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#1
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building wooden kayak costs?
My son wants a touring/fla****er kayak and can't afford to buy one. I
have a woodworking shop and offered to help him build one over the winter, but his budget is only around $300. Chesapeake Light Craft's kits are +/- $600 for stitch 'n glue. I was hoping a strip boat would be cheaper, but I bought two books with instructions, and they claim costs of $500 - $1000. Does anyone have thoughts on minimum costs to build a kayak, and whether a strip boat or a stitch 'n glue would be cheaper? Thanks! Sue |
#2
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building wooden kayak costs?
Sue Goddard wrote in :
My son wants a touring/fla****er kayak and can't afford to buy one. I have a woodworking shop and offered to help him build one over the winter, but his budget is only around $300. Chesapeake Light Craft's kits are +/- $600 for stitch 'n glue. I was hoping a strip boat would be cheaper, but I bought two books with instructions, and they claim costs of $500 - $1000. My strip boat ended up costing me $750 to build and I milled all my own strips. If I had bought pre-milled strips it would have been much closer to $1000, if not more. CLC also sells plans for most of their models. You can search around for marine grade mahogany but I doubt that you'll be able to build one for under $300. You could cut corners and use a lesser quality plywood but it's generally not recommended. In any case, there's not a look of woodworking in building a stitch-n-glue boat if you build from a kit. It's more like putting together a large model. Does anyone have thoughts on minimum costs to build a kayak, and whether a strip boat or a stitch 'n glue would be cheaper? If you just want a boat to paddle you can cut corners by buying inexpensive wood (assuming that it's available in your area). I talked with someone awhile back that used a cheap wood, but he painted the whole boat. He claimed he was able to build it for under $300. I spent almost $200 on fiberglass cloth, epoxy resin, varnish, and various outfitting pieces. Your best bet might be to look at building a skin-on-frame boat. There are lots of free plans available (check issues of Sea Kayaker mag.) or there are several books (Chris Cunninghams is a good one) on the subject. The woodworking shop will come in handy for building the frame. What's he go to do for a paddle, PDF, and sprayskirt. $300 for just those items is not really exhorbiant. |
#3
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building wooden kayak costs?
CLC also sells plans for most of their models. I looked at that, but it seemed that if you bought the cockpit and other pieces that sounded "necessary", that you were up in the $600 range anyway. But I haven't looked into it very carefully. claimed he was able to build it for under $300. I spent almost $200 on fiberglass cloth, epoxy resin, varnish, and various outfitting pieces. That's about what we're figuring out, which is pretty discouraging. Your best bet might be to look at building a skin-on-frame boat. I'll look into it; thanks. What's he go to do for a paddle, PDF, and sprayskirt. $300 for just those items is not really exhorbiant. He has a good PFD from his canoeing experiences and shouldn't need a sprayskirt for the flat rivers we usually paddle. We have a cheap paddle that we use in the canoe, and that will have to suffice until I learn how to build one, or we find a good deal on a used one. Thanks for the input... keep it coming! Sue |
#4
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building wooden kayak costs?
A hearty second for the SOF idea! :-) SOF boats are not only light and very beautiful, they're inexpensive to build, require fewer expensive tools, and are faster to build than most other types of construction. This sounds good, and I've just ordered the book. But I have a concern.... just how durable is a fabric boat? We live HOURS from the sea, and this boat will be used on rivers which, come August, are sometimes pretty shallow. They're flat, yes, and in a good year (like this one) it's not a problem, but in a typical year there can be many bony spots. Wouldn't one sharp rock put an end to the paddling until repairs can be made? Sue |
#5
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building wooden kayak costs?
Melissa wrote: -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 On Fri, 14 Nov 2003 02:45:02 GMT, Sue Goddard wrote: But I have a concern.... just how durable is a fabric boat? Hi Sue, They can be remarkably durable. I know people who routinely grind their skin boats over oyster shells and bump them into rocks, and while they will get some scratches and gouges in the coating, in most cases, the skin itself isn't damaged. The frames are really strong as well. Damage is always possible, but in relatively normal usage, probably no more so than punching a hole or crack in a glass or wooden boat. For the type of water you're expecting, I shouldn't think you'd have much of a problem at all with catastrophic damage. You can also get different weights and types of skin (nylon, canvas, polyester). The heavier weights will naturally be more resistent to incidental damage than the lighter ones, but the lighter ones are quite good anyway. The more rugged fabrics (13 & 16 ounce polyester) and coatings (Gaco UA-7000) tend to be a pricy, but you can still keep the cost to under $300. If you don't have to buy all the stock for building the frame, you could easily do it for under $200. I would suggest that you look into the books by Morris and Starr, in addition to Cunningham's book. Morris' construction is simpler and faster. Starr's is probably the most foolproof. Cunningham's is beautiful and strong, but the most complex. All three will produce a good boat. Bill Low's skinning method is the best I've seen for the heavier polyester fabrics. If you're interested, I've got some SOF construction photos at: http://community.webshots.com/user/brian_nystrom -- Regards Brian |
#6
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building wooden kayak costs?
Sue,
Stitch-n-glue is both the cheapest and the quickest way to build, in my opinion. Chris Kulzycki (sp?) (former owner of CLC) has written a couple of books on building your own kayak and canoe and the books even include the plans for several different boats. If you use cheaper plywood than marine-grade mahogany you should easily be able to get a decent boat built for less than $300. Many folks will be adamant about using the expensive marine-grade ply, but I'd rather be able to build a boat that I can afford, rather than have no boat at all. Try www.raka.com for the cheapest epoxy. I used it throughout construction of my 21' Tolman Skiff and it's been going offshore for the past 4 years without any problem. If you're interested in building a cheap canoe instead of a kayak, grab some tools and you can follow along with me on my project after Christmas. Feel free to drop me a line via e-mail if I can help in any way. Regards, Tom A. Cedar Point, NC Sue Goddard wrote in message ... My son wants a touring/fla****er kayak and can't afford to buy one. I have a woodworking shop and offered to help him build one over the winter, but his budget is only around $300. Chesapeake Light Craft's kits are +/- $600 for stitch 'n glue. I was hoping a strip boat would be cheaper, but I bought two books with instructions, and they claim costs of $500 - $1000. Does anyone have thoughts on minimum costs to build a kayak, and whether a strip boat or a stitch 'n glue would be cheaper? Thanks! Sue |
#7
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building wooden kayak costs?
Anybody know any good designs for a Tandem skin on Frame? What kind of
tools are required? Geoff |
#8
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building wooden kayak costs?
Geoff Jennings wrote: Anybody know any good designs for a Tandem skin on Frame? What kind of tools are required? Tandem baidarkas are not unusual, but I've never heard of any tandem Greenland kayaks. David Zimmerly's book "Qayaq has two-hole baidarka drawings and dimensions in it. Any of the native boats can be built using nothing but basic hand tools. Remember, they were originally built with nothing more than stone and bone tools. -- Regards Brian |
#9
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building wooden kayak costs?
Sue Goddard wrote in :
CLC also sells plans for most of their models. I looked at that, but it seemed that if you bought the cockpit and other pieces that sounded "necessary", that you were up in the $600 range anyway. But I haven't looked into it very carefully. claimed he was able to build it for under $300. I spent almost $200 on fiberglass cloth, epoxy resin, varnish, and various outfitting pieces. That's about what we're figuring out, which is pretty discouraging. Your best bet might be to look at building a skin-on-frame boat. I'll look into it; thanks. What's he go to do for a paddle, PDF, and sprayskirt. $300 for just those items is not really exhorbiant. He has a good PFD from his canoeing experiences and shouldn't need a sprayskirt for the flat rivers we usually paddle. We have a cheap paddle that we use in the canoe, and that will have to suffice until I learn how to build one, or we find a good deal on a used one. If he's going to paddle a wood or skin-on-frame boat building traditional greenland paddle would be a good idea, and very inexpensive. |
#10
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building wooden kayak costs?
Sue Goddard wrote in message ...
My son wants a touring/fla****er kayak and can't afford to buy one. I have a woodworking shop and offered to help him build one over the winter, but his budget is only around $300. Chesapeake Light Craft's kits are +/- $600 for stitch 'n glue. I was hoping a strip boat would be cheaper, but I bought two books with instructions, and they claim costs of $500 - $1000. Does anyone have thoughts on minimum costs to build a kayak, and whether a strip boat or a stitch 'n glue would be cheaper? Thanks! Sue A stitch and tape would be cheaper and now that decent plywood is down in price, you can with a little patience build a nice S+T boat. Try looking at this boat: http://www.guillemot-kayaks.com/Buil...GluePlans.html Note that the designer and builders say this is a difficult build for the first timer, you already have wood experience and I don't see why a first timer in that positition could not have a successful build. This might not be the boat you are looking for, but there are plenty out there. If you have any questions about S+T materials, techniques, which boat to build, etc, you may give me a call days (the number is on my website) or contact via email at smallboats.com. Scotty from or course, SmallBoats.com.. I also have a fla****er S+T canoe/kayak you might want to look at. |
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