Kara Hummer modifications???

C

Chuck Ward

New member
I have the plans for a Kara Hummer from Rob Leonard and I am preparing to begin construction, unless my wife comes up with a longer honey do list. I wondering if there are any opinions (pro or con) for modifying the boat design. I plan on squaring one end of the boat and lenghting to 14 feet with a dry storage compartment front or aft or both. I wondering what effect widening the gunnel to 4 inches would have, I'm not opposed to widening the overall width of the boat as well. I'm 6'4 and 275 with a 90 pound black lab and associated gear for hunting. Will widening the gunnel increase water bouyancy or stability. I realize it will affect the profile, but feel that this will not cause too much difficulty for concealment. I plan on trailering the boat and using an electric trolling motor...I can opt for a small outboard if required. Hunting will be in small water locales where short distances are covered. I would not be opposed to using the boat for recreation if it proves to be stable enough to travel 3-5 miles around small lakes ( would switch to gas motor for this activity). The plan is to borrow ideas from other Kara boats and use them for this build...just something to keep the fire burning until the next opening day.
 
I once had the same idea as you and built a scale model based loosely on the frame design of a Kara. That's all the further I ever got. Now I have plans for a Devlin Broadbill and Mallard. The stitch and glue method is more appealing to me as I have no experience building, other than models. I will tell you, you have come to the right place though, and everyone here will help you tremendously!!

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Making the gunnel piece taller should not effect any other aspect of the boat other than add some weight and increase the profile as you mentioned.

The boat design is pretty stable due to its width
 
Welcome!

I'm almost done with my Kara build... I built mine more or less according to the plans, I just cut the stern nose flat and put in a transom for an electric motor... not even sure if it will work yet :)

Good luck with extending the width and flattening the stern! I'm curious to see how it looks and how it is on the water. I think you will be fine with the modifications. Hey, as long as it floats. Many have not recommended the Kara for use in large water, so you should be fine (as will I) if you stick to smaller water, and nice days :)

Best of luck

Anthony
 
My hunting partner is a Game Warden and says that the places we'll use the boat will be accessible through feeder creeks or nearby channels. I'm curious if the larger profile will make the boat better for slightly rougher water. Unsure as to align the ribs so that the top line is even with the top of the new measurement gunnel or lower it so the bottom edge of the rib is even with the bottom of the gunnel. Having a difficult time envisioning if this will make a difference in performance either way ,will it cause the profile to be higher one way or the other.


Thanks,



Chuck
 

Don't know why I didn't think of this before now, but I have access to some larger sheets of cardboard 4 x 5. I can probably get enough sheets to build a full sized mock-up with the changes I'm thinking about. The nose piece and transom can be fabricated to spec using foam and then glued into place. Will probably stitch or staple cardboard framing and cover with a fitted sheet for a visual. This might save me some headaches down the road.
 
Chuck,
From what I can gather, you are wanting to keep the cockpit the same dimensions as the original design, but extend the ribs an inch or so on either side? Yes, that would increase the load capacity of the boat as it would increase the internal volume...thus the amount of water the boat can displace. It might provide a tad more stability, but the boat as designed is already really stable. Yes, it will change the performance if you want to row/paddle/pole the boat. If you are going to use a small outboard, then you probably won't notice much difference.

As for squaring off the stern, there have been several varieties of Kara modifications that involve this. Go for it. I built a boat along the same lines. Basically I squared it off at the rear deck support and extended the cockpit back to that point. It works great for my purposes (me and a dog and a 3 hp motor in sheltered water). I've carried a second guy a few times with no trouble. HOWEVER, if you do extend the cockpit all the way back, you will want to raise the sides of the cockpit towards teh rear of the boat to keep water from coming over the stern! The deck helps keep this from happening in the original design. Here is a picture of my boat's profile:

View attachment boatontrailersidesmall.jpg

You can see the up-slope of the cockpit sides towards the rear. I kept the rocker from the design and really like how it lifts the bow under power, even with an 80 lb dog on the bow. I won't win any speed contests with it, but it is a dream for a one man/dog hunting boat in shallow, protected waters (we hunt a lot of flooded fields around here).

Scott
 
Thanks Scott,

Right now I'm leaning towards keeping the cockpit in the same basic position and installing a cable steering system with remote control for powering the trolling motor and forward/reverse toggles. I had not thought to raise the rear of the cockpit for backwash, probably would have got my attention on the first boat ride. Most likely I'll stick with an electric motor and try to keep the weight distribution slightly rearward in an effort to keep the nose of the boat a bit higher while under power. I have a 37 pound thrust five speed trolling motor that on level five it will run approximately 2 hours and on minimum power advertises a run time of 10 hours. Back up power will be a push pole and paddle. Today I drew out the ribs and plan on transferring them to cardboard and saving them for templates. Listening to the guys on this site, you can never tell how many boats you'll build once the bug bites you.

Appreciate the response,



Chuck
 
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