fishing yak

g'day everyone. i would like to build a sit on top kayak about 12 ft long with enough stability to stand and cast. plywood flat bottom construction. my idea is to have one which is lighter and better performing than the store bought plastics. if anyone knows of plans for something like this can i have a link please.

 

I don't know of any sit on top kinds built in plywood. At 12 feet, there's no way you're going to be able to stand up and it's going to be a very cramped affair.

There are some small rowboats that could fit the bill. But if you have your heart set on a sit on top kayak, you may have to find a used plastic one.

 

why not 12 ft, if it is wide enough. i don't need to walk around just stand to cast. plastic yaks can do it , why not ply. there must be someone on the forum that has designed something similar. i already have a dinghy tender for my yacht colin. but i like the yaks for ease of throwing on the roof rack and carrying through the bush. it could be longer if i could break it down into 2 sections.

 

Whitepointer23,

Check out this site, these guys do lots of boats that you won't see in professional websites, because they do what they want for themselves. http://www.texaskayakfisherman.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=71&sid=3b53d7eda7985a7be1d868f83a470654

Have you looked at the clcboats.com SOT? Its not 12 feet, but you might decide it will work. I thought about making one of the AUK 12' with an open cockpit for my brother-in-law. It looks pretty wide. The open cockpit I was thinking about looks like this. http://www.brunel.ac.uk/~acsrrrm/kayak/pbk/pkb.html The cockpit could be made fairly long.

 

I don't think I have enough experience with these things to give you very good advice.

12 feet is pretty small if you're going to be standing up. Are there any production boats in that size range that recommend standing up to cast?

 

I'm sure you could adapt this style to your purpose in thin plywood. http://www.wavewalk.com/

I built an aluminium dinghy of similar concepts in 92 or 94 using the "tunnel" as a seat with a foot in each hull & the Markam cat dinghy uses the same concepts also.
All the best from Jeff.

 

http://www.jemwatercraft.com/products.php?cat=10
Check out the above link. Don't think the 12' 30" beam would be easy to stand except for calm water.

If you don't need the performance of a 3 chine plus hull you could build a fat ~3' beam pirogue with no rocker and a sealed deck fore and aft for added safety. As far as plastic boats go from what I've read the NuCanoe is the most stable 12' mostly flat hull platform without using some sort of outrigger or dual hull..

 

Twelve feet is plenty long enough for a standup boat. A kayak is necessarily narrow and there is the rub. At, on average, 26 to 28 inch beam, the standard, round chined, kayak will spit you off for even thinking about standing. The solution is to increase the width sufficiently to gain some athwartships stability. How wide to make the boat is partially dependent on the size of the paddler and his/her physical condition along with degree of nimbleness. The condition of the water where you fish should have some influence on the boat design too.

On the one hand we would want the boat to be narrow for lower weight and ease of paddling. As soon as the stand up provision enters the equation, the whole game changes.

One could argue that the stand up paddleboards are not wide. True, but the users of those boards are paddling for fun and thrills, not fishing.

 

I just went searching for a picture I had of a Kayak with a split aft tail but can't find it.
Looked like a regular Kayak but the aft part was hinged to split in the middle so they could be pusted outward creating a V ( a wide V) this allowed him to stand and cast. Pulled back together and locked it was a regular Kayak again When spread out it looked like the letter Y. SHOULD NOT BE HARD TO DO just aft of the seat cut the tail in half seal all sides install a locking hinge. You just created 2 flotation chambers.

 

Here's one, and there may be others. Would be nice if the split tail could be easily removed so it packs down smaller for storage/transport...

http://www.hammacher.com/Product/Default.aspx?sku=11098

Porta

 

Oops, looks like the tail CAN be removed. Here's another I was thinking of:

http://www.sportchalet.com/category/feature of the week/freedom hawk kayak.do

P.

 

thanks for all the great replys. a lot of options to look at now.

 

Portacruise. to remove the whole tail should be easy if designed for threaded inserts.
Thanks for finding those pictures

 

This one is possibly a bit bigger than you are looking but it is an excellent boat. Plans or kit available.

http://www.clcboats.com/shop/boats/...ks/sea-island-sport-sit-on-top-kayak-kit.html

 

Yes a NuCanoe is a great boat I have one and love it. Mine is the 12' model and I am able to stand, cast, and bow fish from it that is why I went with it and I'm a big guy. I it totally modular too from the seats to many other add on most of which you can fab up yourself like I have done. It is a bit heavy for hauling it through the bush but you can buy or make a set of wheels that go in the back anchor hole of the boat. NuCanoe's website is full of pics for ideas too, oh and they just came out with a new design that lets you access the space in the hull for storage.