Materials

It has been exceptionally warm this winter. I would like some nice cross country skiing weather, but a nice warm day out on the water is always appreciated. Carl wanted to get out around 9, but I didn't feel like rushing out of the house early. Pete, Kate, John and Beth were planning on putting in at Esker Point around 10 and that was more like it. As it was I just got there 9:50, but I had everything ready so I just had to pull on my dry suit and lift the boat off the car.

The water was glassy as we crossed Fishers Island Sound headed approximately toward Middle Clump. There were a few seals on the rocks and they gave us a the hairy eyeball as we paddled by. The current was pretty strong, flooding in from the east. We headed in towards shore to get in the slower moving water and followed the shore towards Hungry Point. We tried to stick really close to shore to give the seals out on the rocks as much buffer as possible, but they still fell in to the water to check us out. We looked at them for a while and they looked at us. After a while we got the impression that they were just waiting for us to leave, so we headed to a beach for lunch.

No, there is nothing the water can do to damage the boat. It is after all a boat and designed to get wet. "But," you may ask, "what happens if you hit something?" I use my boats hard. I land on rocks, slide up on beaches and hit things. While it may appear that that the wood is right there where it will be easily damaged, it is an illusion. Actually the wood is under a layer of fiberglass cloth set in epoxy.

Guillemot Kayaks does not make kits, however several companies make quality kits for Guillemot Kayaks designs. Please view the Kayak Kits page for more information.

A strip built boat is made of small strips of wood so if you were wondering where the name came from, now you know. The method is often called cedar strip, because the wood used is typically cedar. It does not have to be. Any straight grained, light-weight wood can be used. I have used redwood, pine, and mahogany as well as Alaskan cedar, western red cedar, northern white cedar, and atlantic white cedar.

The reason you want straight grained is because you will be bending the wood around forms. This stress will break wood with poor grain. For this reason you also want to avoid knots. They cause a weak spot and are also hard to smooth when you start fairing the boat. You want light weight, because you want a light boat. If you don't then ignore this advice.