[Photo from Bouyant Safety Paddle]
Joe caught the kayak bug, but didn’t want to pay to have one shipped to his home in Hawaii, so he made one.
In the summer of 2005, I bought a dealer demo Perception Sonoma 13.5 and a used Honda Element. I bought the kayak thru Ebay from Adventure Sports, and the Element thru Craigslist. After 18,000 miles and paddles in Arizona, Ontario, Saskatchewan and British Columbia it was time to go home. Freight for the kayak back to Hawaii was more than $300 with packing. I decided to leave the kayak on Vancouver Island and buy or build one on Maui.
His build documentation shows the process he used to make is own kayak on the picnic table in the back yard.
Working outside, ventilation was never a problem. Wind, dust, leaves, insects, birds, chameleons, noise restrictions, sunlight, proximity to living quarters all impacted the build. Wind broke the EPS foam before I got started. Dust and leaves fell on the wet epoxy. A big, black bee burrowed into the EPS. Birds were always chirping and chameleons entertained me from the fence. I used hand tools whenever I could to prevent noise fines from the condo association. Sometimes I had to slather on the SPF and wipe sweat out of my eyes. Mrs. was constantly after me about EPS balls and glass threads on her fancy Indich carpet.
You can check out the rest of the story. Some of the build process would have gone better with a hot wire, and the choice of materials doesn’t look like they are the way he would do it again. He did, however make a kayak that met his needs for practicing rolls. Have you made a kayak or other boat? Tell us the story!
[via DIY Happy]
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