![[ final kayak picture ]](web-images/kayak-completed-1.jpg)
My homebuilt sea-kayak project began when I first lived in New Hampshire. I attended an 80-hour workshop class at Newfound Woodworks, in Bristol N.H. in 1999 or 2000. I was the second-person of a two-person team, building an open boat...a design called the Rangeley Boat, which was to be owned by my classmate for his use. Here is Newfound's webpage describing that design. This webpage is from Newfound Woodworks and you can find info there on their various kits, etc. Note that they no longer teach such extensive complete boat-building classes. Instead, they now offer many shorter workshops (approx 5 hours each) on the various phases of wooden canoe and kayak construction. Also note that they host a one-day 'Rendezvous' once each year in early September in northern New Hampshire, where previous builders and designers and fabricators congregate. Many prospective builders first attend this event, to help them decide whether to tackle such a homebuilt project. They also sell a video (tape or DVD) covering the fiberglassing and epoxying phases, which I highly recommend. I've watched my tape numerous times...typically, I re-watched each section again just prior to the day when I began each of the major fiberglassing/epoxying sessions.
I chose to build a standard single-person sea kayak...a model named the Georgian Bay. Newfound no longer offers a kit for this design, but the actual designer of this kayak, Rob Macks, has his own LaughingLoon website, where he describes this and other models that he designs, builds, and sells.
Before moving from NH to Sarasota Florida, I had completed the stripping of about three-quarters of the hull. (That work was done in my basement in NH, shortly after attending the 80-hour class at Newfound Woodworks.) I do not have any digital photos from that early part of the project.
After moving to Sarasota,Florida, I continued again in November of 2003, and completed the stripping of the hull before the end of the year. Here is a photo showing completion of that stage.
I then removed it from the stongback (i.e. the long wooden support box that holds the station forms) and placed it upright, so that I could begin the strips for the top-deck. This phase started in about January of 2004. Here is a photo showing it resting on the two upright supports, just before I cut the wells in those supports to properly support the hull for this next phase. Notice that you can see each of the station forms protruding up inside the hull. They were needed to fasten the strips to during the stripping of the hull, and they will be needed again to fasten the deck strips to. They give the hull and deck their needed shapes. This photo is taken from the stern (back) of the kayak...notice the extra elevation of the forms starting in the middle going forward, which is the area where there needs to be extra room for the paddler's knees.
By March 2004, I had completed both the stripping and the fiberglassing of the top deck. Here is a photo after that, showing a topview of the finished top-deck. The separate small deck end-plate for the bow is also shown in this photo. Note that I actually fiberglassed the top deck before I fiberglassed the hull. Well, actually, I first did some minor fiberglassing of the two internal bulkheads, followed by fiberglassing the two small bow and stern deck end-plates. Then, I tackled the large top-deck section, and finished by fiberglassing the hull, both outside and inside. As I mentioned earlier, the video-tape from Newfound Woodworks was a crucial aid during this major fiberglassing/epoxy phases.
So, before the end of May 2004, I had completed that fiberglassing of both the outside and inside of the hull. Here is a photo of the inside of the hull, with the fiberglass cloth smoothed into place and fastened with clothes pins, which hold it in position for application of the epoxy. The epoxy 'wets out' the fiberglass, turning it totally transparent, which allows the underlying wooden strips to be seen again, in all their lustre. Ok, so here is a photo of all the pieces, after the fiberglass and epoxy has been applied. And, here's another topview of the finished hull, with the bulkheads standing in place. Note also the separate bow deck end-plate in both photographs.
In January 2005, I got back at it again. The cockpit lip (combing) was constructed and glassed. The hatchwork was completed, including a round day-hatch, which required installation of a third bulkhead. (I recommend to other builders to strongly consider adding a day-hatch...they are a nice feature!) Here is a photo showing that work.
The foot braces were then installed in the cockpit. (No rudder is needed, which is good as I'm not an advocate of rudders on kayaks.) I've purchased and installed a foot-operated pump...I chose a Bosworth Model 450-S. There was an excellent detailed installation/testing article on kayak footpumps in Sea Kayaker magazine. You can reach Bosworth via their website here. The 'strum box' (filter) mentioned in the article initially confused me. I finally figured out that in this implementation, it is not a 'box' at all. It is a slotted hose-connector positioned as shown in one of their photos so that water can enter the hose-inlet only thru the slots cut around the connector rim. It's function is to keep debris out of the pump and is superior to just using a piece of screen.
Joining the deck to the hull is a major task. I first attached the bow and stern deck end-plates to the hull which is easy. Then I tackled the dreaded task of attaching the maindeck assembly, which requires working thru the cockpit-opening and the hatch openings while again wearing the safety epoxy-filter facemask. The front-hatch section was the most tedious, as that opening only allowed me to get one arm inside and did require me to use a push-stick to position the epoxy-soaked fiberglass along the seam. More about that later.
The whole boat then received about five coats of marine varnish, to block out the ultra-violet rays of the sun (necessary to protect the underlying fiberglass/epoxy). And, finally, various deck rigging lines and hatch-straps were fitted and the seat and backrest-strap were installed. Here are two pictures of the completed kayak, a photo from the stern and another photo from the bow. The completed boat weighs about 49 pounds, which is almost exactly the same weight of a commercially-built fiberglass boat of the same length.
Even before the kayak was quite completed, I found myself speculating whether I'd ever consider building another one and thinking about what I would do differently if I could start over again from scratch, with the benefit of my experience from this one. My answer was that although I currently have no plans to build another one for myself, I can certainly picture myself getting involved helping some other friend or local-club member who wanted to purchase plans and a kit to build one of their own. I have an extensive collection of 'special purpose' tools that are only useful for strip-boat building that I'll sell very cheaply, and I'd thoroughly enjoy over-seeing someone else's project and providing them the hand-holding that often makes the difference in deciding to tackle such a construction decision. So, anyone in either the Sarasota Florida or southern New Hampshire area that might be interested, please feel free to contact me about that.
As for what I'd do differently, I came up with many ideas. So here's my outline of ideas and tips with some details that might benefit other builders.
I'm a real believer in the construction benefits of deck end-plates. Many construction plans don't utilize them, but they are an option on any kayak design. (The Laughing Loon designer of my boat refers to these endplates as 'mini-decks'.) Thus, as you can see, I have them on my boat and produced them by following his instructions. They idea behind them is that they make it MUCH simpler when it comes time to attach the deck to the hull, because you attach the bow/stern end-plates before the remainder of the deck gets attached, and thus you can easily reach into the pointy-ends to attach those two plates. You can also eliminate the need to do any of those foolish 'end-pours' of epoxy that some design/contruction guides advocate. End-plates also makes it easier to add a small wooden block at each end, thru which you drill holes for the bow and stern lifting-handles.
A cosmetic 'mistake' I made was that during the stripping of the deck, I stripped the deck plates separately, right from the beginning, which was the recommended approach in my plans. But, I'd now recommend the alternative of stripping and glassing the entire deck (as though you were NOT even thinking of having separate deck plates). Then, just before it's time to attach the deck, cut off the front two feet of the bow-deck and the back one foot of the stern deck and create the plates at that time. Take a look again at photo showing my deck plates, and my idea should be clearer. The patterning of lighter/darker strips of wood won't look as amateur-ish as mine do, but instead will automatically carry right through from the deck to the end-plates. (As an alternative, you can use a radically different pattern on the end-plates by a veneer covering over the end-plates, which I have seen on some designs. Some end-plate designs appear to have been created by fiberglassing a compatibly-colored piece of wall-paper over the underlying strips or whatever to achieve a very different but pleasing contrasting pattern.)
Another benefit of waiting to cut off the ends after deck-glassing is the elimination of any gaps and slight misfitting at the seams that arises from the common shrinking and warping that naturally occurs between the stripping and fiberglassing phases.
My boat-kit came with hatch-kits, which were thin-plywood 'outline' strips, two strips per hatch, which allow you to use the cutout-hole-portion of the deck as the hatch-cover. This gives an excellent look and feel, because once again the patterning of the light/dark stripping design carries right through the hatch covers! As it turned out, when I layed out these hatch-kit strips onto my deck to mark out the exact location (prior to cutting out the hatch-covers), I wasn't satisfied with the size of the rear hatch opening...it was only 12-inches long and research revealed that many commercial kayaks have about 18-inch long rear hatches. Long story short, when I brought up the issue, my kit-dealer was very willing to 're-design' me a new hatch-kit for the rear that was 18-inches long.
The unexpected but wonderful side-effect was that, during the later phase of attaching the deck to the hull, I could easily get my head (with breathing-facemask in place), and both arms into the larger opening. By contrast, my front hatch was a real bitch...I could just barely get my head and just one arm into that hatch opening, so I was using push-sticks and cursing as I knocked my breathing-facemask askew, etc, etc, during the seam-glassing of the front section. And, as I NOW realize, I should have just asked for a 16-inch long front hatch, instead of the provided 12-inch hatch. The extra 4-inches would have made a world of difference in ease of contruction!
Actually, having thought more about this, an even better approach might be to just ask for long strips of marine-plywood cut about 2-inches wide. Then, one could fashion their own layout and size for each hatch to their own liking, rather than just use the existing hatch-kit pre-designed into a 'modified-rectangle-with-rounded corners'. This would be an advanced approach... the provided pre-configured hatch-kits are certainly fine, except for their too-small size. The advanced approach requires one to make sure they think alot about making cut lines follow existing strip lines and low-points for thumb-holes, etc, etc.As I mentioned before, I added a day-hatch into my boat's design, which meant ordering an extra bulkhead and the round day-hatch-sized plastic ring and lid. Once again, my kit-dealer willingly helped out, and taught me how to build a wooden ring to solve the problem of adapting the flat ring to the curvature of the deck. It came out both functional and beautiful...the wooden-ring technique is a must if you go with any round or pre-fab hatch assemblies. A wooden ring adds about an extra 3-inches to the overall diameter, so remember to add those 3 inches when you decide where the place the extra bulkhead. (Luckily, mine was just barely wide enough.)
The construction books adequately mention most of the issues here. Luckily, I'm satisfied with the graphic touches I added to my boat. Just keep in mind to plan all along throughout construction. You'll want to place the graphics on before you fiberglass the deck and hull, so be aware of exactly where your hatch cutouts will go, etc, so that you maximize the professional look of the boat. Visit your local arts/crafts store and you can find all sorts of pre-stenciled graphic items. I placed a butterfly graphic on each side of the cockpit and a couple of others along the centerline of the boat. I even added a couple of bird-feathers up near my front hatch. I also acquired a wood-burning tool to accent the outline of my wood-strip patterns in a couple of areas. Attending the 'Rendezvous' event that I mentioned at the beginning of this writeup is a great way to see many boats built by others and to get ideas for these various artistic/graphic effects.
Kit vendors are very willing to sell you a kit in stages, which is exactly what I did, and I highly recommend this approach. The epoxy used in fiberglassing phases has about a one-year shelf-life, so you don't want to acquire that stuff until you are ready for it. In my case, as mentioned above, 4 or 5 years elapsed between my initial venture into stripping the hull, and the time I completed stripping the deck (and was thus ready to start doing the first epoxy/fiberglassing work). I also delayed ordering things such as the foot-braces, seat, deck-hardware, and varnish until I was ready for those items. You can break your order down into as many separate shipments as fits your needs.
![[ kayaker paddling ]](web-images/yak.gif)
Dave ![[ 3 kayaks huddling ]](web-images/kayaks.jpg)
