Very interesting
Perhaps he’ll offer Greenland versions of the Mergansers, too.
wow - thanks!
I’m constantly reminded why this is such a great site.
Thanks everyone for the input. Thanks watersprite for the photos; I’m still considering that model and yours is a beauty, nice job. Thanks to others re: plan options.
Now for a follow up question: is there anyone out there who specializes in cutting the strips from plans?
Might be
I vaguely remember seeing an ad from Midwest, or some company with a similar name. My impression was that they can supply strips and strongbacks. Check the ads in back of Sea Kayaker Magazine, Wavelength, Canoe & Kayak, etc. and give them a call.
pikabike
– Last Updated: Feb-06-06 3:47 PM EST –
...did you end up getting that merganser 16 kit? If so, where did you get it from, and are you happy with it?
strips???
if you are talking about s&g the panels are cut to a specific shape. So you either buy the kit or plans, you can’t buy generic strips of ply and make a s&g kayak.
panels then
I bought the kit in fall of 2003
Finished it spring of 2004. I am happy with it for what it is, but it turns out I am not real wild about the hard chined 4-panel hull, which is what almost all S&G kayaks have. I don’t like the way waves slap against it, even though that hasn’t caused any problems. It might be a matter of my having come from a soft-chined hull in my first sea kayak. I have since bought a medium-chined kayak and like that best of all.
The Merganser kit came with everything needed (except tools), and the boat is fast for its length, carves well, and looks nice despite my newbie builder ineptitude. I chose to use commercial footpegs and rails, plus a commercial backband instead of the included wood subkits. Also, the placement of the thigh brace “ears” was way too forward for me, but I am short. If you build, take that into consideration before you install the piece of wood with the ears on it. I wish I had cut the ears off, because I ended up adding some other thigh braces and now the standard ones look weird as well as being dead weight.
I doubt I’ll build another wood boat again, though. They are high-maintenance (varnish is soft), and there are some great commercial kayaks available. Plus, I’d rather paddle than work with glass and epoxy. Which brings up another point: the woodworking is fairly minimal. It’s the epoxy and glass work that will test you. OTOH, if you like wood’s appearance, you’ll be happy to find how many other people rush over and admire the boat! I also like the boat’s stiff feel (I’m used to plastic).
kits/plans
if you want pre-cut panels check out Shearwater-boats.com otherwise it’s plans or full kits. You won’t find someone other than the designer/manufacturer of a kit selling cut panels.
The CLC Chesapeake and Cape Charles are the only designs that have what you might call a strip side panel where the bottom panels pretty much define the whole hull and the side panels can be almost any shape.
Oh yeah, www.oneoceankayaks.com
A.Hawk/MerganserShearwater17
If you go to this page and look at the lower left photo Laura (6’2",190lb a big girl) is paddling what appears to be a level A.Hawk with about 3" of freeboard.
http://www.clcboats.com/boats/arctichawk_photos.php/cart_id=c5d2c3606013f4e2a754d595dc5c2027/
If you look at the photos of the Merganser/Shearwater17 which what appears to be another big person you’ll see the freeboard at the cockpit is less covering a shorter distance along the sheer.
The Mergansers hull in the water isn’t that big even though there’s a peaked deck with good footroom.
I think this is where the flat decks on a four panel hull can give the illusion of being low volume but really aren’t,the Ch17LT being a good example
thanks
thanks, the night hawk is looking like the ticket. I’d like to start out and learn and then build a beaut - I love those thommassen designs…