Stellar Kayaks was conceived in 2008 by a Global team, bringing the latest design and manufacturing techniques together. Working in tandem with world renowned rowing manufacturer, WinTech Racing, Stellar produces highly engineered, durable, yet affordable boats and paddles.
Our line currently includes a 10' Recreational Kayak, 14', 16' and 18' Touring Kayaks, a 17' Tandem Recreational Kayak and 3 sizes of racing SurfSki's in four different construction grades. We also offer composite paddles, both in touring and wing style blades.
Currently, we got a Double SurfSki on the Drawing board for release in September 2010 with more boats in the works. Stay tuned for what's next!
Boat design
● The development of Stellar Kayaks and Surf Skis started in the summer of 2008 with intense research over 12 months receiving input and advice from a number of paddlers as well as surveying market trends from around the world.
● Ed Hofmeister and David Thomas have experience with a variety of the water craft, but have specialized in Rowing Shell manufacture and design, working with several renowed Naval Architects. Their relationship with Flying Eagle and WinTech Racing dates back to the spring of 2004 working closely with Klaus Filter, the World famous Naval Architect of WinTech Racing, absorbing much on boat design and theory at the Elite and Olympic level. Klaus was trained in Naval Architecture at the prestigious University of Rostock and has over 50 years of knowledge and experience being involved in many arrays of human powered and wind powered boats - with focus on rowing shells. It is not uncommom to see technologies and design developments in one sport cross over into another and we have taken this opportunity when developing the new range of Stellar Kayaks and Surf Skis .
● The design of any boats is a lengthy process which starts with much research, in depth surveys, professional feedback. Critical in any design is finding the happy medium between comfort, balance and speed. Knowing the general size of the paddler we are designing for, we set about designing a kayak or ski on the computer with beam, length, depth, freeboard etc. to a level we determine suitable. We use the construction water line for a set length and width and
 fair the shape to ensure the line is a smooth curve. Then we move to the maximum cross-section of this one - a significant amount of time is involved getting the waterlines and the sections fair in all directions. Using hydrostatics software we are able to calculate the displacement and the stability and are able to make modifications as required ... when it comes to speed we strive to get as close to a cylindrical hull cross-section as we can, while being able to keep the boat upright. In the end our Surf Skis and Kayaks has a very low wetted surface area below the water line yet good secondary stability from the increased volume above the waterline.
● As mentioned above the program we use to design the boat includes Hydrostatics, which gives you many different ways to analyze the shape of the hull including wetted surface area, stability, volume, center of flotation etc. Knowing that computer models are not 100% accurate, we then make a fiberglass shell off of our new hull plug and test this confirm whether or not the flotation was indeed along the intended waterlines. This enables us to theoretically place the person in the boat and double check the accuracy with a real person in the water.
● For the cockpit we used a 3D drafted body and
 proportionally scaled it to the maximum and minimum size person that we were targeting for the particular model of kayak. We then were able to figure out the general ergonomics of the cockpit for the initial design. Once the plug for the cockpit mold was roughed out to these dimensions, we were able to physically test out the comfort and fit. We then were able to modify the seat pan and cockpit length etc. to what we thought was perfect - the feedback to date has indicated our work in this area has been very successful.
● We have used a lot of the composites technology that has made WinTech Racing so successful in the rowing shell market on all levels. This implementation of High Temperature prg-preg material is unparalleled in the market. For the Surf Ski we found room for improvement it cockpit over the standard 2 point foot brace in Surf Ski. These tend to have a soft feel and often damage the cockpit, so we decided to connect the heel to the foot-well to stiffen the entire system providing a more stable platform enabling a more powerful stroke.
● Using the extensive knowledge gained from the tank testing of our line of rowing shells has helped provide us an in-depth understanding of the fluid interactions with our range of Kayaks and Surf Skis.
Copyright © 2010 Stellar Kayaks
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