West Greenland Skin On Frame Kayak

Here it is after the skin was sewn on. It's wetted down so the skin is a little loose. It will tighten up considerably when it drys.

Fore to Aft

Aft to Fore. Since I didn't follow Robert Morris's recommendations, and used a dyed nylon instead of raw nylon the nylon had to be kept wet so that it would stretch. That made it really tough to sew a straight line.

A shot of the front inside.

The cockpit rim.

Again the cockpit rim. After this I coated the nylon with a water based polyurethane.

It is very easy to paddle, but it doesn't have a lot of directional stability. I think I put too much buoyancy aft of the cockpit so the keel fore of the cockpit has more bite in the water than the rear skeg. I could pull the skin off and modify the frame, or just put some ballast aft of the cockpit so that the skeg has more effect. OR, I could just pack some gear on the rear cargo area any time I go paddling.

It also seems a little tender, except when I'm not paying any attention then I don't notice at all, so it probably has more to do with my inexperience in kayaking than a flaw in the boat. I did get capsized by a large boat's wake in Lake Powell. Using a kids arm floatie as a paddle float I was able to self rescue and bail out the water, and continue on my way.

I've placed inflated soda syrup bags in the bow and stern for floatation. They've been in there almost 2 years, and are still inflated enough that the bags are still taut.

Update: The boat seeps. I suspect that the water based polyurethane didn't penetrate all the way through the fabric. She takes on about a gallon of water every 2 hours in the water. Next time, I'll skin the boat with raw nylon, or dacron, and use Oil based poly.

Still, I really like this kayak.