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I think that Nick's boat was designed to be able to handle a paddler of about your weight plus 40 or so pounds of camping gear, so if you don't plan on carrying much gear, just scaling down the length shouldn't be a problem.
I don't think I'd mess with the beam on a stitch-n-glue. Changing the beam on a stripper is easier since you can strip to most any form and fill in as needed, but I'd be worried that modifiying the width of a s-n-g would result in the panel edges not lining up correctly or going into some funky contortions. Plus, Nick's design is supposedly more difficult than most stitch-n-glues as it is.
Dean
> I'm just starting Nick's stich and glue - the intended use is flatwater
> and slow moving rivers (class 1-2 max (not a lot of open sea in central
> Illinois)). To fit these uses, I plan to shorten the kayak to about
> 15'6" to improve maneuverability in moving water.
> I'm about 6' tall, 180lbs - will I need to increase the width to keep the
> volume relatively constant, or will it float OK at about 90% of the
> original volume?
> Assuming I don't increase the volume, but simply reduce the length of each
> horizontal measurement on the panel offsets (by say, 10%), will the panels
> still fit together?
> If no one has tried this, I plan to do a mock up in cardboard. Prior posts
> asked about river kayak plans... If this works, I will post my modified
> offsets (as long as Nick is making his available for free - since this is
> based on his design).
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Guillemot Kayak - High
Performance Wooden Sea Kayak Designs
