Hey Frank- I've been waiting for a reply from Wiggs myself. I hope he's ok?
You should be fine refinishing the cockpit trim the same as the rails. Varnish would be best though for durability and abrasion. Mine are all painted olive drab for hunting, the original purpose for kayaks. Where are you in Mass.?

I was able to get an e-mail address for Wiggs and tried e-mailing him directly to invite his continued response on the Dirigo history. To date I've had no response there either. Hopefully he's enjoying a trip to some exotic place and will be back with us soon.

Mikekayak

bilnik....

thanks for the reply. i never thought we'd finally get to page nine! i am in ayer, ma just east of leominster. i spend time in and around hingham harbor and the south shore, but am open to going anywhere really. thanks for the varnish tip. i will definitely look into it. i hope wiggs is alright also. i hope he can find his way back here. i would love to hear the history, and he may be one of the few that can share it. thanks bilnik..

Hey Guys, it's Peter Chase. It's amazing to hear all this talk about the Dirigo 17, which I designed and which I loved, but I had to get out of building fiberglass boats. I work on rebuilding wooden boats and designing and building small wooden boats, I call it biodegradable boat building.
I own the third Dirigo 17 we built that we used for trying different materials including a sailing rig, which worked really well.
I do want to say that it is not a good thing to put a skeg on the stern and especially not on the bow. The boat steers well and can be used for white water kayaking. It's only when you are paddling down wind on a windy day with large waves that it's difficult to keep the boat on course. Using the rudder takes care of that, so learning to paddle correctly is the key.
It is great to hear all this talk about Dirigo 17's after so many years. Check out my website:
[url=www.caperosierboatshop.com]home[/url] I also want to give credit to Elliot Speer, who's email address is: espeer@midmaine.com Tod Cheney was also very involved in building them, his email is todedc@gmail.com My email address is: caperosierboatshop@gmail.com but my wife is the only one who uses the internet, so it's only if she happens to check mine that I hear about mail.
I am happy to talk with you over the phone. My number is 207 326-4514. It is a real ego boost to hear all the chat.

Peter Chase!: great to have one of the original Dirigo designer-builders now on the thread. I know that every designer thinks the world of his boat, but my Dirigo 17 was greatly improved by the addition of, first, the stern skeg and later the bow skeg, as otherwise the boat was utterly rudder-dependent. I paddled the boat often enough on open water under severe conditions over the 24 years I owned it to become intimately familiar with its handling peculiarities. The Dirigo 17 was (and still is) a beautiful and solidly-built boat, and I dearly loved mine more and more with every improvement and modification I made to it, but a perfect boat it surely wasn't. If it's any solace to the original designer-builders, I've gone through a similar process of improvement and modification to my current Epic 16X, so maybe it's just me.

Good to hear from you Mr. Chase. I met you at the Newport RI, small boat show many years ago. It was your first or second year building them. You let me try out your boat and I've had one ever since. Thanks! I just glassed over the wood cockpit combing, sorry had to do it. I've put a lot of miles on it. I can't find another kayak I like and I've tried them all.
Thanks!

Yippee!

I also now own a Dirigo 17 kayak.

I've been passing by this auction house in Minot, Maine several times a week, so recently I finally stopped into inquire about the Dirigo kayak they had (also an excuse to examine it). Turns out it was going up on the auction block two days later.

So after reading up about this kayak (mainly on your forum), I decided to attend the auction and bid on it.

It was part of an estate auction, so most of the bidders I assume didn't know much about this kayak, or have any interest in it.

Anyhow I was the high bidder. It included the rudder, and both hatches.It's currently in my basement, here in the State of Maine. I'll probably do some work on it over the winter, so that it's ready for the spring.

I'm definitely looking forward to the spring!

Sinbad, congratulations! You're now member of an exclusive group. I wrote up an article about Dirigo Boatworks and the Dirigo 17 based on letters I had sent & received from Elliott Speer and Peter Chase while I served a spell as editor of ANorAK, the journal of the Association of North Atlantic Kayakers, back in the mid-1980s. Now that this thread has become so rich in Dirigo lore, I'm sorry that I no longer have any copies of that issue, as I would love to share it again here. But you've tapped into a real store of knowledge and experience with the Dirigo 17 here, and I'm sure that somebody can come up with a decent answer to any question that you might have. Enjoy!

Congrats Sinbad- You are a lucky man. Why wait until spring? I did 7 miles today on Lk. Champlain!

You have a great point!

I'm seriously contemplating the maiden voyage (under new ownership) this Thanksgiving Holiday weekend.

Regards & Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Carl - if you can come up with any info on your article I would be happy do what ever would be needed to make it work with the forum.
Michael

Mike, thanks for the offer. I know that I no longer have that issue, nor any of my old ANorAKs, as I periodically clean out the stables of accumulating "stuff", then kick myself later. Oh well.... (Don't have any of my old, old SKs either--I had them back to the first issue.....)

Are there any libraries that you know of that would have all the back issues of ANorAK? I know there are a few libraries besides the one at SK that have complete or near complete collections.

Hello, new to this stuff. I recently purchased a cottage and it came with what has turned out to be a couple of sea kayaks and a bunch of old issues of sea kayaker magazine among other things. One of the kayaks is a Dirigo 17 and the other is a McNulty Sea Hunter, about the same legnth. just looking for some info as to what i've got, never kayaked before, own several other boats, canoes stayed mostly on the lake. Niether seem to have a rudder but other than that seem to be pretty complete and functional are the rudders necessary or are they ok without?

Whiteman, yours is the second Dirigo 17 to be noted on this thread as not having a rudder. My familiarity with the Dirigo 17 is based only on my ruddered 1984 model; it may be that either Dirigo did produce some boats without rudders, or that people removed their rudders somewhere along the line. I'd be curious about the date of manufacture of your boat, which you can figure out from the serial number/letter code etched onto the stern (mine was on the starboard side). I know that my boat was utterly rudder-dependent, as the boat would do a complete 180 with the rudder not deployed, once I put down my paddle and let the boat have its own way as it glided along. I mentioned this to co-designer Peter Chase shortly after I bought the boat, and he told me then that I just had to learn to paddle it correctly (Peter probably will not remember this). The Sea Hunter may be a different story entirely.

Welcome to the Club! Once you get the hang of the Dirigo, you'll have some fine paddling experiences with it; I know several of my most memorable trips were made in mine. I hope whatever you need to find out, you can get the info here.