This message was originaly posted to the Kayak Building Bulletin Board is sponsored by Guillemot Kayaks .

Guillemot BBS - a brief history

Posted By: Jack Sanderson <Jack.Sanderson@compaq.com>
Date: Wednesday, 25 August 1999, at 7:05 p.m.
[note: this is a combination of two seperate posts]

I have been following this bulletin board for almost two years now and am always amazed at the little global community that has developed. People from the US, Canada, Australia, Norway, Sweden, and Germany coming together around a common interest in kayaks seems like a great use of the Internet. Many times this board feels like being in a small town where people lend a hand and discuss town politics at the general store. And like the town there is a culture and history that is not always evident to the casual visitor.

As they say in sports “you can’t recognize the players on the field unless you buy the program” I thought I would jot down some of my observations and highlights from visiting this site.

Town Characters - I think I could use some of you in a novel

Nick Schade The kindly town mayor…always has some sensible advice for the residents. Has a real “don’t worry be happy” attitude in his advice to first time builders when they panic.

Robert Woodward AKA Woody writes great trip reports from Washington DC. You can even follow along with attached GPS maps. We all cheered when he finally got his roll down.

Brian “Swiftwood” Cunningham Mr. sailing kayak wins the “built it in my apartment” and still got my deposit back” award. Never fails to attach a link and/or picture to every post

Paul G. Jacobson Man, if you want detail on any subject this guy produces volumes. I don’t know where he gets the time to document the 4 different ways to do anything with 37 step instruction on each.

Mike Allen A great lateral thinker who should be patenting the ideas on the doodles that he posts.

George Roberts The town curmudgeon and resident engineering legend never fails to keep things lively and is the only guy who regularly generates 30-40 responses to his posts on testing, resale value, side by side test crash challenges. I hope he never stops posting. It’s just too fun to watch the food fights that ensue every time he gets into an argument.

Shawn Baker The landlocked kayaker from Montana answers a lot of questions

Don Beale and Mike Scarborough Not sure what to say but these guys sure answer a lot of questions and throw out a lot of ideas

Mike Hanks resident skin on frame expert

Mark Kanzler Used to post 10 a day and could find anything on the net Now like Dr. Livingston is lost in deepest darkest rural America with no Internet access.

The Great Debates - Many a post has been has been devoted to these subjects

- CLC vs Pygmy Like the Catholics and Protestants this argument will be going on for centuries

- Testing or my boats stronger/lighter than yours George vs the world

- Resale Value George vs the world

- Staples vs No Staples

- To seal coat epoxy or not

- Epoxy vs Tight bond glue between the strips

- Flush Hatches there are 50 ways to leave your lover but 100 ways to do hatches

- What boat should I build posts....well it depends but..... And other discussions too numerous to mention I can truly say that I have learned more from following this discussion than I ever could from 10 years of trial and error. And to all the others who documented their experiences thanks.

I have been saving links of web pages of people documenting their experiences building kayaks and thought I would share them with the group. All include lots of pictures and are chock full of interesting ideas as well as giving you a personalized feel for what it is like to build.

They are in no particular order and I know I have left some good ones out. If someone would like organize them and set up a links page or this would be a good start. The comments are my own.

Enjoy

http://www.missoulaconcrete.com/shawn/kayak/ - The Baker brothers build kayaks

http://www.missoulaconcrete.com/shawn/kayak/paddle/ - Shawn Baker builds paddles

http://attila.stevens-tech.edu/~chose/kayak/ - Six guys go to a Baidarka building class by Bruce Lemon – Understanding wives to let you burn up vacation time not included in tuition cost

http://www.guillemot-kayaks.com/Building/FlexibleBaidarka/right.htm#topic - Very cool - Friedrich Vetterlein builds a traditional Baidarka with high tech adhesives vs lashings to make it flexible. Some discussion about the Physics of a flexable vs rigid boats

http://www.guillemot-kayaks.com/Building/StripBuilt/ExpSing.html - Nick Schade builds a Guillemot Expedition

http://www.eskimo.com/~hmaroske/baidarka/index.html - Hendrik Maroske's - Folding Baidarka Homepage – Many links to other home built folding boats

http://home.att.net/~jimcoburn/ - Jim Coburn builds traditional greenland style kayak wood frame

http://home.earthlink.net/~andygere/ches17/chespk.html - Andy Gere build a CLC Chesapeake

http://home1.gte.net/monicac/kayak.htm - Don builds a George Putz canvas over wood design

http://homepages.infoseek.com/~briancunningham/EdValley.html - Ed Vally's stripper – check out the wavy detail

http://www.qsl.net/wa1urb/98.html - WA1URB – Skin on frame

http://personal.nbnet.nb.ca/gas/kayak.htm - Greg Stevens ñ Guillemot – A must if you are building a skeg

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Olympus/7217/kayak/img/ - Pictures of Guillemot under construction

http://www.netscad.com/~critters/stripper/sk-stripper.htm - Mike Stocks builds a Guillemot SK

http://pages.cthome.net/bobbycurtis/northbay.htm - Bobby Curtis building The North Bay

http://www.designovation.com/kayak/kayak_main.htm - Pete Ford Kayak Construction Zone – Builds two strippers ñ beautifully designed page

http://www.transport.com/~ray316/kayak_construction/kayak_construction.html - Ray Jardine builds three doubles of own designs for arctic trips using kevlar, fiberglass and aircraft technologies

http://ross.secant.com/kayak/ - Ross Leidy's Guillemot and Panache

http://www.olympus.net/personal/sbaxter/build.htm - Steve and Cheryl build a Tred Avon Double

http://www.aloha.net/~stomski/kulia.htm - Stomski Family Homepage – strip sit on top triple ñ kids in the front and back hatches

http://homepages.infoseek.com/~briancunningham/mykayak.html - Brian Cunningham – Patuxent 19 with sail rig to make a sailing trimarran

http://home.ican.net/~735769/stripmusic.htm - John Winters -Timeline for building a boat with suggested music

http://home.ican.net/~735769/smpics.htm - Same boat as above "Circe" - a boat for worman?

http://www.eskimo.com/~hmaroske/baidarka/node-o07.html - Gerald Maroske west Greenland foldable

http://usrwww.mpx.com.au/~pcarter/pumps.html - PJ Carter – Installing foot pumps

http://www.tidalwave.net/~woodardr/index.html - Woodyís World ñGuillemot Expedition

http://www.greenval.com/builders.html - Green Valley Boat Works – tips on how to build with out staples

Jack Sanderson

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