I’s 2pm,,, Thunderboomers amok

It’s been a productive day, if only a little disappointing,,, I’ll get to that in a moment.

Was on the lake, enjoying the water time, watching the boaties doing their shuffle into the water, catching some good waves (there is a small ridge underwater near the ramp, it makes the waves break but they like to stand up first and those are some of the funner waves) And then I started hearing the rumbles,,, Thunderboomers enroute, time to beat the rush off the water (and as I was loading up, saw a lot of those boaties headed back to the ramp to pull out too. Just in time,,,,Hooo!)

but my disappointment,,,, Took both Lizzy and Lyssa today. The intent was to test Lizzy after dropping that seat pan to the hull. Theory was, dropping the CG that 1.5″ would help her stabilize. Well, theory tested and FAIL!!! That boat is Designed for instability, period I coudln’t tell a diffference at all, standing still, moving, into waves, abeam, from the aft, didn’t matter, it was a fight, just like always in her. Fast, yes, she has that, and only when moving near max hull speed does she firm up. Thats rough on old shoulders,,, And that damned keel that I trimmed is still far too aggressive (or the fact that I can’t lay her on edge like I can Lyssa) She tracks like a frieghttrain. I spent over an hour trying to get my sea-legs in her, and by the time I tossed in the towel, I was shaken. It took me 20 minutes to get my sea-legs back in Lyssa, and she is the second most forgiving boat I know.(Blue Jean being the first.) Once I had my sea-legs back, I did a crossing, caught some waves, played around near the ramp with incoming waves, and enjoyed being on water again for a couple more hours. Was going to practice some rolling with the waves, but the ramp was like I-5 at 3pm,,, bizzybizzybizzy, and that little cove was just churned up (I know, Excuses,,,,,)

Lizzy is not my winter project,,,, Not now. I can’t fix whats there, and if I tried, it would be an entirely NEW boat, hull deck and all. May as well start from scratch instead of slap good glass on bad. I’ll fix that seat pan back so you won’t be able to tell, unless you use an inspection mirror to see the back sides, and she goes to SC as soon as I can manage the trip (Buffalo needs her new go-go module installed first) This is definitely a live and learn moment, and while some of my theories were tested and failed, others were reinforced (that whole swede form boats are more forgiving. Both Lyssa and BJ are swedeform, with BJ being the ‘extreme’ end of that spectrum. Lizzy is symmetrical, all other things are so close as to be the same: moderate V-hull that is near flat under the cockpit. ) (Three forms of Kayak, Fish form, Symmetrical, and Swede form. Fish form is widest forward of the cockpit near your feet, symmetrical is perfectly balanced fore/aft, and swede form is widest cockpit back, the more stable form of this is widest just aft of the cockpit. Like BJ is. Lyssa is widest right at the backside of the cockpit. Lizzy is widest just forward of the cockpit coaming, right about where my knees make contact.)(One downside to the swede form: It likes to broach in following waves. (when you get turned sideways in them) bit if you are aware of that trait, you can ‘work with it’.)

Anywhoos, its rainy out, good sleepy weather, and after humping two boats to and from truck, and pushing both though the water, Me thinks a nap is order,,,,