NYCkayaker NYCKayaker Digest, Vol 12, Issue 14

[Geoff K.]

Rick,

Have you considered the lower-volume version of the Chesapeake, the 17 
LT? The slightly lower side panels will give you a somewhat more 
comfortable lean/edge, because the coaming will be lower. It is also 
slightly narrower in overall beam. I also think the lower-volume boat 
has nicer lines, in general. If you want to take a field trip down to 
Annapolis, they have a showroom with all of their boats built. Another 
great field trip is to the wooden boat show in Rockland, ME, but that 
was back in July. CLC brings their boats there for "show-and-tell" and I 
learned a lot from just talking with the folks in the booth. They may 
attend other shows, also...

I built an older style of the Pax 20, the Patuxent 19.5, and it was 
surprising straightforward to build. The printed directions have been a 
bit sketchy in the past, but I have been very happy with tech support 
from CLC; emails yield good results and phone calls often get handled by 
the shop manager directly.

Whichever model you choose, you should be very happy with the process, 
as well as the finished product. I chose to leave mine unpainted, just 
epoxy and varnish (my personal preference). For the first 4 years the 
only maintenance I did was to wet/dry sand and revarnish the hull. I'm 
now at a point where I need to take the deck down to wood and re-seal 
and varnish it (8-9 years later).

If you have any other questions, I'll be happy to try to field them as 
best I can.

Enjoy your kit!

-- Geoff

> After the fine trip, led by Lee Riser, I had with other nyckayakers to 
> Popolopen Gorge last week, I've decided to build a hard kayak.  One 
> that I've been looking at is Chesapeake Light Craft's Chesapeake 17.
>
> http://www.clcboats.com/boats/chesapeake17_photos.php
>
> Basicaly, it's 17'x24"x13" and 45 lbs.  Does anyone have experience 
> and/or an opinion of this boat?  Coming from a very stable Folbot, I'm 
> interested in more speed, but I want a stable boat. I don't have 
> interest in doing any eskimo rolling.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Rick Langer
>