Workshops and Classes

Trimming the glass of the Stitch and Glue Night Heron during a class at the WoodenBoat School in Brooklin, Maine.

If you are interested in boat building techniques or making your own kayak paddle, Nick offers a variety of classes, workshops and presentations about making kayaks and other small boats. Classes include build-your-own courses where students can go home with their own boat or paddle. Workshops include an all-day demonstration of strip building suitable for woodworking or paddling clubs. Nick can also do a presentation describing the various methods for building your own kayak.

Nick has run courses at the WoodenBoat School, Mystic Seaport, and the Connecticut Valley School of Woodworking, and offered workshops or presentations for The Rochester Woodworkers Society and the Rhode Island Canoe/Kayak Association and other organizations and clubs.

Boat Building Classes

Working on taping up the deck-hull joint on a stitch and glue Night Heron at the WoodenBoat School.

Turn plywood into a beautiful sea kayak in 6 days

Sea kayaking is the sport of taking a small boat out on to the big ocean. You could buy an ordinary plastic kayak, or you could build your own which will be lighter, faster and more fun than buy. It will also be more beautiful.

A unique feature of the Night Heron is the "puzzle boat" construction.The short pieces of plywood are joined together with a puzzle joint to make the full 18' length of the kayak. The different pieces of plywood are stained different colors creating a beautiful graphic contrast highlighting the puzzle joint.

This fast-paced class will take students through the major phases of building a “Night Heron” sea kayak. Using the “Stitch-and-glue” construction method, each student will go home with his or her own kayak. Some finish work will be required when they get home. Students will learn basic boatbuilding skills as well as how to work with fiberglass and epoxy. Students should expect several long days in order to get through all the steps that must be completed in a day.

Please look at the class syllabus to get a feel for what is involved and also take a look at the required tool list.

Part of the fun of this design is you can personalize your boat by staining the various parts different colors. It is worthwhile having some ideas about colors prepared before starting the class.

The Night Heron is 18’ long and 20” wide. It is fast and responsive, suitable for exploring estuaries or venturing out into exposed open water.

• See the events listing on the right for scheduled classes and other events.

Required tools for S&G Night Heron Kayak Building Class

Some of the schools may have some of these tools, but if you want to be better prepared with your own tools these are what we use:

• Organic Vapor Respirator - For use when handling epoxy. It is strongly suggested that you purchase a quality respirator for the class. Schools usually don't provide these. They may be found at most home centers or automotive part suppliers. They can also be ordered from Jamestown Distributors.
• Low Angle Block Plane - Such as Stanley, Record or Lie Nielsen.
• "Four-in-hand" File (aka "Shoe Rasp")
• Replaceble Blade Utility Knife
• Pliers and Diagonal Wire Cutters
• Bright Flashlight such as those that use cordless drill batteries or 6V lantern.
• Paint Scraper
  

S&G Night Heron Kayak Building Class Schedule

This is a fast paced class which will get you through most of the most difficult steps involved in building a stitch and glue kayak. The first day will deal primarily with preparing the parts for the the busier days to follow. You will need determine your staining scheme. The second day will see the transformation of flat pieces of wood into a shapely kayak hull. You will stitch together the hull and apply fiberglass. On day three you will make the deck. Day four will have you putting together the deck and hull.On day five we will finish the fiberglassing. Day six we will do outfitting and as much finish work as we can. Some of the days may well run longer than this schedule shows, a couple 12 hour day are not uncommon.It is important that we get through all the tasks in each day so the epoxy has time to cure overnight.

Please look at the schedule provided by the school where you are taking the class to determine start times. The times posted on the schedule below are approximate and subject to change.

When you bring the boat home you will still need to do some finish work including some epoxying, sanding and varnishing. For information about future classes please look here.

Note the list of required tools on the next page.

Approximate Class Schedule

Click on Images for an Enlargement	Process	Required Time	Time of Day
	1: Prepare Panels		8:00 AM
	Overview Project	1:00	9:00 AM
	Open Kit	0:30	9:30 AM
	Review Parts	0:30	10:00 AM
	Sand Panels	1:00	11:00 AM
	Lunch	1:00	12:00 PM
	Stain Panels	1:00	1:00 PM
	Epoxy Panels	1:00	2:00 PM
	Glue Up Hatch Rings	1:00	3:00 PM
	Glass Cheekplates & Backrest	1:00	4:00 PM
	End Day 1	6:30 hrs
	2: Assemble Hull and Deck, Glass Inside Hull		8:00 AM
	Assemble Hull Panels	1:00	9:00 AM
	Bevel Hull Panels	2:00	11:00 AM
	Stitch Hull Panels	1:00	12:00 PM
	Tighten Stitches	0:30	12:30 PM
	Spot Weld Panels	0:30	1:00 PM
	Remove Stitches	0:30	1:30 PM
	Lunch	0:30	2:00 PM
	Glue Seams	0:30	2:30 PM
	Cut Fiberglass	0:15	2:45 PM
	Lay in Hull Glass	0:30	3:15 PM
	Wet Out Hull Glass	2:00	5:15 PM
	End Day 2	9:15 hrs
	3: Glass Outside Hull and Inside Deck		8:00 AM
	Clean Up Hull	0:30	8:30 AM
	Round Chines	0:30	9:00 AM
	Touch up Stain	1:00	10:00 AM
	Assemble Deck Panels	0:45	10:45 AM
	Bevel Deck Panels	1:00	11:45 AM
	Stitch Deck Panels	1:00	12:45 PM
	Tighten Stitches	0:45	1:30 PM
	Spot Weld Panels	0:20	1:50 PM
	Remove Stitches	0:45	2:35 PM
	Lunch	0:30	3:05 PM
	Glue Deck Seams	0:45	3:50 PM
	Cut Deck Fiberglass	0:15	4:05 PM
	Lay in Deck Glass	0:10	4:15 PM
	Wet Out Deck Glass	1:30	5:45 PM
	Cut Hull Fiberglass	0:15	6:00 PM
	Wet Out Hull	1:00	7:00 PM
			7:00 PM
	End Day 3	11:00 hrs
	4: Start Joining Deck and Hull		8:00 AM
	Cut Hatches	1:30	9:30 AM
	Bevel Sheer	1:30	11:00 AM
	Install Deck Line T-nuts	0:30	11:30 AM
	Sand Interior Seam	0:15	11:45 AM
	Tape Together Sheer	1:00	12:45 PM
	Lunch	0:30	1:15 PM
	Tape Interior Seam 1	1:00	2:15 PM
	Clean Up Hatch Rings	0:30	2:45 PM
	Glue up back hatch	0:30	3:15 PM
	Tape Interior Seam 2	1:00	4:15 PM
			4:15 PM
	End Day 4	8:15 hrs
	5: Finish Joining Deck and Hull		8:00 AM
	Remove exterior tape	0:15	8:15 AM
	Glue In Hatch Rings	0:30	8:45 AM
	Install Coaming	1:00	9:45 AM
	Drill Footbrace Holes	0:15	10:00 AM
	Cut Bulkheads	1:00	11:00 AM
	Cut Seat	0:20	11:20 AM
	Carve Seat	2:00	1:20 PM
	Lunch	0:30	1:50 PM
	Cut off Tips	0:10	2:00 PM
	Round Corners	0:30	2:30 PM
	Clean up Drips	0:45	3:15 PM
	Sand Deck	0:10	3:25 PM
	Touch up Stain	0:45	4:10 PM
	Cut Deck Fiberglass	0:15	4:25 PM
	Wet Out Deck Glass	1:30	5:55 PM
			5:55 PM
	End Day 5	9:55 hrs
	6: Finish what we can Note that much of this day is optional. If you need to start traveling home this day, you will not want to apply the fill coat. The fill coat requires 12 hours to cure so you could not move the kayak until the following day.		8:00 AM
	Scrape Seam	0:30	8:30 AM
	Install Bulkheads	0:30	9:00 AM
	Install Gaskets	0:30	9:30 AM
	Install Seat	0:20	9:50 AM
	Drill Grab-Loop Hole	0:20	10:10 AM
	Sand Hull	1:00	11:10 AM
	Fill Coat Hull	1:00	12:10 PM
	Varnish Demo	1:00	1:10 PM
	Review What Still Needs To Be Done	2:00	3:10 PM
	Watch Epoxy Dry		3:10 PM
			3:10 PM
	End Day 6	7:10 hrs

Paddle Making Classes

Over the course of 4 evenings you will learn how to make your own modern wooden kayak paddle. The paddle can be adapted for sea kayaking, recreational boating or white water. You will learn about laminating, scarfing, shaping wood and fiberglassing. The resulting paddle will be lightweight and strong.

Many people think of wood as being heavy and delicate. These paddles are not as light as the best carbon fiber paddles, but are close and significantly more rugged. The paddle can be built with a right or left hand feather or left unfeathered. If you don't understand what this means, the class will explain it. While this paddle will be a one-piece, you will learn enough to make a take-apart paddle if you choose to.

Not only are these paddles light and strong, but they are beautiful. Yours will be the envy of everyone you paddle with.

Strip Building Workshop

In this workshop Nick will demonstrate the details of strip-building a kayak or other small boat. The details of what is covered will depend on what people are interested in. Subjects covered may include fitting strips, fairing, fiberglass, staple-free construction and discussion will continue where questions take it. With a small sized group, there may be opportunities for hands-on experience.

Please contact Nick for more details.

Kayak Building Overview Presentation

Nick has a slideshow that provides an overview of the various methods of building wooden kayak. Topics covered include Skin-on-frame, Stitch-and-Glue, and Strip Built methods plus a discussion of repairing the boats if damaged, various outfitting techniques and making a wooden paddle. The slideshow is intended as an evening presentation for a woodworking guild or kayaking club. The length of the presentation will depend on how many questions people ask, but generally runs about 1 hour. The slide show can be tailored to the particular interests of your group.

Please contact Nick for more details.