Kitty Hawk 26

The Kitty Hawk 26 features a large cockpit with lots of room aft of the leaning post and equipped with downriggers for trolling. The 9′ beam leaves a nice space on either side of the splash well for an angler to work a fish around the aft corners of the boat. With the engine hung directly on the transom, instead of on a bracket, you should have no trouble fishing from the stern. Up forward there is a small casting platform with lots of storage underneath. The console is large enough to give protection from the weather and has space inside for a portable head. Forward of the console is a 128 qt. cooler with a cushion on top for additional seating.

Her hull design is a modified vee. The fine entry is over 48 degrees at station 1 and flattens to 12 degrees at the transom to promote efficient planing. For structural reasons and ease of construction, the chines do not have integral flats, but rely on external spray rails angled to throw the water and spray out and down. Her topsides flare in the traditional Carolina-style and there is quite a bit of tumblehome back aft. A quarter guard is mounted on the hullside aft to help protect the hull from docks and pilings. Her freeboard is a little bit higher than on many Carolina-style boats, especially back aft where the cockpit depth is 28″. Her cockpit sole is 6″ above the waterline back aft, so it should drain well even.

The Kitty Hawk 26 features cold-molded construction using 2 layers of 9mm Okoume marine plywood over longitudinal stringers and transverse frames. Her hull is covered with a layer of 1808 knitted biaxial glass set in epoxy. Keel, stem, side stringers, chine logs and clamps are all of laminated fir or mahogany. Her bottom stringers and frames are cut from 18mm Okoume marine plywood. The transom is three layers of 18mm Okoume with the stringers let into the inner two layers.

With her moderate deadrise and relatively light weight, a 225hp outboard should push her 32 knots. A 300hp outboard will give her a top speed above 37 knots. The Kitty Hawk 26 was not designed to be a high-speed kingfish boat, she was designed to be a conservative, seaworthy fishing platform. A twin engine option is available as well as a single engine, bracket option.

The Kitty Hawk 26 is available as both a Plan Set with full size frame patterns or as a CNC cut Frame Kit. The Plan Set includes 18 pages of drawings and 6 very large pages of patterns printed on plastic film to insure accuracy. The patterns were created from the CNC cut files and are a bit complex as they include all the cut-outs for the stringers, chines and clamp. Drawings include a strongback and a stem mold drawing for the laminated stem. The plans have also been converted to metric, for those of you outside the U.S.

The CNC cut Frame Kit includes both the permanent and temporary frames, longitudinal bottom stringers, the 3 layer transom and a building jig to help in setting the boat up. There is also a pre-cut form for laminating the stem to the correct shape. The Frame Kit includes 14 pages of drawings from the Plan Set detailing her construction, including hull and deck details and a machinery arrangement.

Whether you choose to build from the Plan Set or the Frame Kit, she will be a challenging project to build, especially in light of her size. If you are up for the challenge, I think she will make for a fine offshore fishing boat. The curvaceous hull of the Kitty Hawk 26 will stand out in nearly any harbor!