Homebuilt 'Racer'

December 2001 - January 2002

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 Dave Giuliani

Working as a paddling instructor this summer, I was able to try out several of the latest kayak designs. But I remember a time last year when things were very, very different.

I grew up paddling canoes in the thriving metropolis of Burns Lake BC, where a fancy canoe might weigh only 100 pounds instead of 150 pounds, and yeah, we knew about kevlar-that was the stuff the army put in bullet proof vests.

When I moved to Victoria in 1993, I was thrilled to learn to kayak in the diverse world of the ocean, and I have been an avid ocean paddler ever since. As a financially challenged university student who moved around every few months, I either rented, begged or borrowed boats. When I moved to Vancouver to do my Education degree, I was determined to 'get me a boat'. I figured that if nothing else, I could try to make something up that would float, and rent a real boat for those longer overnight trips.

That's when it all started. I began to spend my nights pouring over websites that vowed they could teach me to make a kayak using willow twigs, a big blue tarp, and some tarp clips. During the day, I would drive past dumpsters and piles of trash on my way to school and think "Hmmmm-I might be able to use that as part of a frame."

One day I went to visit some friends in Tsawwassen, and spotted a large black wrapper of some sort, lying in a dirty crumpled ball on the side of the road. Thinking that it might have blown off a truck, I figured I would leave it and see if someone picked it up. Several days went by, and I went out again. The black heap was still there, so I stopped my car and loaded the big mess of rubberized material inside.

Having found something that would actually keep water out, suddenly my dreams of building a scrap boat were within reach.

The rest would be child's play. Or so I thought. After scavenging some PVC pipe from a friend's lab, I set to work building a base for my boat. I cruised my neighborhood to find all of the Free Wood bins-and I bought myself a really, really big roll of duct tape.

I soon realized I would need some kind of cockpit, and one day I found the perfect wooden crate that fit the width of my hips- with some encouragement from a hammer. (The guy at the auto store said it was usedto ship one of those big hydraulic jacks you use to lift cars.) This was strapped to the PVC bottom with Zip ties.

My kayak frame now had a base and a cockpit, but it needed more structure unless I planned on just wrapping the rubber sheet around my legs. I decided to use bike rims from a dumpster to give form to the boat, and allowed myself to splurge on a couple of small PVC pipes at $2.99 each. This worked well, although the larger rim in the back of the boat gave the impression that I was carrying R2-D2 around with me.

After using string and 95% of my big roll of duct tape to brace the frame, I cut the rubber to 'sort of' fit the frame, and used a bunch of tarp clips to tie it over the top of the boat. It was nearing the test stage, but I needed a paddle. Undaunted, I went to a hardware store and selected a big dowel, a couple of bits of fir, some five- minute epoxy, and set to work with a spoke shave to carve down the wood. The final result was not exactly worthy of a trans-oceanic trip, but hey, it worked.

Photo: Dave Giuliani

Now the question was where to try it out. If my creation didn't float, I would have felt guilty sending my pile of carefully tailored scrap to the bottom of the ocean. So my friend's pool became the preliminary testing grounds. Getting in the boat was a bit of a challenge, as it seemed to have the primary stability of a surf ski. I managed to stay upright, and I even tried borrowing a friend's wing blade paddle to see how much speed I could pick up in a pool length.

It floated. I could paddle it. But how would it do on the ocean? There was one way to find out-Deep Cove Canoe and Kayak center was hosting their weekly fun race that night. After graciously accepting some pool noodles for floatation, I decided to go big or go home.

As I arrived at the store, people eyed my contraption with curiosity. Many wondered what kind of ultralight racing kayak was so fancy thatit warranted being wrapped in a big sheet of protective rubber. Such was their surprise when instead of unveiling a new technological marvel of the racing world, I simply stepped into the wrapping and awkwardly paddled to the start line.

I too had a surprise waiting for me. The race, which normally consists of a fairly short paddle, and a run and/or swim, was changed to a long, paddle-only night. I was still determined to see what happened, so as the starting horn sounded, I bolted forth with all the speed and tracking ability of a river kayak. As the race went on and on, and people started passing me-that is to say they were going in the other direction, heading back to the finish line-I was still not able to see the turnaround point ahead. When I finally made it just past half way, the rescue boat came up beside me to check if I needed a tow. I politely declined this, and trudged onwards.

Close to two hours from the start, I finally made it back to the beach and although they had already wrapped up and given out the draw prizes, I got a rousing cheer from the crowd. My kayak and I had finished the race without having to bail or abandon ship. The following week I checked the web site for the race results and there I was, even though I had to scroll all the way from 47 minutes down to 1 hour 51 minutes to find it. I felt a feeling of accomplishment I could never have found paddling a nicer boat as I read the caption, "Honorable mention goes to Dave Guiliani for his finish in home made kayak/inner tube."

© Dave Giuliani has worked as a kayak instructor with Boundary Bay Watersports of Surrey BC. He's currently travelling in Europe and sent this story from Sweden. Dave notes you can check the Deep Cove website for race results: www.deepcovekayak.com