UPDATE: this qajaq’s image taken of Elsa rolling, by Ulf Esebrant, actually got quite famous. On the International Canoe Federation website, check out this article!
The Back Story
So the time had come for Elsa to switch to a lighter and more agile Skin On Frame kayak. The coating on her old one was also becoming an issue, since it is way too soft and rubbery. The polyurethane on that one wasn’t good for kayaks but maybe for casting concrete gargoyles…
Luckily her old man had some crooked spare planks left over…
So you can probably see some glue in the pictures, right? It’s for the soft Paulownia wood which doesn’t take tight string wrapping well, it just makes for larger hole creep the more you tighten. However, Paulownia wood reacts very well to glue and oil. It also becomes less brittle than Western Red Cedar when moist. Normally, according to The Wood Database, it should be 25% lighter and less “strong” than WRC and you will have to beef up the dimensions.
I took the oiled and almost finished skeleton with friends to Läckö Kayak Festival for a kayak and paddle building lecture.
But this was just the beginning! She also added some blue and white streaks underneath to make it more personal. More images of those tomorrow!
Below is “tomorrow”.
So we christened it the “Morsko Prase” or Sea Hog and took it for a spin. I think the captain approved it.
