The VK Sure Does
Sealed bulkheads fore and aft - both sides of each bedded in a good thickened epoxy fillet. Either chamber can float the boat, which is, after all, made of wood. The high-peaked deck helps, too- the VK floats very high when flipped, and drains quickly and easily when the bow is lifted.
Hatches and Bulkheads
Pygmy sells its hatch/bulkheads separate from their full kits so this will add on some additional time to the build. A little trimming may be required to get the bulkheads to fit snugly. After that, it’s just a matter of glass taping them in.
They also offer a sea sock option if you decide you don’t want to go that route.
Hullarious
I like the idea of a kit boat. But as for building a head-turner the first time out, I’m not so sure. I know my second boat would be better than the first though 
Glassing seems to be an art that could really make it or break it. Did anyone do a practice surfboard first or do some bodywork their car to get the hang of it first?
Also what about hatches? Someone up there said I could build hatches out of scrap. Advice?
not an art
think of it as making a thanksgiving dinner for the first time using a recipe book. It’s been done by others.
thanks
I was wondering about that… i have the pygmy book on stitch and glue… and the guillemot book on strip building, but they dont make a big deal of that aspect. To me, the hatches and the built in flotation are a big deal… a nice and wonderful deal. I have thought many a time about building my own,but that aspect has sort of deterred me. I want my actual paddling to be simple, and my building to be satisfying. I am glad to see that building a boat with bulkheads and hatches (satisfying) can lead to simple paddling (not having to worry about flotation). So. people who built their own boats… what approach did you take? thanks!
badjer
thanks
I was wondering about that… i have the pygmy book on stitch and glue… and the guillemot book on strip building, but they dont make a big deal of that aspect. To me, the hatches and the built in flotation are a big deal… a nice and wonderful deal. I have thought many a time about building my own,but that aspect has sort of deterred me. I want my actual paddling to be simple, and my building to be satisfying. I am glad to see that building a boat with bulkheads and hatches (satisfying) can lead to simple paddling (not having to worry about flotation). So. people who built their own boats… what approach did you take? thanks!
badjer
thanks
I was wondering about that… i have the pygmy book on stitch and glue… and the guillemot book on strip building, but they dont make a big deal of that aspect. To me, the hatches and the built in flotation are a big deal… a nice and wonderful deal. I have thought many a time about building my own,but that aspect has sort of deterred me. I want my actual paddling to be simple, and my building to be satisfying. I am glad to see that building a boat with bulkheads and hatches (satisfying) can lead to simple paddling (not having to worry about flotation). So. people who built their own boats… what approach did you take? thanks!
badjer
The downside to kayak kit building
– Last Updated: Sep-21-05 3:05 AM EST –
Well to begin, I am a woodworker who likes to kayak, and I thought it would be nice to blend the two hobbies together, so I bought a kit from Pygmy. to be fair....Pygmy is a great company who sells good plans with good directions. What happened was just my bad luck and failure to read and understand the directions.
I thought I read the directions correctly but being a woodworker, I tend to always deviate just a little from the directions.
1. While stitching the hull together, I managed to stich the bottoms upside down and I couldn't figure out why the hull seemed stessed out of shape. (I had to unstich and start over)
2. After finally getting the hull right I had a slight twist in the kayak which I didn't notice untill it was to late.
3. I started to fiberglass my kayak when I was called away for a few weeks. When I was able to return I finished fiberglassing but while mixing the epoxy I got the whole mix backwards (I thought I remembered the correct mixture of epoxy but I got it backwards)
4. I didn't know the mixture was backwards and I thought it was the cold weather that was not alowing the epoxy to cure. So I placed heat lamps in the kayak which caused the uncured syrupy epoxy mixture to bleed and drip everywhere.
5. this created a big mess of gummy uncured epoxy that took forever to scrape off with a putty knife and it was so gummy I had to use another putty knife just to scrape the uncured epoxy from my first putty knife.
6. I tried to sand the drips of uncured epoxy off of the kayak but it just stuck to the orbital sander pad and gummed it up within seconds.
7. I finally got all the uncured epoxy off to a point, but there was still spots on the hull that looked blotchy.
8. Well to make a long story short, the kayak looked terrible, I have it hanging in my workshop and I need to complete it, but I afraid to get it into the water because I don't know how waterproof it will be with some of the uncured epoxy still in the joints. Also I am afraid of hitting any thing solid in the water like a rock which might cause the kayak to separate because of some uncured epoxy.
So I have this unfinished ugly $750 kayak in my shop that I am trying to ignore and I have no idea if I will ever finish it.
SO read those directions and read them again especially about the right mixture of epoxy.
Richard
cut once, measure twice
mix a lot,measure five times. A lot of cure errors are lack of thorough mixing and wrong mix ratios. Deviating from instructions when you are familiar with the process is fine,deviating from a process you are learning,makes for a lot of learning.
no big deal
because it’s not. You build them. Or don’t and put in float bags. Flush hatches work great. Flush hatches on paneled decks or strip decks are easier to make than flush hatches on decks like the CLC kayaks where the deck is bent and the cut-out deck piece used to make the hatch wants to spring back.
My preference is a flush hatch with “dogs” or levers that rotate over the hatch to hold it down.
Go to the CLC site and look at pictures of the Arctic Hawk.
Fastec buckles are common but aren’t optimum,they require substantial finger strength in some applications and can break if grapped in a rescue, the flip lever straps on Current Designs and Pygmy hatches require safetys that prevent the lever from flipping over accidentally.
depends on what you want
Lots of times builders want marine plywood but do not access to it locally. That’s where haqving a kit makes sense because often by the time you pay for shipping of full sheets of plywood, you could have gotten the kit pre-cut and saved from shipping smaller pieces.
That’s what has prompted me to start setting up pre-cut kits.
It’s amazingly easy
I had no experience or fine woodworking skills (although I had used a chainsaw in the past), and my boat turned out quite well, and I was very pleased. It does turn heads – everywhere I go with it, people offer positive comments. Yes, there are a few things on it that could have been done better, but overall, I couldn’t be happier – it’s a fantastic boat.
I jumped right in and did every step of the process without any “practice” (including the glassing) – the manual explains very clearly how to do each step – carefully follow the manual and you shouldn’t have any problems.
My boat has hatches – I believe that they are a good thing. They weren’t difficult to install, although they did add a bit of time to the built. You could make them out of scrap pieces, but if you purchase a kit, it’s unlikely that you’ll have any scrap – the pieces are all cut exactly to the required shapes and sizes. If you get a Pygmy kit, I highly recommend the hatch and bulkhead kit – it’s got everything that you need (including all the hardware), and it doesn’t cost a great deal.
You’ll be amazed at how easy the kayak kit process is and at the results that you can achieve with a few simple hand tools, even without having any previous woodworking experience.
Dan
http://www.westcoastpaddler.com
Like Lee said , FG is no place for
creativity. Read, understand, and follow the directions to the letter and you will be fine. And vinegar gets uncured epoxy off your tools and hands without killing you.
good argument for…
building something cheap and simple at first.
Stitch & glue mailbox?(nm)
Pics of first effort
http://www.pcez.com/~miklos/kayak/done01.jpg
http://www.pcez.com/~miklos/kayak/done02.jpg
http://www.pcez.com/~miklos/kayak/done03.jpg
http://www.pcez.com/~miklos/kayak/done04.jpg
http://www.pcez.com/~miklos/kayak/done05.jpg
http://www.pcez.com/~miklos/kayak/done06.jpg
http://www.pcez.com/~miklos/kayak/done07.jpg
http://www.pcez.com/~miklos/kayak/done08.jpg
http://www.pcez.com/~miklos/kayak/done09.jpg
http://www.pcez.com/~miklos/kayak/done10.jpg
http://www.pcez.com/~miklos/kayak/kayak11.jpg
http://www.pcez.com/~miklos/kayak/kayak12.jpg
http://www.pcez.com/~miklos/kayak/kayak15.jpg
Yeah… but can you ROLL it?
Just kidding…
Beautiful work… when I’m ready to move to a new boat I’m going to seriously consider this option… It will be a while but the wooden boats are just great-looking.
Not specific to Pygmy
People go nuts over ANY wood kayak.
Bad assumption!
It is very common for builders to ask $2000 or more for their wood kayak. It is not common for them to get anywhere near that, unless they are “name” builders.
Guy in my area built a strip kayak. The designer of that model gets something like $8000 for his, built by him. So this guy tries to sell it for around $2800 or whatever. (People who have seen the kayak say it looks good–no obvious flaws.) No go. Months later he drops the asking price to an “emergency sale price” ($1800, if I remember correctly). A year later it was still on sale, further reduced to $1200.
S&G kayaks get even less. Someone here was advertising a CLC for only $600. A friend’s buddy just bought two Pygmy’s for $60 EACH.
You get the idea.
If you read the kayakbuilding forum you’ll see the responses to people thinking they will make money by building a kayak. Basically, they are politely laughed at and encouraged to build the kayak…IF they want to keep it for themselves to paddle.
Second one would be better
– Last Updated: Sep-21-05 3:49 PM EST –
Having built one, I almost felt like jumping in and building another one right away, just to see if I could do it perfectly now that I had learned from my mistakes.
But I am more of a paddler than a builder, so I did not. Doesn't matter--the kayak is a head-turner anyway. I don't think there has been even one time I've gone out when somebody didn't stop by to admire it, flaws and all.
The thing is, until you actually build one, you don't even SEE flaws in other people's wood kayaks--you just want one! I remember looking at two newbie-built Pygmy kayaks and drooling over them. Never mind the unfeathered, lumpy "sacrificial keel strip" that they had done a really awful job on. I barely noticed it even though the builder pointed it out to me. But once you have built one yourself, you think YOUR flaws are horribly obvious to others.
And it really doesn't matter anyway, as long as you make the thing structurally sound. Mine tracks straight, carves well, and is watertight. I made the typical newbie mistake of using too much epoxy, so it weighs the same as a glass boat of the same length/beam. But that's not too bad considering it cost less than half the price of one to build it, even adding in the cost of tools I didn't have at first.
BTW, the woodworking part is a piece of cake, if you are building from a kit. The tough part is the glassing/epoxying. Especially working on the inside of the kayak, where access can be a nightmare. The good part is that you get to practice on the interior first, before doing the part that people see!
Here's a pic:
http://www.geocities.com/pikabike/Windbreak.jpg
