Synopses & Reviews
Open-water kayaking is addictive. Most people who try it decide they simply
must have their own kayak--until they check the price of factory-built models. And then they notice that most of them look, well,
plastic. Now there's a remedy to this twin dilemma of overpriced, unaesthetic kayaks:
Wood and Canvas Kayak Building offers all the information and plans you need to build two open-water kayaks--simply, easily, and economically.
Author, Curmudgeon, and sometime Walrus George Putz guides even the most inexperienced woodworker through the whole process of building a 17- or 18 1/2-foot sea kayak evolved from an Inuit design, with plans developed especially for this book by naval architect and canoe and kayak builder Spencer Lincoln.
What you end up with is a light, strong, elegant boat built from no more than $250 worth of readily available materials that will absolutely shame those neon-hued store-bought versions that cost more than a monthly mortgage payment.
"If you've been waiting for a book to guide you in building a kayak, here it is."--The Ensign
"Readers can almost smell the varnish and wood shavings."--Booklist
"Putz takes an unusually holistic approach to the process of building that is both entertaining and wide ranging."--Sea Kayaker
Review
``Give Wood and Canvas Kayak Building a read. First by the fireplace and then page by page in the shop.
Review
``Few writers are as candid or encouraging.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. Space, Tools, and Materials
3. The Parts of a Kayak / Getting Out the Form
4. Uprights, Stems and Knees, Stringers and Chines
5. Floor, Gunwales, Trestlework, and Deck Beams
6. Bottom Canvas, Cockpit Carlins, Deck Stringers, Deck Canvas, and Painting
7. Finish Woodwork, Varnishing, Paddles and Oars
8. Launching and Using Your Kayak / Diseases, Mishaps, and Repairs
9. Final Remarks
Appendix A: "Building Plans of Walrus, Eskimo Kayak," reprinted from The Rudder, June, 1923
Appendix B: Manufacturers and Suppliers of Materials
Index