For the sea trials we slid the boat into my truck and drove out to Constance Bay on the Ottawa river.

The bay is wide, shallow and has a sandy bottom. Perfect for our tests.

Evan named it the Piranha


The sink test.   I took the boat out a bit and pushed it under to fill it up. 

With the large buoyancy tanks it  remained afloat. 


Once I was sure it was unsinkable we tried some paddling around (with a safety line attached).

The paddle was made from a broken aluminum paddle with a replacement loom made from a cedar 2x4.

With such a small boat, the trim is really affected by the paddler's position.  Tracking can be a difficulty as well, but the keel does help.  Overall its a good first boat for Evan and I'm sure he'll get many years out of it.