in Townsville, Aus has developed some plans. Will post details when I contact him.
STRIP
* Modify a NIck Schrade Mystery.
*Modify Bjorn Thomassons Sea Racer. (this was the platform for the soon to be released Fusion ski). Bjorn claims that it is as fast as an EpicV10 on the flat. He stretched original Sea Racer plans out by 20cm and added 2 extra strips at the shear. The Fusion however will be made of prepreg CF and weigh about 9,5kgs
* Design your own. Have a look at the ocean racing ski thread in the Kayakfoundary forum art www.blueheronkayaks.com. I've got a lot of help over there and am currently trying to decide on which version to build. the CS MOJO which I think will be better in the waves or the MOJO1aC by Jim which has awsome stats and looks like it would be a flatwater missile.
Here is some further discussion on the topic
http://www.kayakforum.com/cgi-bin/Building/index.cgi/review/179981#179981
Cheers, Craig
RE: sea kayak/ surf ski hybrid...?
At least I will be able to salvage the rudder for my build. One very powerful wave got me last week.
RE: sea kayak/ surf ski hybrid...?
Hmmmmm. In light of the above pic I'm thinking maybe a scaled-down ice-breaker for my next build...!
Wordsmith
RE: sea kayak/ surf ski hybrid...?
Wordy, Thats why I'm building a timber ski. I'm not prepared to fork out big bucks (again) on such flimsy craft and I'm confident that I can come in lighter as well. Stephen and Brads S&G ski came in at aprox. 17kg. My Red7 in the pic was 20kg which is very heavy for a ski. Also bear in mind that this wasn't done by wind chop.
cheers
RE: sea kayak/ surf ski hybrid...?
The Sea kayak is a shortened and widened version of the hybrid surf ski. It is stable and versatile and has ideal weight / size combination with custom leg length.
| folding kayaks |
RE: sea kayak/ surf ski hybrid...?
» Submitted by Laszlo - Sat, 4/11/09 » 7:35 AM
Wordsmith,
My impression was that long boats broached in the surf, hence the shorter length for surf boats. Maybe your surf is very gentle? In that case an ordinary kayak would do just fine. My WD12 and my wife's CH16LT did just fine in foot high surf.
But for what you describe, how about CLC's San O' 16 or Kaholo SUP with a Creature Comfort seat on top? The Kaholo is 32 lbs, the San O' 28 as opposed to the Sea Island Sport's 48 lbs. TheSan O's beam is only 20 inches (29 for the Kaholo which needs to be stable enough to stand up on) against the SIS's 27. As far as the lines, the San O' certainly looks like the bottom half of a sea kayak, I haven't seen a Kaholo in person. Check out the pictures in the galleries for an idea of what the lines are.
With a little velcro and only 2 small pieces of wood to act as anchor points, you could add the Creature comfort seat to either of these and have a sit on top surf toy.
Laszlo