deciding on small boat design

[steph]

Hi,

I'm looking to build a boat for myself. I'm 5'3'', 130lbs, so I've been looking at the Venture 14 and the Redfish Springrun and Silver. I would be using the boat mainly for day trips, and some 3-5 day trips on lakes. I'm a beginner / intermediate paddler hoping to get a lot of use out of it.

Does anyone have any suggestions on which one would be better suited for me? Or ideas on other ones I should look at. This will be my first large woodworking project, so I don't know if this should influence the design I choose.

Thanks,

Steph

[Glen Smith]

I own a Venture 14 and unfortunately I find it to be unstable in calm water. In rough water it performs very well.

You should also look at the Storm SLT: http://www.oneoceankayaks.com/kayakpro/SLTtech.htm

[sedges]

The Tasman Sea

http://www.greenval.com/tasman.html

[steph]

Thanks Glen and Sedges! Both of those boats look great. Would either of you have any ideas on what boats are similar that I would be able to demo from an outdoor shop? Or advice on how to make the final decision.

Thanks.

Steph

[Glen Smith]

It is pretty hard to demo strip-built boats except at builders' rendezvous but it's still a bit cold for that.

You could email your question about which of their designs would best suit your needs by stating your physical statistics, paddling experience and expectations. Contact Joe at Redfish, Vaclav at One Ocean Kayak, Martin at Greenval. You could even contact Ted Moores at Bear Mountain Boats and Nick Schade at Guillemot. They will probably each have a particular design of theirs for you to consider but at least you would have a good chance of eliminating any boats that are not suited to you or your needs.

[sedges]

The Tasman evidently bares some resemblence to the QCC300S. It is the same length and width and by the same designer.

http://www.qcckayaks.com/kayaks/models.asp

[Glen Smith]

Yes, the Greenval kayaks are pretty well strip versions of the John Winters designs sold by QCC Kayaks.