Stretched Jack's Special

[Mihun09]

As much as Christy loves the Huron we just finished for her, it is way too heavy for her to use as a solo boat. She also loves my Jack's Special and is interested in building another but stretched out a foot to make it 16. We would also shoot for mid 40's in weight and she is toying with the idea of no outer stem, although she has mentioned stemless I don't like that idea at all for our conditions. If I were to get rid of the massive decks on mine I could easily get it under 50 pounds.

Any thoughts, Mem especially, on this particular boat stretched out to 16 feet? Alan? It would be more like a torpedo for sure. I would also stretch the inner stems as they are too short as they are. We have looked at the other boats at Carrying Place but she really likes this one.

Karin

 

[Iskweo]

I like it because I have paddled it and it was a winner. They seem to glide forever. My Huron is nice and solid and can carry a load, and I do like the way it handles but the Jack's is really nice. Man does it ever fly.

The idea of stretching it is for a bit bigger solo and still keep the handling and speed. I am guessing it wouild be a lot like a chestnut cruiser model or the Canadian that we once had. I may opt to just keep it as is with small decks and one layup of glass to make it as light as possible. The intended use is for mostly river tripping. A week tops, mostly day trips and overnights.

Mem....what do you think compared to a PAL? You have paddled both.

Alan, I am toying with the idea of one of your pedestal seats.

Christy

 

[memaquay]

Pal and Chum are two different friends, like Sponge Bob and Mr. Crabs. I don't think you would gain much by stretching, other than weight and additional storage area. The Jack has very lose stems which makes it great for moving around, but not so great for hard tracking. Don't think an extra foot would add much to the tracking. Think mine is under 50, and I didn't use any light weight building. Doubled up on the six ounce underneath and full hardwood for trim.

The Pal paddles more like a big canoe, it tracks better, but turns are not as efficient, and it's slower.

 

[Mihun09]

Mr. Crabs? Have another wild weekend?

 

[memaquay]

Ha ha, no, Mr. Krabs is Sponge Bob's boss at Krusty Krabs restaurant. When you've had a bunch of kids in your life, you assume everyone is hip to the cartoon lingo. Anyway, I think the 15 foot jack, built without all the big decks and stuff will be perfect. If you just use one layer of fiberglass and light weight trim, I bet you could get it down to forty pounds.

 

[Iskweo]

I only got a brief paddle in yours, but I had karins for a good tryout last time and it was impressive. Yes the stems are loose but once you get used to it it's not a problem. Definitely fast. Really excellent glide. I was looking at our Champlain and I see what you mean about being a bigger canoe ( PAL = Champlain pretty much). I was thinking stretched because of what Doug Ingram does to his swift fox, a 14 foot fox with a foot added on. Nice canoe.
Maybe I will just put together a light weight version of the Jack's and see how that goes.

To be quite honest I don't really like the idea of tripping alone. It does look like that will be my fate more and more though so I need a boat I can manage and that will get me to those hard to reach places. As the years pass they are all hard to reach places...lol.