This is an archived message posted to the Kayak Building Bulletin Board. If you would like to ask a question about building kayaks, you can post a new message.
Initial stability is a measure of how the boat responds when you are sitting nearly straight upright. Low initial stability will feel "twitchy", an little motion you make will cause the boat to lean one way or the other. Secondary stability measures how much support you get when you start to lean the boat. Some boats are very twitchy when upright, but they get comfortable when leaned over slightly.
There are no generalizations you can make about the relative stability of hard-chine vs soft-chine boats. You need to instead look at the width at the waterline, the under water and above water shapes.
> I'm a newbie with some side to side balance problems (much and quickly
> improved by Kayaking class) so it is important that I understand stability
> before I build a boat. All help appreciated.
> After taking a Foundation of Sea Kayaking class, this is what I think I
> understand:
> Primary Stability relates to how stable the boat is when it is just
> floating. Secondary is how stable the boat is when it is underway.
> Therefore, it seems that newbies desire high Primary when in fact high
> Secondary is a better log term goal with a touring boat.
> Is that about right?
> Hard Chine vs Multi Chine - What I read leads me to believe that leaning a
> multichine is like slipping on a banana peel. It's a smooth ride side to
> side but going over, you can't so easily stop once you get going. And hard
> chine allows the boat to go over on its side, not as smooth, so you know
> it. Then it takes a little more lean to go all the way over.
> Can someone clarify in newbie non-tech speak?
> I plan to rent boats of each type before deciding what to build.
> Thanks. Love the board and the web ring,
> Rick
This is an archived message from The Kayak Building Bulletin Board.
Guillemot Kayak - High
Performance Wooden Sea Kayak Designs
