Building a Sea Kayak

[John Bailey]

Todd,

Any strength that may come from the cedar is strickly the function of being the inside of 3 layers. Just like plywood. Although the boat will look like a wood boat, it will really be a fiberglass boat with cedar strips as the core between two layers of fiberglass. This process ends up making a very strong boat.

John

[tod evans]

thanks, john...

[John Bailey]

We've haven't been doing much work on the kayak lately. Glen is in Arkansas (lucky guy) and won't be back for 10 days. We've got the hull done.

Hull Done 1.jpgHull Done 2.jpg

Then we wrapped it up and transported it to his house while he's gone.

Hull Wraped for Transport.jpg

We were having some trouble with the concave curves. So, I took an old plane and ground the edges so we could get at the concave sections. Worked pretty well.

Concave Plane.jpg

It'll be awhile, but we'll update as soon as we get started again. In the meantime, I'm gonna start on another boat.

John

[Frank Pellow]

Thanks for the update John. The hull is very attractive.

Now, with all that experience on nyour friend's hull, things should really fly when you are building yours.

[Art Mulder]

I thought that you would have glassed the hull before taking it off the form?
I helped a fellow glass a cedar strip canoe a few years back (I was the unskilled labour... ) and he still had it on the form.

Hmm, I just had another thought... A Kayak has a deck, so how are you going to glass the inside of it!?

Looking good, John.

[Peter Mc Mahon]

Hi Art. I think that the top is built as a separate unit. The inside of the boat is glassed and inside of the top then the two get mated together and the entire outside is glassed. I think.......Peter

[David Wilson]

The kayak is built in 2 pieces, hull and deck. The two pieces are glassed on the outside first wile on the strongback with staples removed. The strongback keeps the piece from warping. The piece is then removed from the strongback and the inside is glassed. The 2 pieces are them glassed together. At least this is how I built mine.

[John Bailey]

The kayak, in this case, was wraped with plastic and duct tape with the strongback still in place. That was done because we weren't going to work on it for awhile and we wanted to make sure that it stay in shape. In fact, the hull and deck are built separately and joined later.

John

[Kurt Loup]

John,

3/4" wide 3M strapping tape works great. No residue is left on bare wood or epoxy/fiberglass. Duct tape didn't work for me.

Kurt

[John Bailey]

Kurt,

We've started to use strapping tape also. Although, the duct tape was working fine with no residue. Nice looking boat, how about some details, or is it on another thread? I'd like to see.

John

[Jeff Horton]

John, what length strips are you using? I have several larger beams of Western Red Cedar I was thinking of resawing. But the longest one is 10'. Of course and I can scarf them, but just curious what you ended up with.

[Lon LeBlanc]

John,

I'm working through my Rotary group, a teak warehouse owner, some private contributors, the County Probation Department, and the local middle & high schools, to start a program for teenagers who are slipping through the cracks, and getting into drugs and gangs. In a nutshell, we'd provide funds and materials, if the schools would provide supervision and mentoring to these kids, and get them involved in crafting Kayaks...or strip-built canoes. I've even received tentative approval for a "Wooden Kayak Show" and kayak races on Lake Arrowhead (private lake) a year or two down the road.

Here's my question: Since I haven't built one of these yet, do you think....based on your experience so far....that teenagers as young as say...13 or 14 could do something like this...assuming proper supervision, of course? These wooden kayaks are such a work of art, that it just seems like they might be the conduit to turn a kid around....get them excited about creating something....finding an artistic outlet...giving them some pride.

Your thoughts?

Lon

[Jeff Horton]

I have not built one but everything I read makes me think "yes they could". I think you just need to find a plan for an easier to build boat. Mac Mc'carthy's Wee Lass canoe comes to mind.

You also might want to consider stitch and glue plywood boats. They have the advantage of being faster to build. And if you use a good plywood and finish it natural they are still beautiful boats.

[John Bailey]

Just a short update. We finished glassing the hull.

Glass the hull.jpg

John

[John Bailey]

Here's my question: Since I haven't built one of these yet, do you think....based on your experience so far....that teenagers as young as say...13 or 14 could do something like this...assuming proper supervision, of course? These wooden kayaks are such a work of art, that it just seems like they might be the conduit to turn a kid around....get them excited about creating something....finding an artistic outlet...giving them some pride.

Your thoughts?

Lon

Lon,

It's the perfect project. I think the idea of doing a stitch and glue might be easier, but either way, they can do it. I was a high school principal for 16 yrs. We started a sea kayak club. We had a number of students build there own paddles and one built his own boat. You need a place to do the project, and you need good supervision. The kids won't have the patience of an adult, you'll have to keep them on task. Also, some of the kids will lose interest, but the ones who see it through will gain a ton of self esteem and confidence.

When you get it done, let them paddle it. They'll love it.

John