Product Description

The definitive handbook for kayak builders.

Kayaks are growing in popularity as a fun, low-impact way to explore the wilderness or paddle on local waters.

Combining easy-to-follow instructions with 472 color photographs, Kayaks You Can Build takes the reader, step-by-step, through the entire construction cycle of building a plywood kayak.

This simple construction process demands neither special skills nor a woodworking shop.

This book includes: - A short history of the kayak - How to choose the right kayak for your needs and skill level - Setting up your work area and how to build a work table and cradle forms - Details of all the necessary tools, materials and supplies - Tricks of the trade from ensuring the boat stays twist-free during construction to laying fiberglass cloth the easy way for a great finish - Minimizing exposure to toxic fumes and dust - How to avoid and correct mistakes.

This book includes day-to-day building journals for the three most popular kayak kits. A typical stitch and glue kayak kit contains pre-cut plywood planks, epoxy and hardware.

Drawing on more than thirty years of boatbuilding and teaching experience, Kayaks You Can Build enables the first-time builder to assemble a kayak with truly professional results.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #150374 in Books
• Brand: Liberty Mountain
• Published on: 2004-08-19
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 256 pages

Customer Reviews

Essential Book for Anyone Doing Stitch and Glue
This book is more complete than the manual that came with the two Chesapeake kayaks I built this year or "The New Kayak Shop" I used to augment the manual. It would not serve as a stand alone as it does not include plans.

However, given plans or a kit this book will provide basic and detailed techniques, and special tricks that will help you build a very good boat. I will read it very carefully before building my next.

The organization makes it especially useful as a reference book. A little over half of it covers the techniques for building and finishing stitch and glue kayaks. The remaining portion is a step by step log of the actual building of Chesapeake Mill Creek, a Pygmy Coho, and a Bear Mountain Enterprise. The Enterprise is a hybrid with a stitch and glue hull and strip built deck.

The authors are very much on appearance rather than performance. There is much detail on varnishing. Note that the three kayaks built here do not have a hatch on the front deck (They didn't want to clutter their beautiful staining and varnishing.)so don't look for guidance on laying out your deck rigging.

This is by far the most complete reference I've seen on this type of boat construction.

Kayaks You Can Build... IF.....
The title of this book implies that you will know how to build a plywood kayak after reading it. However; it only tells you how to proceed after buying a prefabricated kit from one of three suppliers. (One of which was founded by one of the authors)
Nowhere does it give you the dimensions you need to start from scratch and build your own. If you have lots of money and don't mind buying a kit, this book is an excellent reference. But for builders on a budget like myself, I don't recommend buying this book.

Great book, misleading title
I wish I had had this book the first time I built a stitch-and-glue boat. Loads of really good advice and neat tricks. I'm often approached by people after they've seem my boats asking me for advice. This is now the book I'll recommend first to someone who wants to build a kit. As another reviewer noted, this book is really for someone who plans to build from a kit, not from scratch. If its your first time building, I recommend you follow the author's advice and go with a kit - building from scratch, while exciting, is tough the first time around (unless, perhaps, you're a experienced woodworker). I've seen too many scratch built boats that ended up costing about the same as a quality kit - and looked like crap to boot.