Queen Charlotte Std. Review, in Sea Kayaker Magazine Dec. 1994
'Light-weight and beautiful, the Queen Charlotte is a fun maneuverable play boat for surf, but with adequate speed for touring...beginning paddlers should find it quite comfortable, while more advanced paddlers should enjoy the performance getting up on edge."
Queen Charlotte Std:
A Legacy Design: Designer John Lockwood created the prototype for the Queen Charlotte kayak (Pygmy's first kayak kit) while living in the remote Queen Charlotte Islands, 100 miles off the B.C. Canada mainland, in 1972. In that first Queen Charlotte, John paddled for 5 months each year, living off the sea and land. Eating crab, octopus, limpets, snails, salmon, halibut and deer--all hunted and gathered from his kayak. John was on crutches for 8 years. The Queen Charlotte gave him mobility in the wilderness. Through 15 foot open ocean swell, foul-weather landings on boulder beaches, quiet estuaries, and glass calm inlets, the Queen Charlotte carried him safely.
Fits Average Size Adults: The Queen Charlotte-Standard fits adults 5'5" to 6'2" who weigh up to 220 lbs. With a 24" beam and 17' length, she has average initial stability, with excellent secondary stability. Depth at cockpit, 12". Weighing only 40 lbs. makes her LIGHT to cartop and carry to water's edge. Due to lots of buoyancy in the upswept bow and stern, she's a very dry kayak in heavy weather.
Gear Capacity: A high volume touring boat, the QC-std will easily carry 120 lbs. of gear--enough for a 2 or 3 week trip. She also makes a great, light day-use boat as well. Folks with a men's shoe size 10 1/2 and under find the foot room spacious enough to change sitting positions and remain comfortable paddling for hours. With size 12 feet, we recommend wearing wetsuit booties. Men with shoe size larger than 12 and up will want to consider the Arctic Tern HI or the Coho HiI. All our QC's perform well in the surf, carving great edge turns!
Queen Charlotte Specs:
Length…… 17'
Beam……. 24”
Height…… 12”
Weight….. 39lbs
Cockpit….. 17"x33"
*Initial stability……8.67
Carrying capacity (vol.cu.ft)……13.24
**Standard cruising speed……20.15
Loaded waterline length……14.80
***Top cruising speed……5.34 mph
Available as kit……yes
Available as plans……yes
Plans.....$59
*The transverse Metacenter, in inches, is a measure of a kayak's initial stability. A higher number is more stable. All single kayaks computed with same weight person.
**Kayak cruising speed is proportional to the boat's wetted surface, which is the area of frictional drag of the water on the hull, here expressed in sq. ft.
***90% of theoretical hull speed (THS) in mph. A boat's theoretical hull speed is a function of square root of its loaded waterline length (LWL). at approximately 80% to 90% of its hull speed a kayak will start to produce a bow wake longer than its LWL and the effort required to continue acceleration rapidly increases
Queen Charlotte Features:
Hull type… Hard-chine
Deck type… Queen Charlotte flat deck
Best used for… Kayak touring, Day paddling, Surfing, Leaned turns
Paddler experience level… Beginner to advanced
Shoe size….Up to men’s 12 (depending on shoe and personal comfort)
Cockpit size…17”x33"
Inside your Pygmy kit:
- Precision pre-cut BS-1088 Okoume plywood panels (all 4mm)
- Cockpit coamings
- 2.5 gallons Epoxy
- 40 feet of 6 oz fiberglass cloth
- Fiberglass tape
- Wire
- Squeegee
- Dental syringes
- Vinyl gloves
- Wood flour
- Calibrated Pumps
- Stirring sticks
- Steel push pins
- Temporary frames
- 2-part seat
- Keeper's® footbraces
- Illustrated construction manual
We usually ship "Medium" hardener with our kits. You may order "Slow" for hot climates or "Fast" for cold climates upon request. Read the System Three Epoxy Book to help select the appropriate epoxy and hardener for you. If you would like a copy of the Epoxy Book, click here to download. We also stock System Three’s Silver Tip Epoxy and offer this as an option in our boat kits for an additional charge. Note: Silver Tip Resin can only ship via Ground Service and is not eligible for shipments to Alaska
