Two Skin Kayaks

December 05-January 2006

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 Jonathan Weingast

My first attempt to build a kayak was in seventh grade. I ordered plans for a simple plywood kayak from the back of a magazine, but never finished the boat. Fast-forward about twenty years. Despite owning two modern kayaks (one for the river and surf, and one for everywhere else), I admired skin-on-frame Greenland kayaks for their lightness and beautiful functionality, so I decided to build one of my own.

Setting the frame.

Setting the Keel.

My Greenland Kayak

Setting the ribs.

I received a gift of a book called Building Skin On Frame Boats by Robert Morris. After reading the book cover-to-cover, I got a few tools and started looking for wood. As chance would have it, I was able to find a beautiful, clear piece of spruce, perfect for almost all my needs. My neighbor helped me rip and plane the wood into smaller pieces that my handsaw, plane, knife, chisel and sandpaper could manage.

Traditional Greenland kayak frames were made of ‘found’ wood, since trees do not grow on Greenland. The wooden frames were tied together with sinew before being covered with sealskin. These days, most skin-on-frame kayaks are made with purchased wood, or in some cases aluminum, lashed with nylon twine and covered with canvas or nylon.

To start turning my wood into something resembling a boat, I first decided how long and wide I wanted my kayak, drilled and chiseled mortises in the gunwales for ribs, and made forms for holding the gunwales in position.

I set one deck beam as a backrest, one as a footrest, and one as a knee brace. After drilling and pegging the deck beams into place, I began lashing. Pegging involved drilling a hole through two parts and hammering a dowel into them. Lashing involved taking a length of waxed nylon twine and tying pieces of the boat together. There is no glue or metal used in traditional construction.

Setting the stringers.

Next was the addition of bow and stern pieces and stringers to support the deck. With the deck complete, I turned the frame over to install the keel. The keel is a key element for determining the shape and handling characteristics of the kayak. This is where I set the depth of the boat, the rocker of the keel to allow turning, and tweaked the keel to provide a modified skeg to aid tracking.

With the keel in place, I was able to start installing the ribs. My boat design had seventeen ribs of different lengths and curvatures, and bending them proved to be the most difficult part of the project. I built a steam box out of PVC pipe, vinyl tubing, and a small pressure cooker atop my camping stove. (Safety note: be sure to drill a hole in the steam box to keep pressure from building up!)

The material holding the wood fibers together becomes softer at high temperature and humidity, allowing steamed wood to bend and hold its new shape when cool, but I had a large pile of cracked ribs before I was able to successfully bend them all. At that point, my kayak was truly three dimensional, and beautiful to behold.

Applying the skin.

The last major woodworking task was adding the chine stringers. Their position is critical in determining the ‘attitude’ or handling characteristics of the kayak. Placing them closer to or farther from the keel decreases or increases the primary stability of the boat.

With the frame complete, I was still far from finished. After painting on tung oil to preserve the wood, it was time to skin the boat. It was a shame to cover all my hard work, but necessary to transform this wood into a working boat. I sewed uncoated nylon around the frame and cockpit coaming.

Then it really looked like a kayak. The one remaining step was to make it waterproof. This was accomplished by hanging the boat in my garage and applying about nine coats of varnish. There were just a few finishing touches to take care of at that point, like attaching bungies, ordering float bags and a custom spray skirt.

After completing the kayak, I made a Greenland paddle, as well as a custom seat to make the boat more comfortable. I have since taken some classes in Greenland paddling, adding to my repertoire of traditional rolls, getting used to the stability, and enjoying every minute of it!

THE BOTTOM LINE

Construction time: 11 months (not full time)

Cost: Tools $70, parts $500 (does not include spray skirt; but does include beer for my neighbor)

Length: 17’1”

Beam: about 21”

Weight: about 35 pounds

Constructing the frame.

My Aleutian Kayak

For my birthday, my wife gave me a fantastic gift: an Aleutian kayak-building workshop with Corey Freedman of Spirit Line Kayaks. Corey happens to be the person from whom I had purchased the skin for my Greenland kayak. He teaches traditional kayak building around the west and I was fortunate to work with him at his shop in Anacortes, Washington.

Day 1: The process began with a discussion of boat design and why Corey believes the Aleutian kayaks have the fewest compromises of any kayak available. The long waterline length gives speed; the low bow and full keel provide excellent tracking; placing the paddler aft of center gives more leverage for easy turning; the unique truncated stern allows the boat to go faster than its theoretical hull speed. They are also very light, extremely strong and beautiful.

The project began by sawing, sanding and planing cedar, refining rough forms, and making square stock round. All Corey’s kayaks start with similar pieces for sterns, which get notched, lashed and pegged together, then coated with oil.

Setting ribs and lashing.

Day 2: I assembled the bow pieces that give a Baidarka the unique split design. After determining the overall length of the kayak, I cut gunwales and marked them for deck beam and rib placement according to my body size. How better to get a custom fit than to use yourself as a ruler! Corey helped me mortise the gunwales for ribs with a small plunge router. This took about three minutes, compared to three days for me to hand-mortise the gunwales for my Greenland kayak.

After pegging the gunwales to the bow and stern pieces, it was time to install the deck beams, using the mantra “sight it, scribe it, cut it, fit it, shape it, dip it, peg it”. Then repeat six more times. Once I cut the ends of the pegs, I made 28 lashings, and my deck was basically done.

Day 3: Day three involved oiling the frame, and working on the bow ‘cheeks’. These are small, curved pieces of wood that are shaped, sanded, and lashed to the bow piece to help shape the skin of the kayak. I also cut, shaped and sanded my floorboards and keel.

Day 4: I started by setting the keel and pegging it in place. The rocker of the kayak was determined by how much curve was put into it. The rib stock was placed in a long tray of hot water to soften, and then we began placing ribs. Corey set five key ribs to help determine the shape of the hull, bending and tweaking until it looked right and symmetrical. A significant part of building a kayak is using your eyes. Are the lines straight? Does everything look even? If it looks wrong, it probably is.

Six longitudinal stringers were lashed to the five ribs to set the hull, and then I was free to install the remaining 39 ribs. Then came time to lash, lash, lash. Using waxed nylon twine, I tied each rib to each stringer. Six stringers times 44 ribs equals 264 knots and two very sore hands. Each joint also gets another knot to tension the lashing. I had to put tape on my fingers to keep my hands intact, but by the end of the day my kayak had really taken shape.

Day 5: Lash and frap ribs to keel; my poor, tired hands had to tie 88 more knots. The stringers were faired and lashed to the bow cheeks, and the frame got a coat of oil. I was now free to install the floorboards and gear runners.

Day 6: The next step was to install the deck stringers, which give the top deck its characteristic peaked shape. The frame received its final coat of oil and was ready to be skinned. Again, it was hard to cover this gorgeous frame I had spent all this time building, but it is part of the process.

Applying the skin.

Day 7: The bow required a special stitching technique to deal with the curvature, and Corey helped with this. The cockpit rim was heated, bent, lashed, sanded, oiled and sewn onto the skin. I chose to dye the skin yellow before heat-shrinking and sealing it.

Coating the skin.

Day 8: The last day was spent applying the waterproof coating to the hull and cockpit coaming. I used a two-part urethane finish that Corey calls ‘goop’. It is mixed, poured onto the skin, and spread like honey. When it’s dry, the other side can be coated. When that is dry, it’s time for deck bungies, outfitting the cockpit... and paddling!

THE BOTTOM LINE

Construction time: 8 days

Cost: About $1,100

Length: 16’

Beam: 20-3/8”

Weight: about 30 pounds

SUMMARY

Now I am the proud owner of two skin- on-frame kayaks. Each one is quite different in how it handles and how it was created. Each one was a pleasure to make and both are a pleasure to paddle.