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Jeff, More basic than that. Somehow I overlooked the paragraph on page 26 of your first book regarding where 0,0,0 actually is. I kept thinkiing that it was the bow end. Went back and reread the section, my bad, its the aft end. Now it all makes sense. Seems like I have been a little bass ackwards my whole life. Thanks, Bob

Everyone, I need some help. I have purchased and read both of Jeff's books and have downloaded the FreeB offsets. I thought I had figured everything out and was ready to go, but then I noticed something that I couldn not understand. The offsets for the second frame from the bow (there are only 4 frames) has the following measurement for the center deck beam - 10". The measurement for the third frame back, which would be the frame that supports the aft edge of the coaming, has a center deck beam measurement of 12 15/16". I have not built a sof kayak before, so I am sure that there are things that I do not grasp at an intiutive level, but it seems to me that the aft edge of the coaming should rest on a frame that is lower than the frame that supports the forward edge of the coaming. Even if I were to eliminate any pitch in the aft deck, the gunwale measurement for the aft edge frame is still higher than the top of the forward edge. What am I missing? Thanks for your help. Bob

Jeff, I would like to see a 50/50 sailing canoe in a sof design. Your Mess About seems close to the specs that would likely be needed. I say close because a 28" beam is probably a tad too narrow. A 15'-17' boat with a 32" beam that could be paddled at 3.5 mph would be right on target. Sort of a sof Bufflehead sailing canoe. Personally, I would like a boat that I could actually sleep in. We have a lot of mangrove islands here in SW Florida that provide shelter from the wind but are not suitable for camping, which is what I would like to do with the boat. I want the sail 50% because I am too lazy/old/out of shape to just paddle to where I want to go. Plus we usually have some sort of wind down here. Bob Fort Myers