Definitely think
A dedicated build area is a mandate.
Add to that resist the temptation to ‘overkill’ on epoxy add ons and glass. It’s ‘real easy’ to turn a 39lb boat into a 50lb one(or heavier) and thereby negate half the reason for the build.
If I were going to do another it would be from plans. I definitely want something that rides lower.
SnG from plans.
I’ve been building a stitch and glue kayak from plans and it’s my first build. The design is a ‘Point Bennett’ 17.5ft kayak and the plans are generously issued free on the net. It’s been a learning curve and fulfilling experience so far. Just attatched the deck and hull and have been running a photo blog @
http://community.webshots.com/user/kayaknoosa
Tony
A Few…
In the 80’s built an 18’ “International A Class” sailing cat from plans. More recently two Tern 14s and finished half of a Tern 17. If I find the room I will do a stripper next. Brasil is supposed to bring his Night Heron by and that may give me incentive to find the room.
Very satisfying building your own boat.
several boats
i started by making parts for sailing canoes (leeboards, leeboard thwarts, rudders etc). then i built several bolger inspired sharpie style sailboats including an 8’ pram, plywood windsurfer, 14’ and 16’ skiffs. i have more recently built two custom s&g kayaks. i have built many many scale model boats , some are historic, some from plans, some original designs. i am now most interested in sailing canoes (again). i have recently built several outrigger canoe models based on gary dierking’s excellent book and designs. i’m not sure what sailing canoe will come of it but i’m experiencing the urge to build something. again : )
One Ocean Kayaks Cape Ann
was may first. I am currently building a Storm SLT for my daughter. There is nothing like paddling a boat that you built yourself.
Cheers, Gary
http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k81/gkvasnicka/GastonKayak.jpg
S&G’s and strippers
I think our favorite so far is a 17’ version of Jay Babina’s Outer Island. We built it from western red cedar grown and milled in our area and my husband hand cut and beveled each strip. (We did, however, use Brazilian red cherry for accent)
I am primarily the fiberglass queen but help with the stripping and resin, too. 
Not bad
Not as nice as my Romany, but not bad. When I was testing the design, the original stern tended to broach a bit, but the new stern removed that trait. It’s a pretty fun boat that favored tracking over turning. You really had to get some lean into it to get it to turn quickly. Felt a lot like a fast Explorer with more secondary.
A prototype of the revised Siskiwit LV is being built, so I should have reports about the changes I made. After I finish the Iggy, I’ll build a canoe and then the Siskiwit LV, and then another canoe (Freedom Solo).
Lots of fun building stuff.
3 so far
I started with a Cirrus Lt, then a 90% version of an Outer Island and one of my own design which so far is my favorite. I also built a skin on frame inspired cargo kayak for towing camping gear. Now I just have to decide what to build next.
My Pax 18 is my rough…
– Last Updated: Dec-09-07 7:53 PM EST –
...water boat. With a little bit of rocker, 21" beam and the flared chines she is quite seaworthy. This is as much in the secondary as the primary.
However the alternatives that I am comfortable paddling in chop have 18" and 16" beams.
Not sure if this is transferable to the Pax20, a lot may also be are you physically big enough to get the 20 down in the water, seat height and your definition of stable.
Stephen
PS... to the original poster. Four S&G's and one strip built. The strip forms give more control over final shape but more time consuming, still a very enjoyable build.
Two and counting…
Started out with a Nick Schade Night Heron and finished a Bjorn Thomasson designed Hunter this past summer, both in wood strip.
I can’t describe how enjoyable it is to paddle a kayak that you built and outfitted yourself. It allows you to customize everything, from how and where you place your feet to the cockpit size and shape.
I also build my own Greenland paddles too!
Tripp
Patuxent is not the same as Pax
– Last Updated: Dec-10-07 9:44 AM EST –
It's kind of funny that the Paxs are meant to be improvements on Patuxents. They're both dart throw designs without racing experience in the design.
The Pax20 has a vertical wave piercing bow, it doesn't have "Substantial flare is worked into the stem and stern above the waterline to gain buoyancy for work in waves" because the construction method using pre-glued sheerclamps PREVENT flare from being developed at the ends. This is an inherent achilles heel in the original CLC designs. If you cannot develop a full bow it WILL bury when levered by the stern being raised. The alternaive is to introduce rocker and a higher freeboard but there's a limit as to how much freeboard can occur in the bow without the "trademark CLC look" one piece deck folding. Which is how the Betsy Bay and Arctic Hawk solved this limit. Later computer designed kayaks solved this issue with paneled decks. This characteristic has been with the CapeCharles/Patuxents and Chesapeaks. The Patuxent 17 I made had heinous bow burying in S.F.Bay conditions. Worse than the Cape Charles. The Chesapeakes improved on this attribute a bit but primarily by increasing total hull volume. The higher volume Chesapeake will dig by the bow and broach quicker than the lower volume Shearwater or Arctic Hawk.
So, the result is that in the narrow designs with stiff side panels from 3/4"cheerclamps pre-glued on 4mm side panels the characterisic of the bow sticking and abrupt broaching becomes more significant. Moreso with a tall vertical bow like the Pax20.
To get an idea of what I"m talking about look at the first 18" of the CD Caribou, it started as a plywood design with bent one piece deck like the Chesapeakes. The hull shape of the bottom and side panels at the ends on the original plywood version are impossible with stiff pre-glued sheerclamps. The way the bottom panels flare out can only happen with 4mm and frames, not 4mm with another 3/4" of wood glued on. The Paxs were CLCs first experience with forming bulkheads in four panels. The WR18 was the first experience in forming bulkheads with an eight panel hull.
On flat water it's not an issue. In waves above the height of the bow it's an issue.
If a person wanted a fast kayak for waves the s&g Night Heron would make a lot more sense.
getting sensitzed to epoxy
CLC Patuxent 17
Pygmy GE13
15’ pirogue
CLC MillCreek13
CLC Ch16 (side panels cut down 1/2")
CLC Ch16
CLC NorthBay
Pygmy Coho
CLC Ch18
CLC Pax20 prototype
own design 18’x21" four panel s&g
Shearwater Merganser 16,18,17W
Pygmy
Arctic Tern 14 and a Coho.
Built them both 6 years ago. Still have the Tern.
Starting #5 soon
Built so far:
Chesapeake 17
Greenland skin on frame
Baidarka skin on frame
Pygmy Tern 14 (for the lady)
Thinking about a Petrel for the next project…
Alan
LeeG
Tell me more about the CLC Pax20. I’m considering one for extended day trips of around 30 miles. (need something that will fly!!)
it’s long and skinny
long and skinny can be paddled faster than short and fat.
extended day trips in what conditions?
The problem as I see it with the Pax20 is that in waves above a foot the wave piercing bow will cause handling problems with waves from aft.
It has a skeg,skegs are for sea kayaks that weathercock. It really doesn’t weathercock, as much as it pivots from the bow in waves. The area of the skeg and it’s distance from the paddler is much, much smaller than the area of the bow and it’s longer distance from the paddler.
In other words the skeg can’t correct for the shape of the bow. If you look at a surfski or racing kayak with a sharp entry you’ll see that the hull immediately widens up into a canoe body. The Pax20 doesn’t. It can’t because it’s got four panels, little rocker and the stiff side panels don’t allow for flare in the ends. Getting a superlong and skinny hull then cutting the ends off isn’t the same as the compound hull shape of a plumb bow racing hull. The volume in the bow isn’t sufficient to change the steering effect of the hull shape. So paddling along in 1’ waves the bow will go straight into the wave with NO lifting in the first foot. That first 18" presents a very strong pivot point, that should be in the stern more than the bow.
This isn’t to say you couldn’t paddle it fast in 30mile day trips. It’s like using a fixed gear bicycle for fast day trips. If you’re strong and fit you could do it. But once you hit hills and wind the design would show it’s limitations.
If I was going to spend $1000 and a couple hundred hours making a RACING kayak I’d want something designed by someone who’s raced kayaks.
Nick Schade being a good example.
Thanks
That pretty much says it all.
Hatches in Pax’s
The Pax’s have really tortured front decks and use a king plank to reinforce the curve. If you tried to cut a hatch in the front deck there would be all kinds of distortions that would be difficult to get back under control once you had the hole.
On my Pax18 that I built five years ago, I have a deck plate in the front bulkhead for minimal access but it really isn’t any good for storage. The rear deck is very flat and I have two hatches, one in between the cockpit bulkhead and the second hidden support bulkhead, this I use for day trip supplies. The second hatch further back is mostly there for skeg access.
Overall, even if the paddling characteristics were desirable for longer trips (which LeeG makes some good points on), the storage room would be quite limitting.
After enjoying the Pax18 for a couple of years racing, I built a Nick Schade design stripper, the Mystery scaled down to my smaller physique. I use the Pax18 in the early spring when water is cold and sometimes choppy and, despite wearing neoprene, am not going out of my way to practice survival skills.
The Pax18 was part of the evolution and has been surpassed by better designs.
Stephen
hatches
– Last Updated: Dec-10-07 9:01 PM EST –
that was something that wasn't forseen at the time, that some citizen racing events would require bulkheads AND deck hatches to qualify.
Re. the VCP hatch, did you have any problem with the deck cracking around the VCP hatch or along the narrow ribs? I was surprised to see one develop them just from the effort of removing the VCP hatch. If the skeg is replaced with an off the stern rudder you'd eliminate the need for the VCP hatch. The hull really doesn't need a skeg, it goes straight and doesn't weathercock.
The Pax 20 actually doesn't need the kingplank,,but it got one so it would look like the Pax18 and the Pax 18 got a skeg even though it doesn't need one so it could look like the Pax18. On the Pax20 page you can see a black hull without a kingplank and a white one with one. It was the Pax18 that actually required the kingplank.
I saw Nicks Mystere at a boat show,,wow, it looks slick
Planning for #4
Currently planning number 4, and, well, just to prove its a disease…also number 5…
First was Pygmy Arctic Tern Hi from a kit.
Then a self designed stripper, 15’ long
http://miklos.myphotoalbum.com/view_photo.php?set_albumName=album08&id=is_01204
Then a 17’6" self designed stripper
http://miklos.myphotoalbum.com/view_photo.php?set_albumName=album03&id=KF_RM_175_1
Next may be a self designed s&g, then another stripper that is already designed…