Sling Shot

I wanted a hard chined boat with similar performance to Long Shot. Hard chine boats have less pieces and are quicker and easier to build than a multi-chine boat. A hard chine boat will usually have more wetted surface than a similar multi-chine boat. That means it is not going to have the same speed potential as a multi-chine hull.

In order to gain performance you have to give up something. In this case it is stability. Sling Shot is probably not a beginners first choice but it’s not going to be like a racing kayak either. I expect it will feel more stable than the numbers imply. Of course I won’t know till I get it built.

What I am impressed by how well this boats resistance numbers stack up to Long Shot. While it is going to be a ‘slower’ boat I don’t expect it to be really that big a difference on the water since the big differences occur above 5 mph.

Sling Shots hull has a fair amount of ‘V’ in the hull and a good bit of rocker. I am expecting this to make a good tracking hull that will still turn well.

PADDLE REPORT Finally got to get out of the shop and the water. Sling Shot performed very much as expected. Primary stability was low as expected. I had to be careful at first getting in the boat. After a 30 minutes in it I was very comfortable. Secondary stability is good. You can feel it ‘grab’ as you lean it over.

It didn’t turn as easy with just leaning as I expected. Long Shot and Firefly are simple to correct with no more than a lean. Don’t get me wrong, it still turned very well but you needed to give it just a little bit of a paddle stroke in addition to the lean and then it turned very well. Long Shot you just lean and it turns with no other input.

It fells very fast! It accelerates quickly and even though I know it is not as fast an Long Shot it feels like it is. Volume is lower than my other boats so the fit is a little tighter but I still would not call it a low volume boat. You can still sit with bent knees. Overall I am very happy with the boat.