Editorial: Wooden Kayaks—Part 1

February-March 2001

This is an article from WaveLength Magazine, available in print in North America and globally on the web.
To download a pdf copy of the magazine click here: > DOWNLOAD

by Alan Wilson

Cover photo: Courtesy of Pygmy Boats

At long last, here is an issue devoted solely to Wooden Kayaks! We hope you enjoy reading it as much as we have enjoyed putting it together. Thanks to the many boat builders who contributed material.

In fact, we have been so overwhelmed with stories and photos on this topic—which is obviously near and dear to many of you—that we have decided to extend the theme to our next issue.

In this issue we focus on plywood stitch & glue and cedar strip kayaks. In part 2 (Feb/Mar) we will look at arctic-style wood-frame skin kayaks, woodworking safety, and much more.

The reasons for building with wood are many, as you will see in the succeeding pages. Certainly for most of history—and prehistory—wood has been the material of choice for kayaks and canoes. Great cedar dugouts plied the Pacific Northwest coast of North America for 10,000 years! Even with all the great synthetic materials now on the market, wood still has unique and wonderful properties for boat building.

I have a plastic boat myself, but I must admit there’s a special joy in paddling the wooden kayaks my father has made—one from a kit and one of his own design.

Of course, building boats of glass and poly means we don’t cut so many trees. But on the other hand, the quantity of material used in a wood kayak is tiny compared with, for example, wood siding or shingles on even a single house (I could have built a fleet of kayaks with the amount of cedar siding used on my house). Kayaks can even be built from ‘waste’, offcuts or recycled wood.

Nevertheless, trees are involved, and the problem for wooden kayak enthusiasts is how to have a continuing wood supply, yet conserve the forest for wildlife and for the enjoyment of wilderness paddling trips.

In fact, it is possible to have both wooden kayaks and old growth forests. With the advent of “Ecocertified” wood products, we can now purchase wood products from certified ‘ecoforestry’ operations.

Ecoforestry aims for the highest economic value for the least amount of wood harvested, and requires strict environmental standards.

This doesn’t mean we can stop demanding that government regulate the forest industry’s environmental practices, but it does give us an additional tool to use.

While ecocertified wood products are not yet common, more and more woodlot operators and private land owners are applying for certification. The biggest success on this front has been the commitment by some big retail chains (including Home Depot) to begin changing over to ecowood. Although it’s still early in the transition, the supply will grow with the demand.

Ecotourism and ecoforestry are actually partners in a changing economy. Ecotourists play their role by helping to diversify the economy in isolated communities which are otherwise resource-dependent (logging and fishing) and Ecoforesters will ensure there continues to be wilderness to draw adventurers, as well as an ongoing wood supply for the future.

By building with ecowood we can influence decisions made in forestry and paddle our kayaks in the wilderness, guilt-free.

—Alan Wilson

For more on Ecoforestry, see this month's Ecolgogy column