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

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.

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

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

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

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

building wooden kayak costs?
 

Anybody know any good designs for a Tandem skin on Frame? What kind of
tools are required?

Geoff

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

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.

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.