Building a Greenland boat?

[Jasper]

Has anyone ever built a Greenland kayak? I am thinking of making one and was wondering how difficult it was, how it turned out, how durable it is, any advice, etc?

Anyone??

[XXX-er]

stitch & glue ?

[sb]

google is your friend

http://www.clcboats.com/index.php

[Hugh Conway]

google is your friend

http://www.clcboats.com/index.php

Greenland Kayak = skin on frame. CLC Boats = stitch & glue or strip kayaks. Different beasts.

how much space do you have, how much woodworking experience & tools? do you enjoy building things more than paddling them?

[sb]

Greenland Kayak = skin on frame. CLC Boats = stitch & glue or strip kayaks. Different beasts.

Actually Greenland is a design for kayaks and paddles not a construction technique.

[XXX-er]

I think the OP needs to give us background and WTF he actualy wants to do ,where he wants to paddle yada yada and you can probably find more info by googling a real kayak building site

buying something made out of plastic is the least difficult but you still need to know what you want

[Jasper]

I have seen clc and the like but i am looking to build something from the ground up. I have plenty of space in the attic so that shouldnt be an issue. I also really like woodworking so the time i put into it wont bother me. I guess i was more looking for personal experiences, tips, etc.

I was thinking of following this book as a guide: [ame="http://www.amazon.com/Building-Greenland-Kayak-Manual-Contruction/dp/0071392378/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1273428585&sr=8-1"]Amazon.com: Building the Greenland Kayak : A Manual for Its Contruction and Use (9780071392372): Christopher Cunningham: Books[/ame]. Shows how to make a skin on frame out of ballistic nylon.

Any thoughts??

Thanks!

I will mostly be paddling the great lakes... not looking for crazy rad waves or anything (got a normal kayak for that)... just mellow days in the sun paddling.

[splat]

I did a canvas on frame kayak when I was in high school. I fiberglassed the canvas after it was stretched and stapled onto the frame. Promptly took it to a place called White River (that should tell ya something about it) in BC, launched it and had it disintegrate in the rapids within a quarter mile. Just sayin.... what a dumbfuck kid I was. I almost drowned.

[XXX-er]

Moving water is a bitch ,the average person has no idea how to handle moving water and finds that out the hard way ... like you

we get people ,mostly kids floating to town on pool toys ,last year a kid went under a log jam , fortunately she DIDN'T have a PFD so she flushed instead of getting stuck/drowned underneath .

to the OP ,if you like playing with tools and wood go for it

personally I wood (pun intended )be into something I would use like a big LOOONNNG stitch and glue sea kayak , a buddy of mine made one in his basement over a winter ,he was not particularly into woodwork but he just bought the plans and went for it with some handtools and a skilsaw

For me the only reason I would want a skin-on-frame would be a folding kayak

[Hugh Conway]

If you are interested in spending lots of time paddling it pick something that's exactly what you want. The amount of time you'll spend building it is large compared to small increases in cost. No experience with skin on frame; have built stitch&glue and strip. Strip isn't that much more of a pain (relatively) and gives you much more flexibility.

I have seen clc and the like but i am looking to build something from the ground up

You can pick up plans from CLC (or wooden boat, where I bought them, still have said plans) or another designer and turn some sheets of plywood, other wood bits, fiberglass and epoxy into a kayak. I did - took a bit longer than their estimate and cost a bit more, but looked great. Ultimately I wasn't that fond of the design (but enjoyed building it). Now building this:
http://homepages.paradise.net.nz/garyd/ulua.html
the starting point is a stack of spectacularly clear sitka spruce.

[Rip'nStick]

I did a canvas on frame kayak when I was in high school. I fiberglassed the canvas after it was stretched and stapled onto the frame. Promptly took it to a place called White River (that should tell ya something about it) in BC, launched it and had it disintegrate in the rapids within a quarter mile. Just sayin.... what a dumbfuck kid I was. I almost drowned.

Heh....... I almost killed myself on your skis yesterday. It was the skis fault.

[Tye 1on]

If it was me, i'd build a Pygmy. Several friends did, they came out sweet. If i wanted frame/skin, i'd go for a used feather-light, feather-craft, whatever-the canadian ones, or a used Klepper.

but that's just, like, my opinion man...

[Sparky]

A book well worth a few dollars for some great insight is: Qayaq by D. Zimmerly. It features kayaks from all around the Arctic circle. It should also help you to select which kayak you want to build and give valuable insight on how it will perform.

I agree with Tye, and I think Feathercraft are great boats; but they are spendy - I wouldn't want a second hand one because of likely wear on canvas and parts putting them together and breaking them down. This also seems a kit faff to me when I watch mates putting theirs together and I prefer to just throw my boat on and off the car and into the water. I prefer a more rigid boat too.

I didn't have the patience to build, and I use the Scorpio from P&H. It is cheap for what it is. I can also highly recommend the Cetus, it's fiberglass sister. Both are stable expedition platforms, fast and easy to paddle for long distances. Stable enough to fish off if the conditions aren't to wild. Bomber sea kayaks that fit many applications.

[Alaskan Rover]

You say you want to build in ballistic nylon? That is definitely TOUGH as nails fabric. I've got experience with ballistic nylon. I don't see any reason why it wouldn't work for your purpose. It stretches well and still retains its strength.

One place you may have problems, though, is the waterproof coating on the inside (usually a urethane coating layer) may tend to get worn away by the wooden frame members of the kayak as the kayak works in the water. Skin-on-frame kayaks are very rigid, however they WILL tend to "give" slightly in places, especially when in any sea-action.

To combat that wearing of the inner waterproof coating, I'd recommend coating the outside with some sort of parrafin coating, or prodigious amounts of waterproofing spray. I'm not sure how well waterproofing spray holds up in sea-water, but I think you said you'd be using it mostly in fresh-water.

The original Greenlanders used seal oil for an outside waterproof coating...you might find that hard to come by.

The Greenland Quyaq is an EXCELLENT sea-kayak type, with good and trustworthy sea-manners. Another excellent type of traditional kayak is the Aleut kayak.

Good luck and great paddling!