I am looking at purchasing a 17' finished strip built kayak. However, it does not have any hatches. Can I still add hatches, even though this boat is complete? How difficult would it be? Where could I get info on how to do this?

Thank you for your assistance!

Contact the company that sells the kit. Do you know if the bulkheads were put in when the boat was built? If not, it would probably be a good idea to add them too.

My thought is that if you are very careful about laying out and marking the hatch and then very, very careful about cutting it out, you could use the cutout as the hatch cover and all that would be needed is a flange installed under the deck. Add a proper gasket and tie-down straps and you're in business. Or, if you're really good, you could make the cut at an angle and no flange would be necessary.

I would also suggest that you cover the deck surrounding the cut out with paper to protect the deck during the cutting proceedure.
I think you are going to need a very good quality jig saw with the right kind of blades. And you'd better practice on something before you touch the boat.

It's possible that the right kind of Japanese hand saw would be your best bet.

The whole thing is very doable, but it's going to take patients and very good planning.

Thanks Magooch!

I did not buy the boat. Just did not feel right on the water.

1) There were NO bulkheads (I consider this a must, especially for open water)

2) Just could not make the boat track straight. It turned well in one direction. Had trouble getting it to turn right. I shifted my weight and tried leaning, not leaning...still did not turn right well. There was only a minimal breeze. Also could not pick up any speed. Almost felt like there was a drag on the boat.

The boat was beautiful and comfortable, but I want an open water boat and felt I would have to really too work hard with this one.

Since this was a hand made cedar strip boat, could the boat be out of balance? Or maybe I was too light for the boat?

Soft chine, lots of rocker, approx 17 ft long, 22" wide, I think I should have been able to paddle this boat...

Oh well, another one marked off the list.

Thanks anyway.

Good for you, Happy. You did the right thing, trying it out. It's possible that the keel wasn't straight, or some other flaw was present. This is why it really pays to look any boat over from every angle and especially turn it upside down and sight down the keel.

Now, on the other hand, some boats are very sensitive to wind and currents and will give you the impression that they want to turn one way and not the other. The only way to be sure is to try the boat on a perfectly calm day on a lake where there is absolutely no current. Even then, you have to be sure that you aren't doing something off balance.

One of my boats always gave me the impression that it wanted to turn to the right. I finally found a perfectly calm day on the little lake in the center of our town and I made sure that I was sitting right on center. The boat glided straight as an arrow and turned equally well in both directions.

Even though I have been a woodworker for many, many years, I for some reason, just can't bring myself to have any interest at all in having a wood based kayak. Wood working is more of an art than a science and it takes a very keen eye and a lot of patience to make all the lines fair. Well built composite boats that come out of a well proven mold, are going to be as straight and perfect as it is possible to get. At least that is my opinion. I also think that composite (fiberglass) boats are much less likely to loose their shape over time. That's not to say that I have no regard for some of the poly boats. However, as you no doubt are aware, even the best of the poly boats have got to be well cared for at all times. They must be stored properly and transported with care, or they will be warped.

Here is a little test to perforn on any poly boat that you might be interested in. With the boat on the ground, very slowly lift the bow of the boat and watch to see if you detect any flex in the boat. I almost guaranty that any poly boat near, or over 17 feet will flex a little, especially on a warm day. That doesn't mean the boat won't be all right, but it's just one more factor in the boats ultimate performance.

Happy, I wish you luck in your search for "the right boat."

Magooch and HappiPaddler, before giving up on wooden boats, maybe you should re-read my 02/28/08 entry on this site, "The World's Only Painted Wooden Kayak?" under this One of a Kind heading. Stitch-and-glue hard chine kayaks are easy to construct and to keep true, and if you just paint them, you don't have to obsess about how they look--you just go kayaking. Also, it's so easy to add, subtract, and modify a painted plywood boat that you can have a boat exactly the way you want it. This is my 13th year with my boat "Strange Magic", and our relationship through shared adventures just keeps getting stronger and stronger.

Yeah, but I like a purty boat too. There's nothing more eye-catching than a well done wood strip boat, but to me they are more like eye-candy than something I want to be using day after day. But that's just me.

I wish there were more offerings in thermoplastic, because I believe this material just might be the best of everything--if the manufacturer gets it right. I still wonder if the process lends itself to certain design aspects, though. And that is exactly the same concern I have about wood.

When it comes to the compound shapes and very sharp ends that I like, the composites and polyethylene seems to be the way to go--so far as I've seen. If Eddyline is ever able to come up with a design that I like and if it is doable with their plastic, they might be the ones to come up with the ultimate boat.

Thank you, both. I am not opposed to a wooden boat. I love the look of the wood and how lightwieght the these boats generally are. Unfortunatley this one did not work out for me. FYI, the test paddle was in a small pond surrounded by houses, so there was no current. There was a breeze, but very light. I did try shifting my weight and leaning the boat in to a turn as well as using the paddle to turn. The results were the same... turn right without even trying, work to make it turn left.

I currently paddle a thermoformed plastic boat and am a believer in material as well.

I think wooden kayaks are easy on the eyes and a great way to start up conversations with other paddlers. (Besides I already have a wooded paddle made by a man in California that I adore! Not only is it light & beautiful, but the design is perfect for my smaller hands (the artist is Gabriel Martin).) I thought a wooden boat to go with it would have been perfect. Okay, it's a girl thing.

Thank you for the reminder on materials. I'm steering away from poly. Just a personal preference at this point. What research I've done on wood, especially cedarstrip, tout durability as well. Like I said earlier, I am in no hurry for the right open water boat. And for me, wooden is not ruled out by this one boat. I still have a suspision that there were some issues that resulted in the paddling concerns...but I've been wrong before.

Thanks!

Good for you, Happy. You did the right thing, trying it out.