Last summer finding myself with more time after retiring, only working part time, I decided to get back into canoeing. A nearby town rented canoes and kayaks. The first outing went fine; lots of birds and sunny sky. The second time was different; there was a modest breeze. Being the only one in the canoe the bow stuck up like a sail and I was spinning around like a weather vane. Also, with no keel, trying to turn just made the canoe slide sideways. I tried the bow position but that was no fun either. So I ended up, for the rest of the summer, looking before hand at the weather to see if there was any wind predicted .
I decided, after much time justifying the cost of building one, to take the plunge and make one. I was too cheap to pay for plans, so I designed one myself: wanted a keel to help with staying straight and not sliding sideways, small enough to store in an apartment, light enough to easily get it on top of the car and with one person the bow not sticking up in the air and in a pinch able to take on a second person.
Too cheap to buy wood strips, I was also planning a vacation in New England so I bought some white cedar on the trip. I was able to get a 10ft piece and other pieces inside a Toyota – wind shield to end of trunk!
Got home made the strong back and templates. Locally obtained some white ash for keel, gunnels and thwarts and proceeded to heat bent and glue up my canoe. Getting the glass, resin and varnishes from CLC. Waited till May for warm weather to glass the boat.
Finally, it was ready to get wet. Went to the nearby lake and found out there is more to designing a boat then making sure it floats and is level bow to stern. I could not sit in it very well and not tip over and definetly not able to kneel in it. Totally embarrassed and frustrated. After some thoughts I tried adding foam on the sides to see if I could modify the profile and make it stable enough. I realized I made it too small to be stable' at least that is what I concluded. After much thinking, not wanting it to be a total bust, I came up with getting my center of gravity lower by converting it to a kayak.
I had my daughter mark the water line while I sat on the bottom. Cut the top off and designed the deck. Fortunately I had just enough cedar left over for the deck and stripping the glass off the cut off portion I was able to make the seat.
I tested it this week and it was a success: stable, small, easy to put on the car and surprisingly faster than I expected. ( I asked you folks in one post about putting an attachment to lengthen the effective waterline, which I did not) While it is an unusual looking vessel it meets my desires, though it is limited to one person and only to day or one night trip during warm weather with the limited space to stow gear. I'm calling it a cayak ( canoe/kayak) – I designed it and built it, I can name it what I want. With my extensive woodworking skills but no boat design experience and God's help - success! I would hesitate to advise someone to do the same with no boat design experience, though.
The final size is 9ft x 29” x 11”, less than 30 lb without internal flotation foam.
