21' Tred Avon Kayak

[James Corduan]

Im looking for plans for the 21' Tred Avon Kayak. I first saw the plans in Forty Wooden Boats, but when I looked in the Wooden Boat Store they were not available. Does the design not perfom well and therefore was discontinued? Has anyone ever built one? Ive looked at every web page I can find but nothing similar is available. All I have found are multichine designs[too many seams] or plans for double with the cockpits moved further to the ends.

[JimD]

Tred Avon was a CLC design, yes? I don't see it at thier website anymore. Have you tried emailing them? It was a single chine, 21 feet long, 29" beam from what I gather.

How would it compare to a design like Glen-Ls double at about 20' x 30"?

http://www.glen-l.com/designs/canu-row/seakayak2.html#avail

A Tred Avon: http://www.kayaktripsnorthwest.com/HTM-Directory/TredAvon_Langans.htm

[Mark T]

According to CLC's web site that design has been discontinued. There is one for sale on the Web sites Home Built Bazaar. I never saw that section of their site before it must be recent.
(I'm not the seller nor do I know who it is)

Mark

[ebent05]

Hello James. Did you check out CLC's replacement for the Tred Avon---The Chesapeake Double and/or Triple? http://www.clcboats.com/boats/chesapeakedb-trp.php

Ed

[Farmer Diddley]

James,

The Summer 1994 issue of Sea Kayaker magazine has a "how-to" article on building the Tred Avon. It's a pretty thorough article and includes a full set of plans. Of course the plans are a bit on the small side, but you can definitely read all of the information on the plans.

You can order the back issue from Sea Kayaker Magazine's web site by clicking here (http://www.seakayakermag.com/miva/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=041&Category_Code=1994)

Good luck!
Steve

[James Corduan]

I ordered CLCs catalog and found it quite interesting, thanks for all the help.

[Cuyahoga Chuck]

James,
The field of Stitch and Glue kayak designs has evolved considerably in the last 15 years. Chris Kulczycki no longer owns/runs CLC but while he was there he encouraged builders to concentrate on the newer designs because his previous designs were found wanting in certain respects.
I still paddle an old Kukczycki "Yare" . I love it dearly but, it is an acquired taste.
Charlie

[LeeG]

James, check with the folks at www.kayakforum.com for the latest.

[BrianY]

FWIW - I happend to encounter Chris Kul...Chris K.'s book on kayak builiding in Barnes and Noble over the weekend. In it, he comments that the Tred Avon does not perform as well as and is harder to build than the more recent Chesepeak designs.

[LeeG]

My $.02,,the Tred Avon and Cape Charles are easier to build than the later boats merely because they don't have bulkheads and hatches integral to the initial construction. The later boats address some ergonomic, handling and structural shorcomings but it's a two steps forward one step back two steps sideways process because of the lack of testing of the designs in the environments that "sea kayaks" are designed for.
to whit, the Chesapeake Double/trible and standard Chesapeakes have more footroom and volume and more glass cloth to address the TredAvons/Cape Charles bow buring, snugger cockpits and weak aft decks but the new designs increased windage and hull volume to an unnecessarily higher degree in order to work within the confines of a bent deck and no temporary hull form construction.
Specifically the Chesapeake double/triple has to be the largest double kayak in existance. Were one to load it down to a similar freeboard as a single kayak you'd probably be putting 1000lbs of payload in the boat. It's that huge above the water. If you glass it as you would a single the weight shoots up significantly as it was originally designed and built without interior cockpit glass or deck glass.
That may not be an issue paddling in protected waters with less than 10mph breeze but once you take a "sea kayak" into conditions where waves and wind pick up the forces working on the hull back to human joints is SIGNIFICANT with an overly large double.
Anywho the Tred Avon really isn't worse than the Chesapeake double,,it's different and is a little more user friendly in that the volume is more in keeping for human power.

You could easily take a Tred Avon and increase the bow freeboard, give up the whole idea of a bent deck,or configure the deck differently to accomodate the increase in sheer and bow height.

[James Corduan]

I was mainly interested in the Tred Avon for the sailing rig. CLCs catalog shows a new sailing rig with out riggers which makes a mini trimaran out of a kayak. Has anyone tried sailing like this?

[ebent05]

A gentleman in Utah, Kellan Hatch built a CLC Mill Creek 16, then added the ama, aka sailrig to it. you can read about it at Duckworks online magazine http://www.duckworksmagazine.com/ See links below.

--A Curious Boat For Questionable Adventures-- http://www.duckworksmagazine.com/02/articles/curious/index.htm

--It's All in the Legs-- Kellan adds a Hobie Mirage Pedal Drive to the Mill Creek http://www.duckworksmagazine.com/03/r/projects/mirage/index.htm

Then an article about how it all works together --Curiouser & Curiouser-- http://www.duckworksmagazine.com/04/s/projects/curious/index.htm

[JimD]

A gentleman in Utah, Kellan Hatch built a CLC Mill Creek 16, then added the ama, aka sailrig to it. you can read about it at Duckworks online magazine http://www.duckworksmagazine.com/


I would like to read this but can't find it at the duckworks site. Got a direct link to the article or more explicit directions?

[ebent05]

Hi JimD I did post did post the direct links to the articles they are further down in my posting. I will try to spread my posting out so it does not appear to all run together. Ed

[ebent05]

Another idea although in a larger format is Chris Ostlind's A-18 (also at Duckworks) http://www.duckworksmagazine.com/04/s/designs/ostlind/a18-t/index.cfm Your probably not going to be able to row/paddle it very far.

[JimD]

Hi JimD I did post did post the direct links to the articles they are further down in my posting. I will try to spread my posting out so it does not appear to all run together. Ed

Oops! Sorry. I'm signing up for remedial reading in the fall...

[James Corduan]

I went to the sea kayak web site and ordered the back issue with the Tred Avon in it. Just got the magazine today. The plans are a little small, but all the info seems to be there. Thanks again for all the help, I really appreciate it.

[DJD]

James,

I built the Tred Avon from a kit several years ago. I believe I still have the plans somewhere. It is a fun boat to paddle and would be a blast with a sailing rig. PM me and maybe I can help you out.

Doug

[Whiffle English]

I built a tread avon about ten years ago and love it. My wife and I use it in relatively protected waters here in Vermont and have never felt anything but affection for it as we poke around the edges of creeks and lakes. Never did try to take it out in more strenuous conditions, but then I think I would rather not be in any two person kayak when the wind and waves made up. I'm sure that I still have the plans for the boat in my shop somewhere.
It was an easy build and has held up well.