Hi all- To answer a few common questions: (1) "Why paint over the beautiful wood?" There's a pretty simple reason. I had a color scheme/ pattern in mind when I designed the boat, and wanted to stick to it! This was also my first attempt at a wood-strip kayak build, and tbh there were a couple little spots in the woodwork that didn't make the video that I just wasn't proud of- likely not noticeable by most, but definitely for me :-p But don't worry- version 2 that I'm building now is certainly not going to be painted... got something even better in the works :-) (2) Dimensions? Length: 20 ft/ 6.1 m; Width 18.5 in/ 47 cm; Weight ~42 lbs/ 19 kg (3) Are the plans available? Not for this particular boat at the moment. I'm close to finishing up building a second version, spent a lot of time revising the design, smoothing out some of the lines, and refining the materials and workflow for the build. If I'm happy with the second version, the yes! I'll be making the plans for both V1 and V2 available. (Spoiler alert- of course I'm filming the build process! And- V2 is looking like it'll come out at about 2/3 the weight of V1...)
You did an awesome job on the woodwork for a first time. It looks much easier when Nick is doing it compared to doing it yourself. How do you find it compares to surf skis for stability and speed? I have a Think Zen and and am contemplating either buying a Think 6 or building a Guillemot Kayaks Mystery
@@bobododoo3925 longer boats are faster- to a point. Everything is a compromise though. Length = Faster but less nimble, narrow width = faster but less stable (which actually means slower if you are upside down).
The build was amazing but the design is just excellent . Form follows function , those are the guide lines we must adhere to . How each artist reaches that is the magic . Just beautiful 👍
This is awesome! I built a stitch and glue dinghy about 4 years ago. Your strip plank boat has a lot of extra steps that require more patience and thought. You nailed it! I like the colour scheme. I think you made the right choice by covering up the wood. I see in the comments that you are working on a Version 2. I am really hoping that you document that one in a similar fashion to this one. I also see that it turned out heavier than you were hoping. My dinghy also turned out heavier, but by around 5-6kgs. Like you, I know the areas I overbuilt and how to reduce the weight in future projects. You should consider rearranging your workshop to maximise your space. It looks like it is a storage shed. It might be worth moving a lot of that stuff to a different area to give yourself another bench or two. I really think it could speed up your workflow. Loved everything, well done!
I wish I could have a bigger workshop! Limited to half of a 400 sq-ft garage at the moment until we buy a house with a bigger garage... I'm making version 2 just about 2 ft/ 60 cm shorter (and using thinner strips and different fabrics), aiming for sub 15 kg total. Right now the deck and hull together are just under 10.5 kg. Hoping to be done by the end of January, and yes, videos to follow! Cheers :-)
same thought here. Varnishing with Epifanes Hardwood oil, one component ... 7 layers. And this unique design would be a real stunner. Its already a stunner with the reverse bow, but wood on its own has its beautyness doesn't need to be hired. Yet, V2 is on its way I read, and then we might see it in its natural beautyness.
just watch the whole video, it is great. hard to believe this is your first build, everything looked spot on perfect. it would be great to see a video showing how you designed it.
Been thinking about doing a design video- I'm working on a second version of this design at the moment, we'll see how a few small tweaks change the performance.
Brilliant video and what an amazing kayak. So much effort, to build. A very complicated process. Along with some other comments I think a clear coat would have looked beautiful but you should be very proud of her and thank you for sharing.
Excellent design and the video is pure ZEN to watch :-) I was terrified to see you left the forms inside, until I realized it was two separate shells :-D
Great looking kayak with an interesting design. It reminds me a little of Björn Thomassons Panthera or Sea Racer which are similar kayak designs of a surfski inspired hull with a closed cockpit.
As a fellow strip kayak builder I found the quality of your video, your original design and your workmanship to be joys to watch. As an Australian I found your alcohol consumption during the build disgusting! Who the hell drinks only one wine or one scotch or inconceivably only one beer while working in the shed? Can you even buy one beer? I think not. Cheers mate!
Fantastic job filming this! Well fantastic job building too... it's not out of your skillset if you decide it's not out of your skillset. Amazing build.
Nice. Tip: When sanding, guide coats show where your at and how your progressing. Graphite powder is good, or scribble over it with a pencil, and then sand back areas until it is removed. Apply a few times through out the process. Reduces unnecessary sanding. Marking pens leach through the glass after time. Just a thought.
i would have cut out the cockpit and installed the coaming After i joined the halves together....it just makes sense to avoid any torque hang ups. turned out nice though anyway....good job.
That is a cool wife. She doesn’t take the whole roll of wax paper, just what she needs. I bet she would let you put a ring gear in the oven, and a bearing in the freezer if you needed to.
Great work! Beautiful lines on that hull. Would have liked to see more of the rudder install. Also just gotta say it, I would have looked into having it professionally gel coated for all that hard work you did painting it seems a bit wrong. All the best, happy paddling!
I had a color scheme in mind when I initially designed the boat, it was one thing I didn't really want to change. The next version which I'm building now will have the wood visible, and probably a clear-coat finish
Gel coat would most probably add extra weight. They also tend to look faded after a while. The poly finish on Think kayaks looks way better than the gel finish on Epic's, Fenns etc
thats awesome .... fell over it last night, when I looked for "skin over frame". And your design poke my sharp eyes. I would go further and integrate into your design a rigger system and use it as coastal C1 skulling boat. I am a sailor (with 48 years background), and for keeping me fit, I started rowing (do it already in a coastal C1 made of polyester and a heavy beast of 35 kg). I think its worth to think about if there is an option to adapt a slide rigger (not a slide seat) to your top frame. Any chance to study your plans of V1 and V2 (a scetch version in DINA4 would already a start before going into 3 D) ??? Tks for uploading this video and take us with you on this awesome 1.5 years journey. (P.S.: I love wood as material most of all either to work with or as I do living on a 37 foot 2-mast woode-in-wood built clinker Dutch sail slope, 63 years old.)
I loved all of it you did a good job with the camera time lapse. well done. But why would you paint that beautiful wood and that beautiful wood craftsmanship you put into it. I thought it was beautiful and then you painted it. Still say job well done in all aspects of the video.🤔
Thanks! I had a color scheme in mind well before I started building the boat, decided to stick with my original plan. The wood is still visible in the cockpit and on the coaming. But for version 2 (building now!) I'm not painting....
looks incredible (both painted and not...) ! How long did it take you? Looks like a lot of work, I'm glad it payed off and hopefully you enjoyed the process too :-D
Great job brother, Artist. thanks for sharing. for me, to make my own kayak is one thing I miss is I dont know yet how use the Adobe Illustrator . is simple???
bit late to the party, but my word, what a beauty. The paulowina looks like its nice to work with for boat building, how does it compare to cedar for example?
i have made myself 3 wooden kajaks.A wooden core 5 mm is ok. if you want extra stifnes you can put carbon or carbon-kevlar instead of fiberglass at the external surface
have a look at www.thomassondesign.com/en/catalog/my-kayaks. I am not familiar with this type of kajak that you design. But some desings , from that site, that i have test is super nice.
I did a 3mm plywood kayak and laminated in and outside. It‘s a hell of stiff and the next one I only will laminate outside - inside I‘ll just „paint“ with epoxy for waterproofness. Also I experimented with thinning the epoxy to have a easier saturation of the glass fiber. So I laminate with the roller and save kilos of weight just by economising the amount of epoxy. Good results and far enough stiffness, even with 3mm plywood. All the builders of wooden kayaks build imho to heavy boats with to thick plywood and to heavy glass fiber. Do we really need rocketproof kayaks to survive the heaviest possible storms?
@@ggagg0 i do not know about plywood but if you want to save weigth you can put a super thin layer or epoxy ,leave it harden and then put the glass-epoxy. that way the wood does not saturate too much with epoxy. The kayaks with wood weigths normaly around 20kg . The last that i made was 20,5kg and was a 5,5m long with a wooden core 4-5mm
Thanks! I'm not distributing plans for this one, only 'cuz I re-designed it and am working on building version 2 right now! If the changes work out, then I'll probably make plans for the second version available :-)
Congratulations on your effort and dedication resulting in a wonderful craft! As others have noted about the weight, I wonder how much weight could have been saved by using vacuum bagging technique. Two thumbs up!!
Probably a couple kgs could have been saved, but I don't have the means to invest in all the other supplies needed for the vacuum process... What really would have saved some weight was warming up the epoxy a bit more to reduce its viscosity (lessons learned for building version 2!)
None at all would be saved.... he added a fill coat after, so whatever losses were had would be offset by filling the weave. It'd be lighter without paint too, but both those things likely ended up with a smoother and more hydrodynamically slippery hull
I am interested in plans as well. I have built several SOF, & Stitch kayaks, but not a strip. I have been looking for something exactly like this to play around with, a Ski that you sit in. Your design looks like it fits the bill, can't wait to see generation 2. I personally think you did a fantastic job. A natural wood version would look nice, but the white stands out as well. What is the rough length, width for the next one?
I took a bit of length and width off for version 2, it's coming out ~5.6 m length and 45 cm width. Shorter = the build process fits better in my garage! Also saves weight, and should actually increase the speed with less wetted surface area
Beautiful, I'd left the nice wood pattern shine through, but it's your boat, so you're entitled to paint it, if you like it that way ... how much does it weigh in ?
length equals speed up to a certain point. The surf ski's shown at the end of video are all around 620cm in length. To keep up you need a fast kayak as well as good paddling technique which I think he has nailed
very nice boat, as mentioned by others why did you 'paint' it, the wood look is so good. But I was wondering about a design feature, why is the bottom so flat till the end? A rounded of back end is faster and the stability comes from the flat part under the cockpit.
Regarding the hull design- true, but then it would be similar to just about every other surfski out there! In flatwater this design (with the planing surface extended all the way to the stern) is a bit slower, but at speed on a wave the "lift" from the hull planing is pretty similar to other surfskis I've paddled.
Great build, great vid, thanks for sharing! Gorgeous boat, and I’m okay with the paint job, LOL. Why did you decide to use Paulownia instead of something local like Western red cedar? Were the strips 1/4” thick?
Great Video and beautiful boat! Can you tell me a bit about the design process? What software did you use? Do you have experience designing hulls / boats? Did you use the software to create the forms? Thanks!
Are there plans available for this exact boat or is this your own design? I have built strip boats in the past and have been wanting to build a surfski style strip kayak for a long time. This design is exactly what I had in mind!
S glass is significantly more expensive (~$15 US per yard vs $4) and harder to work with- for a first build I didn't want to add in any un-necessary difficulties if I didn't have to.... Using S glass for the second one though!
This is your FIRST????? I’m staggered - we’ll impressed. I’m on my second boat and I can say that S-glass is lovely to work with - just don’t crease it. Wets out beautifully with MAS low viscosity resin.
Amazing build! So much attention to detail. How did you consolidate the inside carbon lip on the coaming? I've been wondering how to do that, I'm planning on starting a build soon.
I cut ~2" wide bias strips from the cloth I had, and pre-wetted the cloth and inner lip with epoxy before carefully pressing the carbon into place. There was a little bit of fraying that left a ragged edge on the deck- but that got covered up with the paint!
I'd have to rip some pretty thin strips of marine ply to fit the shape of the boat in some places, plus I was able to purchase the paulownia pre-milled. I'm working with 3/16" paulownia for the current build, might even go 1/8" for a really light sprint K1 build in the future
I suppose my handle led me here, and I was a boat builder for ~25 years. Looks pretty, and probably fast, but I suspect it was a little heavier than you expected. BTW, how did that PVA hold up?
Love it! It did come out a little heavier (by about 3-4 kg), I definitely over-built parts of it. I'm building the second version now, a lot of work-flow and material changes should make for a much lighter boat!
@@kayakphd I've never built a kayak, and maybe using a water resistant glue (a PVA, such as Titebond) rather than a waterproof glue approved for under the waterline boat building is OK for a boat that spends limited time in the water, dunno. Last time I checked the only glues permitted, or sensible, under the waterline were 100% solids epoxies such as WEST and Resorcinol, and possibly some difficult to find Urea Formaldehydes. Resorcinol is out because kick times can be short and inflexible, epoxies would work, but I'd only use the slow kick versions. I'd love to hear how the PVA glue holds up. I also vote for a bright finnish, perhaps some clear Western Red Cedar? For a top coat/sealant I'd use some veil and WEST says they have flowcoat that stays clear, or perhaps skip the cloth/epoxy and go with a 2K urethane such as General Finishes Conversion Varnish -- tricky to learn but awesome stuff. In either case I'd go with an epoxy glue, but that's just me, what do I know? And perhaps I don't understand how you will use it, maybe you race it? Then lightness and controlled stiffness are priorities. If you like the form, splash a primary mold from it, make a plug, tweak to your liking, make a mold suitable for crush molding, then crush some carbon/honeycomb/carbon into it and have fun.
@@ChimeraActual I'm pretty sure that Nick Schade uses Titebond 3 so it's been well tested. Epoxies just aren't practical for strip planking due to setting time. I just had a look at a guys strip planked Guillemont kayak that was his first ever build and although it looked fantastic from a distance, once you had a close look the flaws became more obvious. Perhaps I noticed the flaws because i make thing's but I can understand nott wanting to put the flaws on display. The paint job looks great!
@@geoffsemon7411 I wasn't trying to be critical, I'm just curious how that glue holds up in what must be a damp environment. Perhaps I shouldn't have wasted my money on epoxy... I never built a kayak, but I did build a stripper windsurfer ca. 1980, with epoxy. It came out OK, but was heavier than I wanted. I don't recall having any real problems gluing it up. One reason you might consider epoxy is that required clamping pressures are lower. Yeah, a second one would have looked better.
@@ChimeraActual I didn’t think you were being critical at all. I have yet to build a strip plank kayak myself either but it’s on my list! I have watched most of Nick Schades videos though 😊. I do build end grain cutting boards and titebond 3 is the best glue for this and cutting boards see a lot of water and hold up fine. Not so good in dishwashers though 🤣
