A couple years ago, I had an idea to combine design elements from sea kayaks, whitewater kayaks, and surfskis to create a high-performance kayak with a closed cockpit that would be stable over long distances, relatively fast, and handle well surfing downwind. This style of kayak design is not mainstream at all or really manufactured, so my best bet would be to design and build it myself!
Coming from ~25 years of paddling whitewater, I have some idea of kayak design and what works and what doesn't. However, I had absolutely ZERO kayak building experience.... So I did what any reasonable person would do- binge-watched Nick Schade's YouTube channel (link below, his designs and builds are damn gorgeous!) and decided that making this kayak out of wood strips was not out of my skill set.

I also decided to film the process, and finally- over 18 months since actually finishing the boat- I've put together a build video. To be honest, I would have had the build video done sooner but the kayak turned out to be too much fun to paddle... :-)

Hope you enjoy! And stay tuned to my channel- I've taken the design of this kayak and made improvements... version 2 is in the works!

And of course a short highlight video of the first year or so of paddling this kayak:
   • Paddling the Chimera: A high-performa...  

Other links:
Guillemot Kayaks (Nick Schade's channel for beautiful kayak builds):
   / @nickschade  

Clearwood Paddleboards (Paulownia wood distributor- also builds gorgeous wooden SUPs!):
https://clearwoodpaddleboards.com/

Fiberglass Supply (local-ish company for all things glass and epoxy):
http://fiberglasssupply.com/

#woodenkayak #woodworking #kayakbuilding #surfski #kayak #stripbuiltkayak

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