JEM Watercraft

Matt
Payload would be from 200 to 250 lbs.
This boat would be pretty specialized and job specific. flat water very little current,basicly a 6 mile sprint upriver one turn then a 6 mile downriver sprint,
No rough water and this area shouldn,t have any turbulance to speak of.
I have the Cuda 15 5 and she is sweet stable,I never had to brace in the Castile race.
So I have my boat for those kind of races.This would be a sprint boat.
I got to paddle a Sea Wind recently for a couple hours, here was my impression,heavy compared to our boats,but she is a tough expedition boat ,not a sprinter ,the cuda could run away from it. Where she shines is the cruise speed very fast cruise speed. and she is very stable. This is a boat that you can set a cadence in and paddle all day.
Matt you dont realize how good the Cuda is,fast easy to get up to speed and still pretty manuverable,floats shallow,the way the decks are made the wind had little effect on her.
What amazed me was how well she did in the race,I am 63,Had never been on this river,
didnt know any of the lines,no ideal what kind of water was coming up and had never raced a yak.
154 folks ,20 of them pros,about 40 that had a lot of marothan experience and had run the river the weekend before.In the ameatures I still came in 13 out of a 134,if I had paddled the river the weekend before I think I would have been in the top 4 or 5 .
This says a lot for the Cuda, the boat was awesome the motor just didnt have the training yet.
Ron

I have to step back and make note of something I forgot: the "Cuda" we're all referring to is actually a custom asymmetrical Laker, and not a Touring Pirogue. They have a different shape from a top-down view and was widened a bit to 28". It's part of the reason the Laker seems to have impossible glide abilities.

If you stretch that custom Laker to 18' and kept the 28" beam, you draft right about 3-3/8" assuming the hull weighed about 50 pounds finished. Not a big change from the 15.5' version but a little.

She'd move pretty fast.

Matt
The Cuda is the 15 5 A it is 22 inches at the widest point on the bottom,26 at the widest point on top just like the Laker, asymmetrical
I still have a copy of the bottom hull on disc if you need me to mail a set back.
Drop me an email on what a set of plans 18 ft overal,asymetrical 22 widest on the bottom 26 on top, just the bottom hull would cost I will cover the cockpit and decks:D
Ron.

Even though I do not have the technical savy in this discussion as the other posters - I just happened to catch a show on tv the other day "How it's Made" and they were building a kayak with the same stitch and clue method that we are using currently. .

edited: No links to competitor websites please.

Matt
Do you think a rudder would be wise on this long a boat? Or at least setting the bolts for one.
Ron

Having the mount area prepped for one can never hurt. She's a long boat.

tx river rat wrote:Matt
Do you think a rudder would be wise on this long a boat? Or at least setting the bolts for one.
Ron

Ron..

When I made the 17 1/2 kayak I did the end pours so a rudder could be put on at a later date if I wanted one. It is a lot easier doing it while building the boat then trying to do the same after it is together. No bolts or anything at this time but about 4 inches of the stern is solid epoxy to drill threw if I change my mind later. The bow has about 2 inches of epoxy in it as an end pour.

The way I looked at it ... That step was done for later if a rudder was wanted. The other thing is that the end pours help strengthen the ends and offer a lot more protection then just glassing and having them normal.

Three things I keep in mind when building a boat , Planning , Preparation and Patience.

Chuck.

Hot dog I got the plans for the boats whee she looks good.
Thanks Matt.
Ron

It was pretty easy since it's real close to an existing format and it was just the lower hull panels.

If I had to do a deck and such, would have been longer.

She gonna a pretty quick racer.