Kaiyaque Posted June 14, 2015 Posted June 14, 2015 "Seal Seeker" was christened and launched for sea trials yesterday in Plum Island Sound off Pavilion Beach in Ipswich. Some mods: 1) More extreme bow overhang. 2) Bow and stern Valley style rubber hatches. 3) Grab lines along gunwales. 4) Padded seat. I used 10-oz ballistic nylon and two-part polyurethane colored with rusty earth pigment to simulate seal skin. That and the hatches added to the weight. I couldn't get the cockpit rim to screw together from underneath, so I ran the 1 1/4" screws in from above. All the screws are silicon bronze, and the staples to pull the skin taut around the openings are rust-proof Monel. After we covered a demo day at a local retailer for our September issue, my wife, who paddles an old Necky Arluk 1,8. said that she thought the Long Shot was a better design and paddled more easily than any of the bots we sampled! Her only complaint was that her hands rubbed on the cockpit rim. I said that the Long Shot was designed for big chubbies like me (and Jeff - sorry Jeff), and that she would be better off in the Short Shot. Maybe the next build...? The really depressing thing is that I am SMILING in all the pictures. No wonder everyone thinks I am an unrepentant grouch! In the last picture, you can see my "whalebone" rub keel, made from a nylon carving board. There is one in the stern, as well. The finished frame. So pretty, I hate to skin it. Hauling out of the "workshop," our screen porch. Mary Magdelene is one of a pair of Orthodox icons we got when we adopted our son, Anton, from St Petersburg, Russia. The other is John. Our 83-year-old paddling friend, Peter Moore, who came down with his wife, Alicia, to share the fun! "I christen thee Seal Seeker." Have to get that translated to Greenlandic... Wife and publisher Tammy and I share some bubbly. Dammit, I was smiling there, too! Off I go. Although you can;t tell from the photo, there is some nasty stuff, little boils and refracting waves off the point to the right background, where the Ipswich River meets the incoming tide, which is pushing through at this point at about 3.5 knots. First run. Stable, dry, tracks like a train, steers like a cow. I was hesitant to lean hard without a sprayskirt, but the boat is hard to turn It may be the bow and stern rubrails. which accentuate the keel. Tomorrow, I will wear the skirt and lay Seal Seeker right down on her cheeks. There is a line of sandbars almost straight ahead of me. 22 years ago, while waiting for a date with the lady whom I was to marry, i was surfing off them in a fog one October morning. I glanced to my right, and there was a seal surfing the clear wave right next to me! Never before or since - we were the only living beings on the water that day, And so - Seal Seeker or Puisinniaq in Greenlandic. Returning after a fabulous run. I thought I was smiling here, too. Maybe my father isn't the old grouch I thought he is... Quote
Kaiyaque Posted June 14, 2015 Author Posted June 14, 2015 Took Puisinniaq out for a two-and-a-half hour paddle in Plum Island Sound today for some more challenging water trials. First, we did a bit of gunkholing, going into a quiet cove to leave behind the crowd of power boats, and then heading out around South Point to try out the itsy one-foot surf. Sterling performances going through small surf and against the very fast outgoing tide. I will have to work on the spray skirt; the one I have fits the cockpit, but has way to much material. When the surf broke over the bow, about three gallons of water filled the skirt! The cove... The point at the entrance to the cove Paddling out past South Point Heading out to the dinky surf Quote
Kudzu Posted June 16, 2015 Posted June 16, 2015 I am guessing you come from a background of highly rockered Brit style boats? If you are used to paddling boats aimed on the big lumpy water I am sure this does track like a train compared to one of those. I started out designing with 2 and 3 inches of rocker because that is what ever kept telling me I need. Without a skeg they were pretty miserable on flat water, that is where most of my clients paddle. I added a permanent skeg to my first Long Shot prototype because I got sick of constantly fighting it to make it go in a straight line. So I changed my designs to have less rocker. Recently I have been playing around with an idea for skeg and I have a working prototype on a boat. I still have a rather strongly rockered prototype. I am thinking about reskinning it and adding the skeg and seeing how it works out. 1 Quote
Kaiyaque Posted June 16, 2015 Author Posted June 16, 2015 I should have mentioned that, when I put on the skirt so I felt more comfortable putting her on her cheek in the 50-degree water, she turned fine. You're right, I do mostly paddle on the ocean, and it can get pretty rough. I have NO complaints about how the Long Shot handles in general. I would definitely choose another boat for a narrow, winding river, although the Long Shot worked well in the marsh channels I have had her in. Quote
Action Tiger Posted June 16, 2015 Posted June 16, 2015 Nobody could tell how pleased you were in your second post, because we couldn't see your charming smile. Those marsh channels look dreamy to paddle, by the by... Quote
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