Seeking advice to fix tracking issue

[cateran]

Howdy all,
Finished building an Angus Rowcruiser last fall a few weeks before boating season ended. During the time I was able to spend on the water with it, I found it had a tendency to curve to the starboard a bit underway. I had cut out the opening for the offset dagger board for the sailing kit (working on that part right now, almost ready!) and could hear water sloshing in there and thought maybe that was the problem as its offset to on the starboard side as well. I tried slapping some tape over the hole in an attempt to solve it, and while it did help, it still drifts to that side a little between strokes. It's not so bad, but ideally a boat that glides straight would be better.
I probably didn't spend enough time or made mistakes truing and squaring everything while it was wired together before epoxy. The stern is kind of an wineglass style with a skeg, I've been thinkg of grinding off as much epoxy/glass as possible on one side, and possibly adding a small wedge to the other side to make it track straighter without adding too much drag. Just looking for any thoughts or tips on this.
Thanks
Clay

[wizbang 13]

Is the inside of the boat open enough to run"X" strings fore n aft n up n down ?

[cateran]

It is not very open. I am guessing you are suggesting using string to check how true it is? I may not want to know . In any case, the build is complete, epoxied, painted, everything, so there is no correcting any problem with the structure now. Have been thinking of playing around with some small wedges and hot gluing them to the skeg and see what the smallest I can get away with and still correct the tracking.

[WI-Tom]

A starboard-curving boat might not be the worst thing if you're right-handed, and your non-dominant arm isn't as strong. You'll build up some strength and muscle mass where you need it...

Another possibility: is there anything aboard, stored off-center, that might be affecting your trim? Are you seated exactly on the centerline? If your trimmed port-side down even a little, that might be encouraging your boat to turn to starboard. Conversely, if you can trim starboard-side down a wee bit, that might even things up.

Tom

[Matt young]

I don’t know if have good drift boat plans but there is a link below for good ones. Along with Lumberyard Skiff sites. That’s a good simple motor boat. I recall someone on this forum building, using, and enjoying one on Washington rivers. I say go for building what you want, don’t want to discourage at all. But not sure there is money to be made, or end up with, especially when competing against plastic canoes. But I would be happy to be proved wrong.

http://www.dhdriftboats.com/

http://www.oldwharf.com/store/lys-plans

http://diayguay.blogspot.com/2017/05...skiff.html?m=1

[WI-Tom]

I don’t know if have good drift boat plans but there is a link below for good ones. Along with Lumberyard Skiff sites. That’s a good simple motor boat. I recall someone on this forum building, using, and enjoying one on Washington rivers. I say go for building what you want, don’t want to discourage at all. But not sure there is money to be made, or end up with, especially when competing against plastic canoes. But I would be happy to be proved wrong.

http://www.dhdriftboats.com/

http://www.oldwharf.com/store/lys-plans

http://diayguay.blogspot.com/2017/05...skiff.html?m=1

I think you posted this to the wrong thread...

Tom

[wizbang 13]

good gezus you built one of these and did not make sure it was STRAIGHT?

One can build a sailboat that is crooked...no big ting. I got several.they go better on one tack , not worse
Lug rig that goes wonky on one tack? pffft, no one will ever really notice.
Planing speedboat that is wacked? hey only the back 3 feet are in the water at speed, no big deal
but this is a long skinny what? row.cruiser.

i think ya messed up
a tiny semi adjustable rudder/tab?
a deeper longerskeg?
I don't think wedges gonna kick in below 25 mph.

[Canoeyawl]

Does it have a skeg?
Is the skeg exactly straight to a centerline?

(I have a long, narrow rowboat no bigger than a canoe, that measures 2-1/2" longer from keel to rail on the starboard side, it tracks straight)

[cateran]

PXL_20220531_222409281.MP.jpg
Maybe not technically a skeg, but the bottom panels on each side come together to form this narrow bit, aids in tracking I'm sure.
Wizbang its not like the whole boat is curved like a banana, just that its not perfect. In all the projects I've tackled, at some point in each step one has to let go and move on or else nothing would progress. When the hull is upside down you can pick out some areas that are not perfectly symmetrical but not way off. To me that's part of a hand built boat by an amateur, next one will be better. Also I think a little wedge would do plenty at 4 knots, just dragging a hand in the water on one side will make it turn.
It's not unusable, I'd just like to make it better. Assumed something along these lines had happened to someone before and there would be some input.

[P.I. Stazzer-Newt]

What happens in a cross wind?
Long kayaks often exhibit a tendency to "weathercock" even if the hull is dead nuts straight.

[jpatrick]

How about simply cobbling up a rudder, or rudders, to try out. Don't permanently affix it, so something that clamps onto the transom. Make it adjustable. Then go try it out. This trial will tell you more about what you need to know then ten pages here on the forum.

Jeff

[WI-Tom]

Actually, a question:

You say the boat tends to pull to the right. Is that consistent, no matter what the wind is doing?

Or does the boat consistently pull into the wind, or consistently away from the wind? Those things can be corrected with simple adjustments to fore-and-aft trim. A boat that's heavy forward wants to head up into the wind; a boat that's heavy aft wants to turn off the wind.

Just a thought--might be worth checking out.

Tom

[Bobcat]

The canoe I row has no keel and doesn't track. But I notice that the canoe consistently pulls to one side. My right arm is stronger than the left. To correct the drift, I have corrected the pressure I put on the oars.

[Canoeyawl]

Turn it upside down and stretch a taut string line c/l stem to c/l stern and check c/l amidships to that same string before you do much else...

[AndanteEd]

Just a thought, if putting tape over the centreboard slot to starboard helped, but didn't completely cure it, could you put a similar length of tape in the same area on the port side of the hull and see if it helps balance things? Perhaps put it further outboard on the port side if you think you need a bit more leverage?

[Andrew Donald]

Just build a better one

[stromborg]

As noted above, it doesn't take much to effect how your boat tracks. Half an hour with some string and a level would go a long way towards figuring out where (or if) you built an unintended curve into the hull. You should also check your oars, make sure the distance from tip to loom is the same on each. You might even be able to correct your tracking by deliberately making one shorter or longer than the other.

[Autonomous]

Try all of the simple fixes first, no matter how silly they may seem. It's possible that several small issues are working against you.
To turn a kayak without using a rudder or sweep strokes, you edge (tilt) the boat.
Next time you are out, take along a level to see if you are balanced side to side.
It could be that you are half-a-bubble off...

[WI-Tom]

Try all of the simple fixes first, no matter how silly they may seem. It's possible that several small issues are working against you.
To turn a kayak without using a rudder or sweep strokes, you edge (tilt) the boat.
Next time you are out, take along a level to see if you are balanced side to side.
It could be that you are half-a-bubble off...

Yep, that's exactly my thinking. A bit of experimentation with weight distribution just might be the easiest fix here.

Tom

[Dusty Yevsky]

What happens if you put it unladen in dead calm water and give it a small push. Repeat this a few times to see if it consistently goes to starboard. If not then figure out the trim. If so then figure on a little corrective surgery.