Cruiser Stern

[Lyn St George]

This photo is of a prototype made of hot air balloon fabric, and I would like to ask for critical opinions before making the real thing.

I’m calling it the “Fat Arse” aka “Cruiser Stern”, and my thinking is as follows:

– I want to have the option of dumping a heavy pack in the cockpit behind me, but this raises issues of weight and buoyancy distribution.

– I’ve always thought the long skinny stern should be rounded off like the bow, or the way that a river kayak is a sea kayak with the ends chopped off and rounded.

– Alpacka brought out their new “high volume, patent pending” stern which motivated me to get the pen and paper out.

This first prototype achieves pretty much everything I want for my use case. It seems that it should carry me and a heavy pack and stay balanced. The stern has now become a “cargo hold” in its own right, and it should be possible to squeeze a pack inside, going across the boat. Laying my pack on the floor and sitting the boat on top, this looks just possible. The boat is now a bit longer to make room for the pack behind me in the cockpit – in the photos the #4 pieces are 15cm longer but the extra will be cut down to only about 7 or so, making this boat 137 to 140 inside.  Because the #5 pieces are now angled where they form the back of the cockpit, this gains 2 or 3 cm inside. This length also makes it more possible to carry a passenger and a bit of gear, though there would only ever be one paddler.

My own boat will never have a deck, as I am principally a walker and I don’t want the extra dead weight on my feet, hence it always be portaged around any water that bubbles up beyond class 3. It will be used for crossing lochs, lakes, going down rivers, maybe short sea passages along the coast, and the extra buoyancy and cargo space is my target.

All constructively critical comments welcome!

Topic

[Matt (Admin)]

Nice work, Lyn! I know how much time and effort goes in to prototyping, so well done! My only comment is that handling might be improved if the gear storage area is in the bow instead of the stern, as I’ve noticed that with a pack or passenger up front there’s less yaw induced with each paddle stroke (because of the increased “moment of inertia” and because more of the boat’s length is below waterline).

I’ll be very curious to see how it turns out and hear your thoughts after you’ve had a chance to paddle it. Thanks for posting!

[Lyn St George]

For weight in the bow, I’m thinking that when the boat needs to be manoeuvrable in moving water then the pack should sit behind with me jammed back against it; but for better tracking on flat lakes and the like then the pack would be up ahead, sitting on the floor and leaning on the bow; when the gear needs to be certain of keeping dry then it would go in the hold with the seat maybe moved forward a bit; and with a passenger then all the gear (except lunch) would go in the hold and along the tubes as needed for balance. The shape and size should make the boat quite versatile.

The angle between the tubes in the photo is not quite right, partly because too much air is escaping through the stitching and the hot air gun is barely keeping enough pressure in it.

[Matt (Admin)]

That sounds reasonable – do let us know how it goes 🙂

[Author]

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