Question for Hairy

[tx river rat]

Ya'll have to remember I am the rookie here I haven't paddle to many yaks
less than a dozen in the last few months . These may be dumb questions to ya'll but I am curious. Mick what don't you like about flat bottom yaks
You seem to like the p5 and your per ow ok. and to you are matt as far as performance goes how would ya'll rate the laker and the freedom if they were the same length.
Ron

 

[hairymick]

G'day Ron,

Thanks for the question mate.

I like a flat bottom boat in flat-skinny water but in rougher water, the problem with them is a lack of secondary stability.

By that, I mean that the bottom of a flat bottomed boat boat will try to stay parrallel with the surface of the water, making them, in effect, less stable than a V bottom boat.

Re boat speed, I would talk more in ease of paddling than actual hull speed.
A long, narrow boat will cut the water more cleanly than one with a wide flat bottom, causing less resistance to going forward, thereby, requiring less effort to paddle.

A flat bottom boat sort of has to push the water out of the way more, so it required more effort to go forward. The Freedom seems to be a very good compromise but I just can't get my head round a kayak with a flat bottom.

To my way of thinking, a good kayak should part the water like a spear. To this end, I am prepared to sacrifice a LOT of beam and stability. This does not necessarily make them very good fishing kayaks but great fun to paddle. Matts boats generally seem to be a good compromise between hull speed and stability and each of his boats that I have built is superior in its own way to my store bought boats for fishing.

A pirogue is something else altogether. A very good boat in its own right and I love mine to bits but they will never compare in boat speed, or glide to a true kayak.

Hope this has helped a bit mate.

 

[JEM]

Freedom has a unique bottom shape. It's a flat bottom but the bottom panel is pulled in on the ends and the garboard panels blend in nicely with it. That allows the hull to sit a bit lower in the water.

Provides some nice displacement and primary stability. But also offers a bit more secondary that a "typical" flat bottomed boat. Not a whole lot more, but noticeable. And that's the program that it was meant for: Mostly for calm waters but can handle a little rougher stuff when called on.