I am a 6ft 1 and 265lb and looking for a wood kayak. I have limited storage space and I am a recreational paddler and paddle small rivers and creeks. A 15 foot boat is all I can store. Any suggestions? Thanks, Barry
to build or buy?
– Last Updated: Jun-06-10 9:58 PM EST –
Must be to build, since there are relatively few complete wood boats on the market. Start here, if you haven't already.
pygmyboats.com - Penguino, maybe
clcboats.com - Wood Duck, several others
Ah, Wood Duck 14 looks like a good candidate.
http://www.clcboats.com/shop/boats/kayak-kits/recreational-kayaks/wood-duck-14-recreational-kayak-kit.html
Most of those are shorter than 15 ft, but, take a look.
Building board
http://www.kayakforum.com/KayakBuilding/index.shtml
A great resource for building and boat info.
Wood Duck 14
I saw a Wood Duck 14 on Saturday - it’s a nice big boat that should suit you. It is quite wide, but you’ll need some beam to deal with your required displacement in a boat under 15 feet. CLC also has the Mill Creek 13, although its capacity is less.
Call CLC and Pygmy.
They will be happy to help.
AT 14
I would highly recommend the Arctic Tern 14 kit. It’s amazingly strong, light, and easy to build since it’s a single chine boat. I recently built the 17’ version and have been very impressed with the stability and performance compared to my previous sea kayaks. The crazy thing is that the 14’ version actually cruises at 4 kts with less effort due to a lower wetted surface and there was recent article (SeaKayaker mag I think) on how maneuverable and surf-able the AT-14 was. Anther great forum that helped me in building my boat was WestCoastPaddler.com - here’s someone building the AT-14: http://www.westcoastpaddler.com/building/thumbnails.php?album=8
Tern 14
Anything over 160lbs. the Tern 14 starts suffering. Not saying it won’t take a little more weight.
15 ft wood kayak
Thanks all, for the help. I will call CLC and Pygmy in the moning. Barry
website
– Last Updated: Jun-08-10 8:04 PM EST –
I hope you intend to finish the website. As it is, you're doing yourself a disservice.
In addition to being incomplete, it looks like it was built from a Microsoft template. Which it was.
The biggest problem of all is that the nav links don't function at all in my versions of Firefox and Konqueror. They do work in IE, but IE continues to lose market share. Depending on whose stats you trust, IE may be less than 50% of all web users. Here's the first link I looked at in a Google search on "web browser market share" that shows IE with just 40%.
http://safalra.com/website/web-browser-market-share/
Oops that was from 2008, and I don't trust that IE was that low, then.
Here's the Wikipedia page that shows IE at a smidge over 50%.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usage_share_of_web_browsers
Your hull design?
It’s clear you do nice woodwork, and can customize it to your clients. But are you designing the hull as well, or are you adapting someone else’s? Either way is fine, of course. In fact, if you’re not a naval architect, it’s perfectly reasonable to use someone else’s proven design. It would be useful for you to explain what type of water these hulls are designed to operate on.
Software for kayaks
– Last Updated: Jun-09-10 8:08 AM EST –
I have software for designing and building wood kayaks. I have successfully designed / built and proven four designs. As for the web site it is new. and yes it is temporary. I am a master craftsman not a web site designer It needs work I know.
The hulls I have built, are 14', 15', 16' and 17'8" the first two are for a smaller person up to 150lbs and the latter are designed for a larger up to 250 lb person with room for 50 lbs of gear also. So what kind of water do you want to use it on? What is the use? Play, rolling,racing, day trips or extended stay, How much stability do you want. How much room do you need? what size cockpit opening? I will design one for your needs it will be the perfect boat for you!
website if fine
I’m a web/multimedia designer who recently built his first wood/fiberglass kayak and I have to say your site works fine in all the recent versions of IE, Firefox, and Chrome, which covers the biggest share of browsers today. No worries using the free MS template - as I am not a wood worker / naval architect and would be out of my element if I hadn’t built my boat from a pre-cut pygmy kit. I would suggest template monster if you want a very pro-looking custom site without the custom price.
As far as kayak building, I’m looking to build a sof yostwerks.com Sea Rider style boat, but with the hull custom made for my height/weight. Did you use software from Kayak foundry (http://www.blueheronkayaks.com/kayak/software/software.htm) and if so, how good was it? Thanks.