My first kayak was a Granta kit, a stitch-and-glue double that I converted into a single when it became clear that my better half preferred terra firma. I made a half-hearted attempt to make the conversion "nice" looking, but I'm no craftsman, and have no real interest in having a finely-finished boat. Utility, strength,and quickness of construction are what govern my boat-building.

I built my version of a sail-rigged Barnegat Bay sneakbox, also using stitch-and glue, working from some sketches in L. Francis Herreshoff's classic book, The Compleat Cruiser. It turned out well, and I sailed it a few times, but every time I went out, I found myself saying--I could be kayaking now! Boat has sat in the garage for years.

My current Spring-Summer-Autumn kayak started out as the plans for the CLC Patuxent 17, a now-extinct stitch-and-glue hard-chine boat, 17', with a 22-inch beam. I built the hull to their plans, but designed my own deck and cockpit. This was in 1995. After sealing everything in epoxy, I then painted the boat with ordinary enamel, mostly cherry-red, with part of the hull bright yellow. I've since added a permanent oak skeg, and a Perception rudder with a pivoting T-bar foot control. My level of finish remains rudimentary, but the boat is strong, and, to me, beautiful, and it has been my faithful companion now for 13 years and hundreds of trips. The practicality of a painted stitch-and-glue kayak became obvious when I was hit by a powerboat in 2005 (83-year-old man was trying to figure out how his GPS worked, and not looking where he was going), and a huge chunk was ripped out of the stern section of my boat, like a Great White had taken a BIG bite. It was easy to just cut out the ragged plywood and fill in with new panels, and then get out the paint cans.

With a painted wood boat, you can add, modify, or take away anything you like. I've added decklines, bungees, a compass mount, and any other fittings I've needed. I'm too cheap to invest in a store-bought boat, and too lazy and undisciplined to work up a high-finish kit or homebuilt, and the painted wooden kayak is thus perfect for me. I've never seen another.

Carl W (Strange Magic)

Its not the only painted wooden kayak, although they are a rare breed. I have seen a painted kayak. The finish was of a very high quality (it looked like new fiberglass ) and was beautiful. My own boat is varnished but I can forsee a future date when I am to old or lazy to varnish and the epoxy has turned milky from too much sun and too little UV inhibitors in the varnish. At that point I may paint my boat.

Another thought regarding wooden kayaks: if you go back to the General Sea Kayaking forum on this site, to 4/26/07, you'll come across Adam Bolonsky's post titled "Decklines on Wooden Kayaks?". There, he discusses the safety consequences of the fact that almost all wooden kayaks do not have decklines (Many other kayaks don't have decklines either, these days.) Putting decklines on my painted boat was a no-brainer.

To all who have wooden boats and don't like the tedious job of varnishing, there is a product that is much easier to use and in my opinion produces a better result. It's called water based polyurethane. It comes in an outdoor version with UV inhibitors and it does not amber. It dries in about five minutes, so dust settling is not a problem. It also is available in gloss, semi-gloss and satin.

I am a woodworker and have been for more years than I want to think about. Over the years, I have tried many, many different types of finishes. Water based polyurethane is the best, easiest, toughest, non-ambering finish I've ever found. In particular, I prefer the Varathane outdoor.

magooch,

Do you have a particular brand of the water based urethane that you like? I have an outdoor varnish project coming up and was planning on using my standard spar varnish but this sounds interesting. I tried using urethane many decade ago while working on tugs and ended up spending a summer scraping it off and resorted to oiling the wood instead. I haven't gone back to urethane again but you've got me interested.

Michael

As I said in my last post, I prefer the Varathane brand, in the outdoor version. I've tried other brands, but Varathane seems to be a little better.

Now, when and if you decide to use a water based urethane, be aware that there could be some grain raising on the initial application. That is not a problem; I just lightly sand the surface with a very fine paper after the second coat. This should be standard proceedure in any finishing process. Not necessarily after the second coat, that's just my preference. Anyway, to get a really nice finish--starting with raw wood--I usually apply about six to eight coats. As I said, I usually sand after the second coat and as needed after succeeding coats.

If this all sounds like too much trouble...well, it isn't. Any finishing job--no matter what you use is more than a single step process. The great advantage of water based urethane is that it dries so fast, so three, or more coats can be applied in one day. Cleaning brushes is simple and not messy. I just wash them out in hot soapy water.

I have applied water based urethane over tung oil, and solvent based finishes and found them to be completely compatable. Of course you still have to prep the surface, ie, sand it smooth and remove dust.

The World's Only Painted Wooden Kayak?

Not by a long shot - the VOLKSKAYAK design, which I build and paddle, is almost always painted, sometimes quite elaborately. Paint's cheap, really easy to apply and maintain, does an excellent job of UV protection (the major factor in epoxy deterioration), and saves the time and aggravation involved in the detailing required for a bright finish.

Richard, I enjoyed looking at your blog--very nicely done. Someday I hope to visit Newfoundland, which you depict so well. Tell us some more about the Volkskayak--specs, origin, etc. Hooray for painted wooden kayaks (even though I no longer have mine)!

Thanks re the blog - hope to get it more active in the near future. This place (Newfoundland) is so incredibly beautiful that there's really no excuse for not doing it...

Re the VOLKSKAYAK - Nova Scotia's Gerry Gladwin designed the VK to be a capable sea kayak to be home-built by folks with limited skills, tools, time and money. It is 17' LOA, 25" beam (we mod to 23"), fore-and-aft bulkheads, weighs 40-45 lbs. Uses 4mm marine ply/epoxy stitch-and-glue construction technique. If there's a simpler way to build a good coastal cruising sea kayak, I haven't seen it...my first VK, the RightWind, is now ten years old, and part from some cosmetic touchups over the years, it hasn't needed a lick of repair...

If you want to see the pinnacle of painted VK art, check out the KatYak on the second page of Ballyhack Point...

I have painted mine also. I like it.

http://www.kajakki.net/kuvat.html


Almost the last kayak in this site.

"SeaUlater": length 565cm, width 55cm, 6mm six block,
160gr glass fiber + epoxy 1-2layers, fixed the rudder of rubber,
epoxy paint on the bottom, cover with spray paint and varnish.
Built in Turku in 2002.

SeaUlater: nice boat! Was the boat built from a kit, or from plans? And the rudder reminded me of the rudder on my Epic 16X, but it looks more vulnerable to impact. Do you paddle with extra care to avoid striking the rudder on submerged rocks, etc.?

Painted? Of course they are painted, all of them and also decklines are mandatory. They aren't a sea kayak if they don't have decklines and bulkheads. That's 6 plus three kids kayaks. Admittedly the folding one (#7) isn't painted. On the other hand my partner's kayak is varnished. Not sure what she's going to do with the one she's building at present. What ever, it will have decklines.

Also they all have rudders, the later ones fitted with the daggerboard style of rudder, the one that KajakSport a decade later got round to redesigning badly and Sealect a decade after that. Both claim they have patents on something that has been in commercial production long before they started.

Alex

No it's not from a kit. I copied the little drawing picture published by Sea Kayaker Magazines Avalon Viviane rewiew in April 2000!
Just enlarged drawing 10 times larger to get shapes for plywood.

The rudder has two layers of rubber sheet and is flexible enough to paddle without the risk of damage.

The building was guided by Nick Schades book; The Strip-Built Sea Kayak: Three Rugged, Beautiful Boats You Can Build.