Hi Chuck,

In between recovering from the flood and cleaning up the mess, I managed to save some scrap plywood and come up with a prototype of my Yakoo Stealth model! This is my own design, but based on a regular Yakoo. She is much narrower than the original but a little longer at a full 14'-1/4". Initial stability and secondary stability are excellent, and she'll also carve a turn nicely. She is unfinished, but I couldn't wait! I still have to make the cockpit a little larger and install some sort of cockpit coaming lip that will me much shorter than what I put on the other Yakoo! I'll increase the cockpit to 18x32. That'll work better. This boat only has one waterproof bulkhead behind the seat, and I cut a 10x14 hatch, well...somewhere around that! on the aft deck. She'll carry plenty of camping gear for a long weekend, and I'll put some deck rigging on to hold my fishing rods, paddle or other junk! Also to keep the weight down, I used a stadium seat I picked up at Walmart. It folds, is adjustable, it floats and most of all it's light! The stadium seat worked very well for this type of boat and is less cumbersome than the plastic seat I normally use in the Yakoos. This boat is strictly for me and designed as a light touring and day boat. Fishing gear had to be in the backpacker mode and flyrods, spinning rods have to be kept on deck under deck rigging that I'll put on later. Although the bathroom scale isn't that accurate, it says she weighs between 40 and 45 pounds. I can carry her easily on my Geo Tracker! Plan to have a lot of fun in this boat! 

Later Richard                             click thumbnails to enlarge

Hi Chuck,

After the flood the only paint I had left was some gray for the picnic table that was trashed by the flood, and some black for the outdoor BBQ grill......guess the grill can wait a little longer. So...I guess you might say she's combat ready...the Yakoo Stealth! Might go terrorize some carp tomorrow!   

She's much faster than my regular Yakoo, and as you can see I can lay down in her to take a nap if I get tired. Kinda like being in a mummy bag, but room enough to rest. I used a couple of those foam knee pads you can get at the dollar store to level the bottom around the butt joint so I'd have a nice flat place to put my butt and keep the stadium seat from sliding or shifting. I worked very good yesterday. Going fishing again! 

Later Richard

Hi Chuck, 

I am planning a double-overnighter this coming weekend. I've already had the gear I'll need in the boat. She doesn't carry as much as my regular Yakoo, but I loaded her backpacking style and actually have more than enough provisions for at least a week. Propane bottles for the stove, sleeping pad, and tent go in the forward section along with a lightweight sleeping bag. The rest goes in the aft waterproof compartment, and there is a little room behind the seat for emergency items, flashlights, flares, etc. A fly rod and spinning rod also go in the rear compartment. One of my fly rods breaks down into 6 sections for backpacking and that's the one I use most of the time anyway. The spinning rod lays nicely on top of the other gear or secured under the deck rigging! Plus other stuff can go there too. 

I make up my own MRE's and try to keep things as compact as possible, but I've had around 100 pounds of gear in her already to see how she balanced. She did fine! On most trips that last up to a week, I rarely carry over 40 pounds anyway! My food supply normally weighs around 11 to 12 pounds for a week, and I always carry 4 -- 2 liter bottles of water along too. Drinking water takes up the highest weight and bulk of any item I have. 

I do take time to weigh stuff. Most folks just guess at it! For example I use the plastic juice bottles instead of 2 liter pop bottles because they are tougher. 4 of them weigh around 19 pounds, averaging 4-3/4 pounds per 2 liter bottle! My tent weighs 3.5 lbs., the sleeping bag weighs 2.25 lbs, and the self inflating Sterns sleeping pad weighs just under 3 lbs. So as you can see I watch the weight on main items so I can carry other things along to make life easier. Like I said, I weigh everything so I know exactly what I'm carrying. Comes in very handy when you take off on a small boat....and every item has it's place on the boat so I don't have to hunt around all night for a flashlight. I keep a waterproof Penquin pen light in my pocket all the time. My Leatherman tool more or less takes the place of my Swiss Army knife, because it's a little more versatile. Well, gotta go catch some smallmouth this afternoon when it cools off! 

Later Richard