Wooden Boatbuilding Instruction
With David Orth
Ratty to Mole, in Wind in the Willows:
"There is nothing -- absolutely nothing -- half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats. In or out of 'em, it doesn't matter. Nothing seems really to matter, that's the charm of it. Whether you get away, or whether you don't; whether you arrive at your destination or whether you reach somewhere else, or whether you never get anywhere at all, you're always busy, and you never do anything in particular; and when you've done it there's always something else to do, and you can do it if you like, but you'd much better not."I offer weeklong, one-on-one instruction in building your own kayak, canoe, or other small boat. Usually I will suggest starting with a boat kit that suits you - perhaps one of the excellent ones available from Pygmy Boats.or Chesapeake Light Craft. For the stout of heart there are elaborate strip-built designs - check out One Ocean Kayaks by boat designer Vaclav Stejskal.
The kit approach will take a week to get the overall shape and other difficult parts finished. You will gain the confidence to finish up a few details at home.
You can opt to carry over the work together into the next week in order finish up with me at your side the whole way. Either way you will have yourself an incredible, top-shelf wooden boat that you built yourself.
COST: $2250 plus your material or kit costs
(includes five days of instruction and lunches)
Further information on instruction here.* * * * *
Here's me assembling my first stich-n-glue kayak (designed by Chesapeake Light Craft), followed by a picture of the finished boat. This method is excellent and allows for amazingly lightweight, organic shapes from thin marine plywood. Shortly after I built this kayak, I started using some of the same techniques and ideas in my furniture. Although, I followed the basic boat design and hull-shape, I made much of the topside detail to my own liking. Now 15 years later, its been over a few rocks in Illinois, gone end for end into the beach off North Carolina, and acquired a mysterious hole that appeared in the top after a winter in the barn - I suspect that a racoon fell asleep in the rafters 25 feet above the boat, lost his balance and was saved by the cushioning of the boat. Yes, stranger things have happened. I patched it up, but I reckon it's starting to look more like Ratty's boat. I took it on the Nippersink the other day.
The stripbuilt, double kayak pictured below was built during a slow winter in the shop. I bought these blueprints from Vaclav Stejskal and again did everything from scratch - adding my own details. Click on the image for more pics of my boat on his One Ocean Kayaks website. His site also has many images of the process, in case you want a preview. However, I'm still going to recommend that your first kayak be of the stich-n-glue, kit type.
I highly recommend the building and paddling of small boats. It's good for the soul and not too hard on the pocketbook. It's a strange and wonderful thing - to lower a small wooden craft of your own making into a lake or river, set yourself down carefully, and take that first pull or two on the paddle. The boat and yourself slip forward like a fish - glide like a bird. You are Captain Nemo, Amelia Earhart, Major Tom. You take another stroke and leave it all behind.