Category Kayak building class

The ones who had finished their kayaks come October had already test paddled them, except for J who finished coating the skin and adding a few minimalistic lines the night before(!). Who’s in a hurry anyway 🙂 Hers is the…

So come Gooping Day we gathered early and slowly worked up a sticky mess everywhere in the workshop 🙂 Even when using disposable gloves, you take them off, forget them or just try to fix something quick without them. Being…

So, first you start off with the faint idea that for stitching you need a needle and thread, right? Some claim they’re Irish and can’t sew… others have fixed skydiving rigs for friends in a previous life. That is to…

The endplates are thin hardwood pieces that are attached with dowels to the gunwhales and stems in our case. You don’t have to have them but they help make a nice continuous line along the deck. They also lock in…

The Masik is the cross beam above your thighs. It’s best if it fits tight for good control over your kayak, but not as tight you can’t shift around for harder rolls without a paddle. Your Masik can be almost…

There are many kinds of Polyurethane which work for a SOF kayak and even more kinds that don’t work. You need to look out for certain properties and I will try to list some challenges here. The fact I am…

Copper nails look cool I think. These are ring shank nails driven into the oak/ash coaming. If the glue would by any chance come loose, the coaming will probably still hold up.

There are several methods for how to tighten the skin on the frame. Something close to this one was used by many seal hunters back in the day and is advocated by Brian Schulz at Capecalconkayaks. You can also stretch…

The first time can be quite intimidating, with just one chance with the hot knife and what not, but once you get comfortable with everything pinned down you will feel like you have everything…pinned down 🙂 Greenland style stems take…

Recently our little summer workshop got the addition of two new menbers. Nice people it seemed. Little did we know one was a kayak murderer…just look at this! So, why do this, I hear you ask. Well, Karin the murderer…

Had to make a complete detour anyway from the beloved classic Greenland lines and style for this kayak, an LPB Flat Deck version with plans from Cape Falcon Kayaks. Enter my first set of foot braces. They are some heavy…

For all you people who can get your hands on perfect wood for paddle blanks, we salute you (as AC/DC would say). For us mere mortals, we get to glue various sticks together to make our blanks good. This is…