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Greenland Kayak
After having built a few boats "on my own", I decided to try something new and novel: to build one by the book. The book in this case being "Building the Greenland Kayak" by Chris Cunningham. There are a lot of good working tips in Chris' book, like this one of using a router to cut the mortises for the ribs.
Shaping the gunwales is one of the things that it's important to get right.
After shaping the gunwales, the deck beams go in. I have since pegged them in, but on this boat they are mortised in.
Next comes the voodoo art of bending the ribs. Actually it's not that big of a deal, but when you first start bending wood, it seems like it is.
Before going to the work and expense of skinning the boat it's a good idea to shrink wrap it and take it for a ride. This will tell you how the balance etc is, and gives you one last chance to "get it right".
Finally the big day comes for the launch. I named this boat "Tombo", which is Japanese for dragonfly.
The Greenland Kayak. Very simple and elegant. A quality craft at a great price - and a project to be proud of.
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