Northwest Passage Designs

16'-2" TOURING KAYAK:
Northwest Passage
42 pounds
22" wide
8" at side

Northwest Passage has a shallow "V" hull, round bilges, and moderate flare. Her 16'-2" overall length gets the most out of two sheets of 4 mm x 250 mm x 125 mm plywood and yields a waterline length of about 15'- 4 ". A third sheet forms her deck, hatches and coaming top. Her 22" waterline beam gives very good stability, and an almost irreducible minimum wetted surface of 21.9 square feet at a displacement of 292 pounds (150 pounds of paddler, 100 pounds of cargo, and 42 pounds of boat).

This design is for cost-effective, safe and energy efficient touring for people weighing 130-180 pounds. Bigger people should consider Northwest Passage XL

NORTHWEST PASSAGE paddles straight as an arrow, and a gentle lean helps her around a turn without any fuss. She has two watertight bulkheads and simple flush hatches that keep the rain and splash out, yet allow stowage of enough gear to camp for a few days or a week. Her hull can be painted, or finished bright and you can customize hatches, coaming, bulkhead locations and back rests.

NWP has 8 inch high sides, a low coaming back of 9-5/8 and 12 inches forward, and about 2 inches of rocker. She has a tight bilge radius of 3-1/4 inches.

While increasing waterline length reduces wave-making resistance, it usually results in increased wetted surface, and hence, greater frictional drag at normal cruising speeds. A waterline length of 17 feet or more will go slightly faster at higher speeds, but the drag resistance reduction is 0.1 pounds out of an average of 3.7 pounds at 4 knots for a boat that may be up to 19 feet long. You can't paddle 4 knots all day unless your first name is Arnold.

An inexpensive and simple construction strong-back and temporary molds are erected to hold the panels while forcing them into a round bilge with plastic pipe sections screwed together, clamping (scrunching) the bilge and epoxy soaked tape together from outside and inside to cure.

Of eight other shallow "V" hull boats reviewed in Sea Kayaker magazine in the last few years, she is pretty much right on average for her dimensions, performance and paddling resistance (recognizing there is only about +/- 3% variation among these boats). The eight "V" hull boats have average weights and paddling resistances slightly better than the ten hard-chine and multi-chine boats reviewed, and these were slightly better than the averages for eight "U" shaped hulls, so she is right up there with the front runners.

Calculated RESISTANCE in POUNDS in calm water
KNOTS	2	2.5	3	3.5	4
192#	0.86	1.33	1.88	2.54	3.47
292#	0.93	1.43	2.03	2.72	3.69

NORTHWEST PASSAGE is built using stitch and glue, and scrunch and glue techniques. The step by step, illustrated construction guide and plans give the details for building the mold, plywood layout, boat construction sequencing and what you can customize without affecting integrity of the boat.



NORTHWEST PASSAGE plans cost $65. Mail a check to our address with a note of what you desire or see Ordering. Custom Built about $1320. Mold Material costs about $ 60, Hull and Outfit about $360. Construction Hours about 120 Second boat about $340, so two boats = the price of one kit.