Introduction

Being an electronics engineer, I enjoy a profession which does not provide for much physical workout, except maybe an occasional climb up an antenna tower... And, a long time ago, I practiced some windsurf, but climatic changes have made windy days scarse.

Combining windy days, with professional activities and with the wife's occupations has become nearly impossible. So the search for a new passtime started, and the idea of paddling appeared on the horizon.

I'm sure I wouldn't have reached a happy ending without the help of a few friends on the 'net. I'm also glad the indications on these pages we helpful to others. Here are some pictures I received.

IMPORTANT! This is surely not a project for beginners! It's necessary to improvise in many situations. Maybe most importantly, as designer Nick Schade mentions on his page, this design is very complicated to assemble. I freely admit there were several times I thought I wouldn't make it.

The info on these pages is free, and provides no garantee at all! I do not have that much time to spare to attend to basic construction details.

Pages

Plans - usage

This page describes the plans, or better, the tables necessary to draw the actual plans, and an image that shows how to cut the parts from the plywood. All measures are converted to millimeters. If you'd rather work with English units, download them from Guillemot Kayaks.

Preparing the wood

Almost three plates of 4 mm plywood are necessary to obtain the 5.2 m necessary to cut the parts. Here's how they are spliced and cut.

Molde, corte y costura de las partes

After splicing, the drawing has to be transferred to the wood, and very carefully cut. Then it's time to start the stiching.

Introducing epoxies

Learning how to use epoxy - a project by itself...

Construction of both halves

More pictures of the construction, particularly the upper half. Once both are ready, the insides are painted with epoxy.

Joining both halves

Joining both parts sounds easier than it really is. To get a feeling how the result would be, I temporarily joined both deck and bottom using duct tape. I also cut the opening for the cockpit (which was modified later) to be able to glue the inside.

Glassfibres

Next step is covering the exterior with glass cloth in two stages. This is not too difficult, just requires a lot of patience

Cockpit

It was too tempting to try and make a cockpit resembling those preferred by Nick Schade of Guillemot Kayaks. So I devised a way to modify the existing hole and invented a hybrid design.

Extras - paddles and more...

With the end in sight, I started worrying about paddles. After the work on the hull, I thought that making a few paddles wouldn't be that difficult.

And finally, the water

After lots of hours, launch! Incredible...

Hatches and bulkheads

After a good year of intensive use, the presence of bulkheads is felt, to ease rolls and rescues far from shore. And this almost forces the installing of hatches. Oh, well...

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(c) John Coppens ON6JC/LW3HAZ

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