Finding, Purchasing and Beginning the Constuction of my Kayak

To begin, I need to explain why I'm building this kayak.  It's all about the geometry.  I'm 6'6" with a 38" inseam.  I also have very large feet.  Size 14 or 15, depending on the shoe manufacturer.  After many attempts to try to find a kayak that I can fit comfortably in, and not be crippled after an hour in the standard size kayak, I stumbled into Pygmy Kayaks. 

I was at a "PaddleFest" on Lake Sammamish, where there were about 60 manufacturers of kayaks on display.  This is where I found Pygmy Kayaks.  I was explaining to the representative (Jim) my size dilemma, and that's when he said "Oh, have you sat in our Borealis XL".  The answer was no, so I gave it a try.  It was an immediate reaction.  I believe I said something like, "it's like my Lazyboy recliner". 

Getting in and out of it was the easiest experience I've ever had with a kayak.  Not only was the leg room more than sufficient (first time I've ever been able to put my feet on foot pegs), but the cockpit was so large (19" X 36") I could get my long legs in and out with the simplest movements.  Important because being 67 years old, a longtime basketball player and a longtime long distant runner, I'm really not nearly as flexible as I once was.  I just don't bend on the dotted lines as well as I should.  Which explains the geometry problem I have.

Here's what the finished boat should look like. 

 

 

Its total length is 17'.  The beam is 25.5".  It has a depth of 13".  And when complete, it will weigh only 43 lbs.

I guess I should explain the word "complete".  The kayak comes in a kit, and has to be constructed.  It's a "stitch and glue" construction process.  There are 40 pre-cut panels of 4mm plywood that have to be stitched, glued and fiber glassed together to create the kayak. 

So, after a few days of thought, I decided to go to Pygmy Kayaks, who are located in Port Townsend, WA.  It was kind of convenient since I had a planned trip there anyway the following weekend to run in a 12 KM race there, called the Rhody Run.  I live a couple hours away (via car and ferry) on Camano Island, WA.  The race was on Sunday, so I went over on Saturday and spent several hours there with Jim.  I tried out every boat there, but in the end, it was the Borealis that I fell in love with.

I didn't make the commitment during that visit.  But I got Jim to give me the construction manual so I could look it over and make a final decision on whether or not this was something I wanted to do.

I spent a few days the next week reviewing the manual and taking notes.  And went back the next Thursday to make the purchase.  That was an interesting process. 

Pygmy would ship me the boat if I wanted to receive it that way.  The cost for that is $70.  So decided to save the money.  I borrowed a hand truck from a neighbor.  I then drove to the ferry terminal on Whidbey Island, WA. which has a ferry going directly to Port Townsend.  I parked my car at the ferry terminal and walked on with my hand truck.  Walk-on cost is $1.60.  Arrived at Port Townsend in 30 minutes. 

Pygmy is at the opposite end of the town so I had to walk through the town with the empty hand truck.  Bought the kit, which consists of three boxes.  The main kit box is 8' long.  I bungee corded the boxes to the hand truck, and off I went back to the ferry terminal for the return trip.  I got several interesting looks from the towns people and ferry workers.  I should have taken some pictures of that experience.

I have set up the area to build the kayak in our "rec" room.  It's a large enough room, that is used for our home gym.  The additional area in the room is intended for ping pong.  But that hasn't happened yet.  I have a couple portable work benches in our garage that are 8' long.  So I took them from the garage to the rec room to create the work space necessary to build a boat of this size.  Here's a couple pictures of the work area.

The top picture shows the kit boxes before unpacking.  The 2nd picture is the kit unpacked and inventoried. 

And so it begins.  The first step is to layout, align and glue the kayak panels together.  If you recall, the kit box with the panels is 8' long.  And the boat is 17' long.  So that means each completed panel (there will be 6 of them) comes in 3 pieces.  A bow, middle and stern piece.

The work bench I'm using is only 34" wide, so I only have enough room to layout 3 panels at a time. 

Here's what that looks like.

What you see here are the #1, #2 and #3 left side panels.  Each panel is 3 pieces.  So I've glued them with fiberglass and epoxy at the butt seams and stern seams.  That's what you see at the 6 locations where there is a block of wood and a brick holding the seams flat.  I need to let these cure overnight and then I'll repeat the same process on the other side of these panels.  Then I'll do the #4, #5 and #6 left side panels.  And once I'm done with that, I'll do the right side panels.  So this process will take at least 8 days.