Thread: Greenland style kayak, skin boat

Ya know what would be really cool to cover it with.
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Cleer heatshrink plastic

Or even better...... ROSCO Shrink mirror......its a mirror finish heat shrinkable plastic.........It wouldn't be sea worthy. but hell you could hang it as a mirror ball



cheers

Soundman,

Check out the following site -

http://yostwerks.com/DesignsMenuWood.html

(you may have to cut & paste, not sure if link works).

Chris has designed some great kayaks, and done a few covered in clear vinyl (or something). They look sensational...and you could see the fish

Regards,
Darren

Tom Yost is a bit of a Legend. He has recnetly added instructions for non- folding kayaks. Wish I had them when I did this one. Fabric courtesy of Spotlight- $22/m from memory, so kind of expensive for a skin that you need to be so careful of

James

Great Kayak James

What's the actual material you used? And how fragile is it? And one more...what sort of timber did you use?

Thanks for the correction too...it's Tom, not Chris Yost So much for doing it from memory.

Regards,
Darren

very funky, but it would be a sauna inside one of those in our climate

cheers

TK1

the material is tablecloth vinyl from Spotlight. It is not very durable and I ended up with some small tears after a rocky landing at Noosa. Just patched it up with clear tape from our local camping place. I probably should have glued on some more robust fabric "keelstrips".

Another problem I found is that like Soundman I live in SE Qld. Although the boat is no hotter to paddle than any of my regular kayaks, the clear skin shows off any mold inside the boat very well. I am hoping to launch a rolling kayak this afternoon and have skinned it in builders plastic and duct tape to test it out. I am planning on ordering polyester skin from Dustcotech in Brisbane for the rolling boat once I am happy with the fitting etc. I spoke with Emily in sales last week and they have some suitable product, unfortunately it is $30/ Metre

The timber in both these boats is a mix of hoop pine, slash pine and some pine pallets I got for free (deck beams and ribs). the hardest part for me was locating the 17 foot clear timber for the stringers and gunwales. I would like to use WRC for the next boat to cut the weight. even so it is a very manageable 1 person lift onto our 4wd.

regards,

James

Originally Posted by yjnb

I am hoping to launch a rolling kayak this afternoon and have skinned it in builders plastic and duct tape to test it out.

Aren't you worried that it will tear if you bump some driftwood or a wave dumps on you? I suppose if you always had your duct tape handy...

prozac

Hi Tunahound,

Nice kayak. I’m jealous!! I’m up to the rib stage. I tried Tassie Oak with no luck after soaking for 3 days and steaming. Do you have any suggestions on wood selection and where to get it?

Cheers
Tony