Author: boat designer

From a kayak angler’s standpoint, the question is whether to motorize your kayak or, not, and if the answer is ‘yes’, the next question is related to what type of motor – an electric trolling motor, or an outboard gas engine… and so on.
This website deals with such questions, and other kayak design and outfitting questions that are of interest to kayak anglers, but the reality out there is that when fishing is concerned, kayaks are the least popular and least appreciated of all boats, and for the overwhelming majority of anglers out there, fishing out of a kayak is simply not anything they’d be willing to consider, since for them, kayaks are too unstable, uncomfortable, and wet, and they don’t offer a range of travel that’s acceptable for anyone who fishes out of a motorboat, which is what most anglers in North America are used to do.
Telling such people you have a better kayak is somehow pointless, since for them, kayaks are just below the radar.
But if your fishing craft is so good that calling is a kayak is belittling it?
Moreover – what if when motorized, this watercraft can compete pretty well with small skiffs known as micro skiffs (microskiffs)? By competing we mean not being better in everything, because that’s already achieved in the domain of kayaks, but we mean being better in certain things, on par in others, and offering less as far as load capacity and number of passengers are concerned.
This is what the Personal Micro Skiffs concept does: It presents the W twin hull watercraft in the context of small, motorized fishing skiffs, in terms that anglers who use such motorboats and other small motorboats can relate to, and understand.

So if you’re looking for a small cartop skiff that’s portable, versatile, mobile, stable and comfortable that you could use offshore as well as in no motor zones (NMZ), you’d better have look at this new website called Personal Micro Skiff:  http://www.microskiff.us

Here’s the video featuring on that site:

This is the latest DIY W kayak project –

It’s the first DIY design allowing to take the boat apart.

Says Berny:

-“I have been busy building my W kayak.  I tested it today and did a dive off it with great success.  I decided to use the aluminum connecting poles and make the craft in three parts. This has the benefits of easier construction, easier transport and easier storage.
As I anticipated, it is very stable and should make an ideal sea diving platform. The seat section provides inherent buoyancy if it should capsize. However, I tried very hard to capsize it today and it never looked like getting close to it.
I am so pleased with it and very glad I saw John Forney’s Design.
I would be grateful if you could thank him for his help and advice.
Also, thanks for your help and encouragement.”

Added in November 2012 –

Here’s a video showing Berny testing his W kayak:

Here’s a recently produced movie showing a W fishing kayak outfitted with a 2hp 4-cycle Honda outboard motor, at the beach.
In this configuration, this kayak is a car top motorboat, eliminating the need for a trailer. It can be dragged on the beach, as well as on dirt, rocks and grass, which in most cases eliminates the need for transportation wheels.
Passengers and gear can stay dry due to the high free board, in combination with the cockpit cover. The kayak seen here is outfitted with extra large flotation modules on both sides, so it it happens to capsize, it should keep floating, even with the outboard motor mounted on it.
launching this watercraft is easy from any location, due to the fact that it benefits from triple propulsion: motorized, paddling, and poling (with the W paddle).
This motorized fishing kayak can even take a second passenger on board, although they may occasionally get splashed, as the 2hp outboard drives the boat at a 7mph speed.
This unique, patented twin-hull watercraft offers enough stability without adding stabilizers to it, and the driver is seen standing up while driving it, even in the presence of mild waves.
Steering is easy and intuitive, through an articulated tiller extension. This is particularly effective with this Honda motor, because it is controlled through its tiller grip handle.

More information about motorizing fishing kayaks >

By Gary Rankel

Florida

In my never ending quest to simplify and diversify using my Wavewalk kayak, I just added a cable anchoring system.
I first assembled the pulley arrangement as per Jeff McGovern’s video in the rigging section of the W website (which had both the top and bottom sections of the cord at the pulleys spaced outside the carrying handles), but experienced problems with the cord coming off the pulley when moved forward or backward. So I repositioned the pulleys as shown so that the top cord passes to the inside of the carrying handle while the bottom cord passes to its outside.
This seems to work OK but I’ll give it a good test over the next week when the water around here clears after Debbie did her thing. If a problem persists, I’ll replace the plastic pulleys with the small metal ones that have built in shields to keep the cord from slipping off.
By doubling up on the anchor line as shown I can let out about 10 feet (which works well 90% of the time on the flats here), but can also easily convert it into a single 20 foot line when needed.
Of course, I also still have the option of my 6-foot metal clip fish stringer to anchor while fishing in a foot or two of water using the ropes installed through holes drilled in the top rim of the W.

Hopefully, I’ll get out later this week after the water clears. It was chocolate brown and full of grass and weeds when I checked it out over the weekend.

Gary

More rigged fishing kayaks >