Does anyone know of a wooden kayak model or manufacturer that makes a kayak similar to the Romany as far as handling and paddling behavior?Would like to find something lighter without paying thousands for carbon/kevlar.Thanks
maybe one of the Guillemot kits? The basic Guillemot model is 17’ by 21” and weighs 33 pounds. Also their Night Heron and Petrel models, all paddler size dependent. They have both strip built and stitch and glue versions.
you could also duplicate Romany dimensions in a skin on frame which would be under 35 pounds, possibly even under 30.
Check out Pygmy for wooden boats. They have a number of models in the 14’-16’ range (they call them “surfing kayaks”). Also, for a light SOF boat that is stable for beginners and ready for rough water in the hands of an experienced paddler (which was the Romany’s claim to fame), think about the F1 from Cape Falcon Kayaks. All these boats are much cheaper than a composite boat and much lighter too.
I agree with Acadia - Brian Schulz’s F1 was what I had in mind for an SOF (skin on frame)… His blog has details on that model and what it can do. Well worth reading.
I can understand why you’d want to duplicate a Romany. A friend loaned me hers last week and I got to know what a remarkable boat it is. But heavier than any of my own boats ( my 18’ SOF is only 31 pounds.)
Thanks,I’ll check on all those suggestions.
Yesterday we were stopped in an interstate slow down in the middle of several lanes. A truck pulls up (creeps up), rolls down window, and yells, “Did you build that kayak!?”
Nobody’s ever done that when we were hauling a Romney.
Check Nick Crowhurst’s Vember. It reminds me of an Avocet. But should be in the park, for what you are looking. Nick chimes into PCOM, ever so often.
Along with the Vember is the more “sports car” kayak, the Shrike. Both are “open source” designs which have free instructions available:
Here is the free build manual for their Shrike kayak and various versions of it.
https://qajaqrolls.com/wp-content/video/Shrike%20Build%20Manual.pdf
Chris Crowhurst made a skin on frame version of the Shrike:
Thanks for all the info.
The Shrike, was modeled after the Anas Acuta. It is a hard chine kayak. The Vember has softer chines. It is more inline with the Avocet/Romany heritage. Both are great designs.
I used to see a fellow in South Puget Sound who paddled a stripper that was built from take-offs of an Explorer. Not a Romany but maybe he knows where to get them. I don’t recall his name or have any contact info but South Sound paddlers know who I am talking about.
Jon
https:3meterswell.blogspot.com
The Shrike was not modeled after the Anas Acuta. It was a skin boat taken from the book "Kayaks of Greenland " by Harvey Golden I’d have to look to see the kayak number, I don’t recall right off…but it wasn’t the AA. It was a skin boat that was redrawn as a plank boat to facilitate the making by ordinary people that would not like a skin boat. It takes a significant amount of work to do the configuration change for the use of plywood and different combing sizes.etc
It was Harvey Golden’s design number 65, a Disco Bay West Greenland collected in 1927 or 28.