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My wife's Freebie 12


Hirilonde

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Well, this is the one she decided on. It was probably a good choice for her needs and what she wants out of a kayak. I really like how it looks. I find it a very pretty shape. I can see that it won't be as fast or as easy to paddle long distance as a Curlew, but it should do just fine for her purposes. Now that I am well on my way I think you should take the plans off the give away page and add it to your stuff for sale Jeff :P

The obligatory lawn photos:

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I umm, errr, borrowed a wooden foot peg design idea:

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It works with a shock cord to pull the foot peg forward and a line w/cleat to pull it aft:

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Wow Dave, getting it done, and it looks so nice. Are you going to match the color scheme to your Curlew?

Jeff mentionded in another post, a question regarding folks taking a poorly designed free design over one with a set of plans. He must have been refering to other designers, because I am not seeing anything poorly about the Free B 12 or 14. If he does end up offering these Free Bs on his site might I suggest calling them Busy Bs. NIce little boats that will keep you busy enough.

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Thanks for the kind words all.

Wow Dave, getting it done, and it looks so nice. Are you going to match the color scheme to your Curlew?

Same teal hull, but she wants a lavender deck. Not what I would choose, but I think it works. And if it means she will join me in this hobby she gets what ever she wants.

Jeff mentionded in another post, a question regarding folks taking a poorly designed free design over one with a set of plans. He must have been refering to other designers, because I am not seeing anything poorly about the Free B 12 or 14. If he does end up offering these Free Bs on his site might I suggest calling them Busy Bs. NIce little boats that will keep you busy enough.

Yeah, really. Being free had nothing to do with the decision. I found the Kudzu design that best met my wife's parameters. I would easily have paid for the plans. Glad I could buy some supplies from Jeff as a consolation.

Hey Jeff, have you considered a design package less than full scale patterns that would include offsets, sketches and such that could be sold in pamphlet form as an add on to your book for those who want to do it all from scratch? Graham sells such a product for his boats. You have every right to make a decent royalty for all of your designs. It is really such a small part of the project expense wise and probably the most valuable item of all.

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Hey Jeff, have you considered a design package less than full scale patterns that would include offsets, sketches and such that could be sold in pamphlet form as an add on to your book for those who want to do it all from scratch? Graham sells such a product for his boats.

Never thought about anything like this. Interesting idea though. I will have to look at this.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Almost done.

I had an idea for a chafe strip on the bow while at the hardware store. They have good sized display of metal shapes, sizes and materials. I found brass tubing at 1/2" dia. for $2.49 for a 1 foot piece. So I thought I would try this out. I cut the tubing in half the long way on my band saw. I prebent one of the pieces to wrap around the bow and drilled holes for screws. This is what I got:

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I predrilled pilot holes in the keel stringer, filled the inside of each piece with Lifecaulk, and installed"

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The brass flattened and kinked a little more than I would like, but unless you look close it isn't really obvious. And after running up on the beach a few times I don't think it will bother me. I may look for a similar product down the road and see if I can improve on the idea, but for now I am calling this done:

I need to get a longer piece of shock cord for the aft cargo tie down and make/install the toggle for the bow, but otherwise it is done. The obligatory lawn pictures:

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I need to make another Greenland and conventional paddle now too. Considering that we will be doing some really shallow area paddling and deeper area I figure we will get to use both of them.

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I like your idea with the brass tubing. I was thinking of trying simular only using PVC pipe. Do you thinkthat would work?

Thanks, and I bet it would work. Try to find some 1/2" diameter. I think 3/4" would be too massive. I was even thinking the Pex polyethylene plumbing tubing might work well too. Lots of stuff out there to try.

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I took my wife's kayak out for a test paddle today on a small pond near home. She is at home recovering from a medical procedure so could not try it herself or even come take pictures. My first impression is that it is a very sweet boat! It is very stable, much more so than a Curlew. It tracks very well, even into a fair crossing headwind. It glides along very nicely between strokes. It definitely does not keep pace with a Curlew with the same energy expended, not even close. Yet I would still consider it a very desirable design for many people. Jeff, this boat is worth paying for. Find some way to sell it! I will likely be taking it out instead of the Curlew for the remainder of the cold water spring. I do feel much more secure in it and will work on learning to be comfortable in the Curlew when the water gets warmer. I used my new feathering paddle and like it very much. I will try bringing both some time and make a comparison.

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Dave, as I get close to finishing my Curlew, I kwwp thinking about the next on. I have never enjoyed a build as much as I have this tyoe of kayak although someday, I would like to try strip building. I just don't like the thought of the messing with epoxy, fiber glass and SANDING. Anyway, do you have any thoughts on the difference in performance between the FreeB 12 and the FreeB 14? I just can't decide. I want to say it is for my wife, but I know she would not get in it so I guess it is for me.

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Hmm, I haven't tried a Freebie 14, so I don't know how to compare them. I am guessing that the 14 is just a 12 for heavier people. I am about 190 and I don't think that is too much for a 12, though I am sure it is getting close. The 14 might be slightly faster due to LWL but because of the beam I can't imagine it is much faster.

By the way Jeff, you have to rename these boats. When people ask about my kayak and am proud to say that it is a Kudzu Craft Curlew. But I am embarrassed to answer regarding my wife's kayak.

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I guess the advantage to the 12 is it would cost a hair less to build. I really think Jeff need to consider removing the 'Freebes' from being "free" and add them to his list of for sale plans. They are very nice crafts and I don't understand the reason they were free. I say this now that I have copies of the free plans.

I really wish Jeff would consider providing, for sale, the off-sets for some of these kayaks as someone else mentioned on this forum a while back. I totally enjoy drawing the patterns from the off-sets as part of the process of making the kayak. That all being said, he couldn't count on me making him rich buying them because with the limited funds I have, I can't build a lot of these. I do have a nephew that has shown interest in me building one for him, he pays for the materials, and I certainly well do it if he get real serious. He wants to see if mine floats first, were is the faith???!

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By the way Jeff, you have to rename these boats. When people ask about my kayak and am proud to say that it is a Kudzu Craft Curlew. But I am embarrassed to answer regarding my wife's kayak.

Maybe you should just give her boat a name. :)

I guess the advantage to the 12 is it would cost a hair less to build. I really think Jeff need to consider removing the 'Freebes' from being "free" and add them to his list of for sale plans.

I am listening and thinking about this but free plans are good marketing. People will build a bad boat because the plans are free before they will pay for plans for a good boat. Not saying that all free plans are bad either. But people are funny and many will never buy plans. They will try to find a way to copy the lines and create a poor copy first.

While not totally free look at the Curlews that have been built since my book came out. There has been 2 or 3 on here I think. There has been a lot more built since I made the offsets free than when I was just selling plans. I don't have a way to track it but I am sure it has increased my sales of supplies so it's not a bad thing.

Also, free plans will draw people to my web site. If they get serious and decide to build another they may come back and buy again.

I really wish Jeff would consider providing, for sale, the off-sets for some of these kayaks as someone else mentioned on this forum a while back.

I did consider it and I wish I could find something that Nick Shade wrote a while back. He expressed my reasons so well. But basically once my offsets are out in the wild (so to speak) I have lost control. There is no way to keep if being given away, posted on forums, emailed, shared, etc. and of course I don't get a dime. That is also why I refuse to sell digital copies of the plans to people with plotters or CNC routers. (I get that request ever 2-3 months). While I am not sure how big the risk is, I am just not willing to take that chance.

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I read you Jeff, and understand the reasoning. I look around a "kayak plans" on the internet and all I see plans containing full size patterns, probably for the reason you have stated. I built the curlew from your book, not to save money, so much, but for the reason I stated, I like to draw it out from the off-sets. I certainly can't argue with you. To bad you can't trust people to do it correctly.

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Jeff is right on. Free B is a good marketing tool, and I reciprocated by purchasing my material and backband from him. This forum got me interested in the fuselage frame boats, and the free b plans got me drawing lines and cutting stock, and now that I have the book, there is no doubt that I will be back for more as time and money allow. My hope is our children and grandchildren will develop an interest. We can have building parties, and get the whole family on the water together, and maybe do some overnight river floats down the Chattahocee, and Coossa. I can dream can't I?

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