John's Night Heron
Page 5: The
Finished Boat
Click
any photo to view a larger image.
The
Finished Boat
Fully rigged, the boat weighs 39.5 pounds. I am pleased with the
weight, considering it has 6 ounce fiberglass, inside and out, with two
layers on the outside hull. It's built like a tank!
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Rear
view. The back deck is low and flat, but I can't quite reach the
back deck with my head when leaning back.
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I took the boat on a short
shakedown cruise before gluing the seat into position and fine tuning the
shape of the
kneepad foam.
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The shear line is so pretty that
sometimes I regret not highlighting it with a contrasting color.
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The Night Heron performs pretty
much as I expected. A very stable feel. Not as maneuverable as
my Guillemot. The bow rises over waves that the Guillemot tends to cut
into.
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My friend Barbara tries out the boat
in the next few shots.
I just love the low profile of the
Night Heron!
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I'm waiting for warmer water to test rolling the boat, but I'm sure it
will be an easy roller.
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The boat's first real outing was
at Caddo Lake over the new year weekend. Seventeen miles on Friday and
eight miles on Saturday. The boat was very comfortable.
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There is enough room in the hatches
for a few days camping gear with proper planning, though my outings were
day trips.
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Just a few more shots of the boat in
the water, here at Lake Ray Roberts.
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In a crosswind, there is no
significant weathercocking, but boat does seems to slide a lot with
only my 155 lb weight and day gear. Maybe I just noticed it more
because of all the trees in the water to use as reference points.
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The Night Heron is a relatively
loose- tracking boat for its 18 foot length.
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The boat feels very stable, and easy to
paddle at a race pace. At sprint speed the bow lifts up a lot, though,
presumably due to the the flatness of the bottom that is brought relatively
far forward.
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Steve tries out the Night Heron.
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I am looking forward to a lot of fun
in this boat. Now, what to build next?!?
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After paddling my Night Heron a few months, I
decided to tighten the tracking a little by adding a little more fixed skeg to
the external stem at the stern. It didn't take much to greatly improve the tracking. Here are a few
photos:
Mahogany
strips were built up to the height of a string line. The rear third of
the boat bottom became a straight line to the stern.
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Two layers of 6 ounce glass on
top. The depth of the keel ranges from nothing three feet from the
stern to about 3/4" at the stern.
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Varnished
at it's finished. It is a very modest keel, and does not significantly
affect the appearance of the boat. It doesn't take much keel to make a
big difference in performance.
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I really like the improved
tracking. It's still more maneuverable than most 18 foot boats, but
not so extreme anymore. After two days on the water in varying
conditions, I am quite pleased.
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This completes my Night Heron project. I want to thank everyone who has
shared ideas and experiences on the
boat-building message boards, as I learned a lot.
Thanks also to my local paddling friends who
provided encouragement to build, as well being great paddling buddies.
See you on the water!
Sincerely, John Caldeira john@outdoorplace.org
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Created January 5, 2004
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