Anyone ever built/paddled a Winters designed Barracuda?

http://www.greenval.com/barracuda.html

Looks like a neat boat but I can't find a lick of info. out there on it.

Alan

Yikes! Not a lot of freeboard with 210 lbs! Add a pack to an average size guy and you will be maxed out.

Looks like a daytrip rocket. I wonder how it compares to the Shadow by Placid ?The Shadow is deeper and narrower and appears to have more capacity.

Yeah, not looking for something to trip out of, rather a workout boat. I usually race solo in a kayak and tandem in a pro boat. I'd like a canoe for solo workouts but don't know if I want the learning curve of a full fledged C1 again (BTDT).

Looks more maneuverable than your standard C1 and they claim comparable speed, which I doubt. So I'm wondering how speed compares to a C1 and if the added maneuverability is a plus or minus in fairly slow moving water.

Alan

I built one. It is a rocket. It hangs in friend's garage. It was a little to exclusive for my needs. It will get you where you are going quickly, and if you are fond of the evil double blade, the canoe will respond to it nicely.

Great to see someone has actually built one!

How does it handle maneuverability wise? Do you get a fair number of strokes per side before switching? Anything unusual with the building process? Do you have any idea of the final weight? Since you're not paddling it do you have any desire to sell it? Or if nothing else if I found myself in the neighborhood can I take it for a test paddle? Might be heading north late summer/early fall for a trip anyway.

Oh, and no double blade in the canoe for me. It's bad enough in the kayak.

Thanks,

Alan

I had an idea, much like yours, that i would use the barracuda from my nightly paddle, fly around the lake in style. Alas, once I got it on the water, it wasn't the boat for me. It likes a straight line, and is not particularly fond of turning. I have built the osprey and the raven as well, and the differences between their handling characteristics is not much....the Barracuda is definitely a different fish...I could never imagine taking it on a trip, so I basically gave it away...my friend has plans to hang it in her lodge or something....built it out of red cedar, so it is definitely a looker. At this point, I'm not sure if i could arrange a paddle with it. I can tell you however, that it is not a canoe for everyone.

I have the plans for the boat, and I cut out the forms. I always wanted a BJX which is another long pro boat shaped boat. There aren't any plans for it though, and also, I am really too big for such a boat, so I have dithered several decades. When Galt designed the BJX he had a previous series that was available in three sizes.

In the early days of freestyle, the keel lines were made straighter than one typically finds today. And the boats where all over the place in length, but some of them were pretty long too.

Several things have since changed. One is the perception that a little more rocker makes a flat water boat faster. Another is a preference for more maneuverable freestyle boats that will allow the kind of performance that is preferred in competitive freestyle. Similarly, there is a perception that shorter boats have lower resistance at certain speed and load conditions.

The point being, that at one time freestyle was kinda the technique we used to turn boats that did not turn easily. Problem with the Barracuda is that it is set up for sit and switch, but that isn't insurmountable.

Anyway, how to turn it? I would do it like this, or with this in mind:

http://www.hemlockcanoe.com/images/phot ... nadice.jpg

http://www.hemlockcanoe.com/images/phot ... x_bwca.jpg

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... 9864808259

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... 0808145106

Obviously leaning goes with sit and switch too. I just get nervous.

dear Rhaslam ,
Can you post some pictures? that couled persuade me to build one as well.

I'm not sure I ever took a picture of it. I'll have to look when I get back to work in January, there might be something on a computer there.

Thanks for the afford , I am not in a rush. It would be nice.

For the benefit of future internet surfers who come across this post I did finally end up building the Barracuda this summer. Neat boat and fun to paddle but much more stable than expected and not as fast. Though admittedly part of the speed problem is me as I'm a bit out of real paddling shape. It's pretty much identical in speed for me as my Bell Magic. The added maneuverability gained from the rocker is nice for a leisurely paddle but not so welcome when going hard, though it isn't all that bad.

The last thing I expected this boat to be was my "lazy cruise around the shoreline with the dog" boat but it's perfect for that. Very comfortable and the low shear makes it a joy to paddle. The shear line is really flared outward in the bow and stern so there's lots of the room for the dog or packs, more so than my Magic.

I did a detailed build thread on it here: http://www.canoetripping.net/forums/for ... cuda-build

Or in case that disappears at some point in the future a link to flickr pics: https://www.flickr.com/photos/7935459@N ... 440189275/

Alan

I notice you were using the laser to line up the forms. How did you handle the spread in the width of the laser line over the distance?

We did use the laser to set up the centre line on a kayak we built and specifically used the outside edge of the laser line as our extended straight edge. I looks like you were centering the reference lines in the middle of the laser line.

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The laser beam being too fat didn't seem to be an issue. Yes, I kept the lines centered.

Alan