The rain stopped late in the afternoon and I got to try out the skinboat. She is amazingly stable on initial and secondary! After floating around a while and getting comfortable I took off across the lake. I need to slid the cockpit ring back an inch or better just for comfort and to better balance the boat. The boat accelerates easily and reaches cruising speed in a few strokes. This boat ain't no slow poke either. She'll move out right smartly! Her characteristics in a turn are typical of a multichine kayak. The softer chine doesn't bite the water as my other hard chine boats do, but nevertheless when leaned over properly she executes a nice turn. I rockered the keel slightly that evidently helped the performance some. While heading into wind and waves, I did notice that I wasn't getting spray in the face like I normally do! The flared v'd bow throws the water to out to the side instead of up! This was a fun and different project

The plans are $12.00ppd Contact Jack Loganbill.
E-mail Jack at - jackaloganbill@lycos.com
Website: http:/pages.prodigy.net/jack.loganbill.kayak1.htm

Been along time since I've built a boat from someone elses plans! I found out that this boat was designed for the Boy Scouts about 20 or so years ago, so it's actually been around for a while as it was in Boy's Life Magazine. This has been one of the most fun projects I've undertaken. She is symmetrical. Bow and stern stems are the same. You need 11 stingers and 5 frames and 5.5 yards of canvas or whatever. There is so much history about skin boats it'll blow your mind away. So many different styles from different parts of the extreme northern hemisphere!

Richard Frye