Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[milo christiansen]

Summer is coming, and everyone in the neighborhood seems to have been bitten by the kayak bug. Not wanting to be left behind I decided I wanted to have one to.

Not having much money to spend, I decided to build one with the following guidelines:

• It had to be cheap
• It had to be easy to build (I'm rather lazy when it comes to such things)
• It needed to require a minimum of tools (I don't have many)
• It needed to not be a total piece of crap, as my OCD would drive me nuts otherwise and I wanted something that could be used for a while

Here is the result:



The frame is 1x2 (.75"x1.5") boards around the cockpit area (from right behind my back to my feet, 4' in other words), nailed together with an air nailer (1.5 inch brads). This short frame was then planked with lath (low quality 1.5"x.25" boards, generally used for supporting plaster). The ends (which stick 4' beyond the center frame) are all lath, held in shape by a single bulkhead of 3" extruded polystyrene insulation board (which I had flying around from an old project years ago). These bulkheads are the reason for the "scalloped" look to the sides, the cover pulled the lath in between the cockpit framing and the bulkheads.

Once the frame was finished I covered it with a cheap painters drop cloth (taped on with clear packing tape), and wrapped that with shrink wrap (pallet stretch wrap). The shrink wrap worked OK as a waterproof cover, until I was careless beaching it and punched a hole in the bottom. After that I added a layer of clear vinyl and more shrink wrap to hold everything in place.

Spoiler: More pictures (click to show/hide)

Sitting by the driveway:


View inside the cockpit:


My response to my sister telling me to "smile" (crappy camera, I have my tongue out and am making a face):

I made some errors while building that raised the price by about double. If I was to build another here is what I would do different:

Forget the lath, I should have made the whole thing from 1x2s. Basically all I would have needed was to make the frame full length with more stringers down the sides and along the bottom. 1x2s are cheap, far cheaper than lath.

I should have used bunker plastic instead of the vinyl and drop cloth. Bunker plastic is heavy duty plastic used to cover bunker silos. It is very heavy and strong, plus black on one side, white on the other. It would have been easy to get a modest amount of used stuff (plenty to cover several kayaks) from area farmers for free.

I need to find a better way to secure the ends of the shrink wrap, bonding it with a heat gun would probably do. Actually clear packing tape works surprisingly well for small fixes, even below the water line.

The current design has too much freeboard, making it handle like a freighter in wind and requiring higher lifts when paddling.

The hull shape (a simple trapezoid) has low initial stability (it feels tippy) but high secondary stability (it's really hard to actually tip over), I would prefer more initial stability, but sometimes I like like it better this way, hard to decide...

I figure that building another would only cost about $50, pretty reasonable for something like this.

[smirk]

This is glorious and I would like to subscribe to your newsletter.

Were you following any sort of schematic when you started building, or just winging it? And if you were using plans, are they easily find-able on the internet?

[Urist McScoopbeard]

If you were to make another, a wider, lower middle section might raise your initial stability if I understand how watercraft work right. (without affecting the secondary stability)

[milo christiansen]

If you were to make another, a wider, lower middle section might raise your initial stability if I understand how watercraft work right. (without affecting the secondary stability)

You are 100% right, but you know what, I kinda like low initial stability, it teaches you to balance better without any actual danger of tipping over...

Were you following any sort of schematic when you started building, or just winging it? And if you were using plans, are they easily find-able on the internet?

I just winged it The design is really simple.

All you do is make 5 trapezoidal frames from 1x2s, one center frame, two frames to go on each side of that (make them the same height, but narrower), and two frames to go near the ends, once again the same height but narrower. The frames will be placed two feet apart, with two feet between the end frames and the actual ends of the boat. Tie the frames together by placing one 1x2 down the length of the bottom (on the outside of the frames), and one along the top (also on the outside). Make sure you leave a hole between the center frame and the next frame towards the stern for the cockpit. Now place two 1x2s down the side at the top corners of the frames. Once again make sure they are on the outside. These may be a little hard to install, as the need to follow the curve defined by the frames. At each end you will need to nail the side pieces into a upright of some kind, I used a scrap from making the frames (make sure this stays straight by nailing it to the top and bottom stringers first). Now put two more stringers down each side, one at the bottom frame corners and one in the middle. The bottom side stringer would probably be better on the bottom of the boat, but it would be way to hard to bend it into shape there.

The basic frame is done, now make the cockpit. For this you will want some kind of floor, either 1x2 or 1x3 slats or a scrap piece of 3/8" plywood (placed over the center three frames). Finally install some vertical and horizontal braces for the back-center frame, as it will be taking most of your weight when you climb in and out (you need to sit on it).

Now cover the frame with something tough OR tape over any sharp edges (of which there will be many) with duct tape. Cover with plastic, and give it a bunch of wraps of shrink wrap to seal it all together.

Install seat and foot braces to taste

That's the basic plan for the improved version. The only thing I am not 100% about is the side stringers, you may need to use something thinner than a 1x2 so they bend properly.

[Arx]

This sounds really cool and interesting. I may have to look into it when summer rolls around again here. There's a lagoon walking distance from my house...

The real magic trick would be modifying your design to build a two-manner for my brother and I.

[milo christiansen]

I think this would be too fragile for a good double. You would need more stringers and such. Why don't you just build two?

Each one (with the improved design) costs about $40 US for wood and wrap, more if you need to buy plastic and nails/screws. I figure wood and shrink wrap for two would be ~$60, $20 more for plastic and other stuff (nails, tape), plus $40-$60 for paddles...

[Erkki]

Well done! For that price any way.  I too like secondary stability a bit more than initial.

How does the skin handle small sand, small stones, gravel? Do you consider it any worthy for river or lake daytrips or is it just for some fun looping around by the shore?

Wooden paddles are fairly quick and cheap to build, too. Within the spoilers, my several year old Facebook avatar with the home made Greenlanders, both paddle and the boat. 

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[milo christiansen]

It works well for small lakes, but stay off anything with sharp stuff that you may hit... I have never paddled for more than an hour or two at a time, so not sure how well it would work for longer trips. Make sure you bring shrink wrap and tape with you if you plan to be gone for long!

The skin works fairly well for small stones, so long as you don't rub against them too much. The shrink wrap protects the plastic fairly well, but too much rubbing or a good hard poke and it'll start leaking...

After every use I repair any worn spots with clear packing tape or more shrink wrap (or both). It is amazing how well the packing tape holds up, even below the water line.