Salty Dog skippering the paddleski out and about

 I took the vessel out to the bay  for an evening  paddle --  this time with one of the dogs. With a bit of pull on the paddle we got about for the camera before Number One Son took over the cockpit.   Dog style like this isn't a good idea in the river as  pets make such good shark bait.

The images give an idea of how the Gadget looks on the water: not sleek at all, roomy with a beamy buoyancy and an upturned nose  designed to slide over the chop at the end of a short, stubby vessel with high sloping sides.  Underneath there are two hulls -- sort of -- as the sides form into a  catamaran below the water line. I reckon I could do with more sharpness in the hulls so that there is better control with moving forward  and even less  lateral ride-- although that would reduce the buoyancy. In cross currents -- such as in an outgoing tide at over 10 knots --  it is hard to stop the boat from spinning to the side.  This is primarily because it is so short, of course, so I'm wandering what adjustments I can make to improve its maneuverability. ("Maybe an adjustable leeboard?", says he. "I certainly hope so as I'm obsessed with leeboardery.") Nonetheless, with a carrying capacity of 135 kgm laying on weight almost anywhere on board doesn't seem to impact too much on the craft's performance. The dog is 13 kgms and he could move around the boat without any rock for either him or me to be concerned about. You simply don't notice the weight shift and we tried him as passenger forward and aft  without any problems other than his preference to sit on your paddling lap.