The attached are pictures of the skin on frame kayak I just completed. I started the project last March, but had put it aside to work on some other things. It just got neglected.

I followed the building instructions and plans from Tom Yost at http://yostwerks.com/ which are excellent and even better free. I probably spent 40 hours in the construction of the kayak, the frames are cut out of ½” treated plywood, and the stringers are redwood that I found at the local lumber yard, ripped down to ¾” x ¾” strips for most and a little bigger for the gunwales. The model is the Sea Bee 13. The boat weights less than 30 lbs and is approximately 13 feet long.

The cover material is coverine, or something similar. It is the same material used for tarping semi trailers, and a glue is used to hold it all together. The instructions on the site are excellent.

One variation I did was I used artificial sinew to tie the joints together instead of epoxy. I found the instructions for tying in a video at http://kudzucraft.com/ another excellent site.

The water is a little hard to try and paddle it now, but I’ll give a report on how it does this April.

Nice....... in the grand scheme of things 40 hours is but a drop in the bucket. Your 40 hours were well spent.

I once signed up for a course at North House Folk School to build a greenlandic Inuit yak. Things came up and I had to drop. I regret not building the yak.

Greenlandic Kayak