Building a Traditional Kayak with Polyester Skin and Plywood

Drones & Vehicles Woodworking Workshop
Building a Traditional Kayak with Polyester Skin and Plywood
10484723_10206892528094432_6395423771623552017_n
Testing the “Kidyak” in the pool

Maker Trevor Akin has been building boats for himself for years. Now with the “Kidyak” he’s built a child-sized, skin-on-frame kayak for his daughter. This is a sturdy, light, inexpensive and relatively easy to build kid version of a traditional Arctic kayak like those used in Western Greenland.

He began by working with plans from his friend and fellow boat Maker, Dave Gentry of Gentry custom boats. It’s built in a way similar to cloth-over-frame aircraft, popular during the early aviation revolution, but the design goes back to traditional methods of the Arctic’s aboriginal people.

The frame is cut by using patterns that are traced from templates onto heavy paper. Once the patterns are cut they are applied directly to marine plywood.

The patterns are then ready to be used as a cutting guide for the wood frame, cockpit, knee braces and other wood structures of the boat. Lightweight woods are used for stringers and they can be assembled without screws using lashing and or glue.

Akin explained that by drawing out a design  and then building a model he could create templates that could be scaled to size. Using this method, a full scale boat can be transformed into a customized kid-sized kayak.

A departure from the traditional covering utilizing skins and sinew from marine animals, Akin used a synthetic fabric skin pulled over the frame. He lashed the frame with artificial sinew. The 8oz polyester cover is paintable and kids can help design and customize the look of their boat.

Akin completes this build with a beautiful, lightweight, traditional style paddle that will be easy for kids to hold. The boat itself only weighs about 15 pounds and can easily be transported by the kids to the water. This build takes 20-25 hours and once completed is perfect for fishing and paddling across lakes and slow moving waterways.

1016467_10204966748671150_6270168801217578925_n
Frame cut from paper pattern templates
10409754_10204994536005816_7126820839586458977_n
Look Ma no screws! Lashing the wood together
1016482_10205030632508206_1216281862641416309_n
Frame and stringers coming together
1653434_10205141749006049_3197313543573897696_n
Placing the skin. This boat uses two big pieces: one for the bottom of the hull and one for the top.
988397_10205141749086051_660016311542678043_n
Cockpit frame over the skin
10468058_10205141749126052_1933699542895928136_n
Cockpit, installed and lashed
10407948_10205362718770155_9181469719386381582_n
Carving the paddle
10629644_10205134962836399_1678091714247246370_n
Some close ups of the hull with the bottom skin
10636265_10205031653213723_5348929625861344804_n
Light weight frame
10685493_10206891107698923_9010340566724310580_n
Close up of the cockpit

4 thoughts on “Building a Traditional Kayak with Polyester Skin and Plywood

  1. Michael Black says:

    The classic book about kayaks is “The Starship and the Canoe” by Kenneth Brower, which came out about 1980. It’s about George Dyson, who was living in the pacific northwest making giant kayaks, and his father Freeman, who had been part of “Project Orion”, propelling a ship into space by setting off atomic bombs behind it.
    It’s not a technical book, but I picked up some things about using epoxy, which is why when I had to glue the handle back together on my soldering gun, I lashed it together with nylon fishing line, then applied epoxy.
    George wrote a book or two about kayaks, I think one was about making them, but the time I checked, they were no longer in print.
    Michael

  2. E. M. says:

    Super awesome kids boat!

    In reaponsr to the previois commenter – George Dyson still supplies most of the nylon and polyester that people use to skin their skin on frame kayaks.

    This style is what I have heard commonly referred to as “Yost boat” after Tom Yost, who designed early variations. Traditional skin on frames have many more steam bent ribs forming the hull, instead of the cut frame pieces. Some people have even used the cut frame style to make folding kayaks that fit into a duffle bag!

    When I was younger, I spent many an hour learning to roll in Yost style kid boats! They’re a fantastic, cheap way to get somebody into a kayak, perfect for kids.

    Check out http://www.qajaqusa.org for more info on traditional kayaks!

    1. rose.beadle says:

      jhygb

  3. Kuldeep Yadav says:

    Love your Ideas and concept “The kids Boat” great work. Keep it up and Great collection too.

Comments are closed.

Discuss this article with the rest of the community on our Discord server!
Tagged

Theron is an educator, business owner, writer, and consultant working within Springfield, MO and the Ozarks community. He enjoys making and building with his 11 year old son and likes to read and write about science, technology, education, sci fi, martial arts, and philosophy.

View more articles by Theron Sturgess

ADVERTISEMENT

Maker Faire Bay Area 2023 - Mare Island, CA

Escape to an island of imagination + innovation as Maker Faire Bay Area returns for its 15th iteration!

Buy Tickets today! SAVE 15% and lock-in your preferred date(s).

FEEDBACK