Well.....I reluctantly launched the Yakette this morning! As you can see I was being very careful while boarding since I've put on some weigh and up to 205 now. I hope my doctor doesn't go into Duckworks! I'll be in big trouble for sure! Guess I'll have to start paddling again to get some of the lard off! 

In the next photo you can see her profile and I have to admit that I was quite pleased with her mini Greenlander look. 

Paddling from back across the lake shows that I'm a happy paddler! I tried 3 different seat configurations. The plastic seat I normally use worked well, but needs to be on a thin rubber pad to keep it from slipping to one side or the other. Then I tried the regular foam fold up stadium seat and it too worked extremely well, but I did notice that more padded was needed where I'm leaning back against the cockpit coaming. A section of split swim noodle would work fine or a piece of that foam pipe insulation. Ironically my favorite turned out to be two boat cushions with the straps sewn together to make my own stadium seat and also has the advantages of having a couple of USCG approved floating devices onboard. Plus it's thicker than the stadium seat making it more comfy for us older folks. 

The initial stability was good and secondary also good! She had a much faster turn of speed than I expected, and carves a turn quickly. Her overall stability while underway is very good! Since she is a Yakoo she does have the deep vee'd keel that makes her track extremely well. I'll paint her over the weekend and also put some foam blocks forward and aft since there are no bulkheads in the Yakette. I still have to sand off the cockpit lip and the entire boat to get her ready to paint and then maybe some deck rigging too! She is 10'-5" long and 26 1/2" wide across the beam. Her bottom width admid ship is 20 inches, and she weighs around 25 pounds or so just guessing. When I get a new scale, I send you the exact weight. Of course you can see she's all tack and tape with epoxy. I did epoxy for the security of the strength and bonding. 

The Yakette seems to be the sport model of my Yakoo's, and turned out to be a lot of fun. I even got my wife to take a spin around the lake! She doesn't swim and is normally afraid of water! It didn't show in the picture. 

Once she got comfortable she was gone and really enjoyed herself. By the way she gave the the rubber duck as a joke the moment I launched the boat, and named him "Quakyak"! The duck stayed on deck through the entire ordeal of sea trials! The duck didn't want to go with her! I'm taking the Yakette fishing this afternoon for some white bass! Yep.... the duck is going too! The Yakette will go to Cassie Lyons...but she can't have it yet! 

Richard Frye