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Has anyone here built a kayak or canoe with one of these kits?

Built a Coho in my apartment.

Beauty boat, but sure pissed off my former roommate.

I'm not very handy, had no problems. Highly recommend it, if you like that kind of thing.
 
Chunk. Did you put up a WIP page when you did it? Seems to me I saw one a while back about a feller doing a kayak in his apartment, and pissing somebody off. Seems to me the feller was canadian.

Anyway, whats the weather like up there in Nunavut this time of year?
 
Ha, yes, that was me, old thread that. Don't think I ever put up photos of the finished boat - it's a beauty, even with my shyser epoxying skills.
I built the Coho, my buddy built an Arctic Tern. Good times. Drinking beer and stitching plywood. Still am not on speaking terms with the old roommate. But then again, if some idiot says 'Hey bro, is it cool with you if I build a kayak in the living room?' and you say 'yes', well it's on you too, my friend.

Yeah, weather's been a little sketch the last few weeks up here, not in CamBay anymore, am on the North tip of Baffin Island right now, looking out at Bylot Island. Rain and fog lately, not cold yet though. Wish I had the kayak here - the local boys are harpooning narwhal from 16' skiffs like a hundred feet offshore :thumbup: Beautiful country.

Going to try and knock out a sealskin and frame boat one of these days if I can ever find the time and he-patience. We're running out of people who still know how to do that shit up here, very important to keep it alive.


Only thing I can recommend about building the boat is to have a sturdy, level work table long enough to hold the whole boat - and warp in your table can translate into warp in your hull - and that epoxy is a bitch to get out of carpet.

Good luck to you sir - you'll have either a fun or aggravating time building it, depending on your personality - but it's light, paddles great, and looks amazing. Plus you get to go to them Wooden Boat jamborees they have during Summertime, and expostulate on the virtues of different kinds of marine epoxy, with bearded dudes way older than you are.
 
That's awesome. I'd love to build one in my apartment, but my room mates would kill me for sure. (wife and 13mo son) :) Just one of those things that will have to wait until I'm a home owner.
 
I have a 60x40 metal building/shed, so I have the room. I have a lot of tools for working on engines, etc. I don't have a lot of wood clamps, no planes, or things like that, so what appealed to me was that the parts come pre-made. I have a palm sander, jigsaw, ripsaws, and some bar clamps.

Chunk, What do you suggest as "must haves" to make it go better? Besides patience, that is...

Also, about how long did it take you to complete; number work hours I mean?
 
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Hey bud.

Took me weeks, but I was working ridiculous hours, and just put in the time when I could. I think the folks at Pygmy say 35 build-hours roughly? Sounds about right-ish. Depends on the model you get, different models have more planks to stich together.
I'm seriously considering getting another kit sent up to me when I get back to Qamani'tuaq, but the fiancee is the only Inuit person in the world who is terrified of kayaks and water, so we'll see. I'm really thinking about their Queen Charlotte model this time - absolutely frigging STUNNING boat, but one of their early designs. So not a super performance boat, but I'm not intending any long trips anymore, just daytrips and hunting / fishing / sightseeing for now.

Screw it, I just talked myself into getting it.

The kit will tell you exactly what you need, and it's not that much. They'll throw in almost everything you need, down to the rubber gloves for mixing epoxy.

Extra stuff you'll need:

Beer
Something to mix small batches of epoxy
Drill & bit
Needlenose pliers, wire cutters
Small paint roller for rolling on epoxy
Heavy duty scissors for cutting glass cloth
Maybe 10 clamps for when you attach the coaming - dollar store cheapo plastic ones work fine, also saw them at Home Despot one time
Small rasp or planer, just for beveling the edges where the plywood fits together for a tighter fit

I'd recommend you get the full shebang for the kit, epoxy, everything. Get the deck rigging kit. Get a good sprayskirt, I got their gore-tex one, and it's great.
Don't screw up the lines of your beautiful new boat by tacking on one of them bloody rudder systems, PLEASE!

So anyhow, won't need anything major, and nothing a quick trip to any hardware store can't fix. This is basically the kind of project where you can slap it together, it's easy, and will look okay - but if you want shiny perfection, it can take some doing. I went middle of the road, and ended up with a boat with some minor cosmetic imperfections, but still gorgeous.

Good luck man, can't see you regretting it. Tell ya that making one of them cedar strip boats would drive me mental, but this kit is about as straightforward as it gets.
 
ac1d0v3r1d3 -

At the time I wanted to rent one of them U-Store storage sheds, and build it in there.
Didn't have a car though or a way to get back and forth late nights, so that was problematic.
Might be an option for you though?
Sure don't want to be mixing epoxy around the baby. There are fumes.

Good on you for having more sense then me :thumbup:
 
Thanks man! That really helps a lot. I'm a fairly thick guy, so I'm thinking the Pygmy Pinguino Sport or Pygmy Borealis XL might work for me, but the CLC Woodduck 12 might be a better fit. I'm not looking for anything for long touring as we don't have a lot of area for that where I live. There are only a very few rivers that Kansas defines as "navigable". That means anyone can float down them legally. All other streams or rivers that flow through private land that are not defined as "navigable" are illegal to float. Crazy. I definitely would like to leave it without a rudder, too.
 
I, with three other friends, built 5 CLC 17s about a decade or so ago from plans. If I did it again, I'd buy the kit just so I didn't have to go through the hassle of ripping all the wood(but we did everything 5x ,so doing it once probably wouldn't be that bad). I've had somewhere around 15-20 kayaks ranging from plastic to carbon/kevlar and none are as nice to look at as the wooden ones.
 
flipe8 said:
I, with three other friends, built 5 CLC 17s about a decade or so ago from plans. If I did it again, I'd buy the kit just so I didn't have to go through the hassle of ripping all the wood(but we did everything 5x ,so doing it once probably wouldn't be that bad). I've had somewhere around 15-20 kayaks ranging from plastic to carbon/kevlar and none are as nice to look at as the wooden ones.
Click to expand...

They do look very nice, which I must say is one of the things that draws me to it, but how does the wood compare in performance and durability?

The other thing that draws me to it is that I get to maybe use something I made myself and maybe pass it down to my kids and grand kids.
 
The strength comes from the epoxy and fibreglass, so the boat will be plenty strong. I used my boat like it was a plastic play boat(for real) and if I had to drive it up on a rocky beach, I did it without hesitation. Over a few years, I had to repair the hull in a few spots, but that will happen with any boat, regardless of material. The great thing about building the boat is any repairs are very doable. Durability is absolutely no concern.
 
flipe8 said:
The strength comes from the epoxy and fibreglass, so the boat will be plenty strong. I used my boat like it was a plastic play boat(for real) and if I had to drive it up on a rocky beach, I did it without hesitation. Over a few years, I had to repair the hull in a few spots, but that will happen with any boat, regardless of material. The great thing about building the boat is any repairs are very doable. Durability is absolutely no concern.
Click to expand...

Thank you!
 
Performance depends on a number of things, but it really comes down to design and material. Composite boats(fibreglass, carbon, wood/epoxy) will be much more stiff than plastic, so they will respond better. They will react quicker to your movements and glide better than plastic. Most Pygmy and CLC boats have "hard chines"(sharp angles at seams), so they will carve turns very well when leaned or put on edge. This eliminates the need for rudders, IMO.
 
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