Guillemot Kayaks - Night Heron

Mahogony Night Heron Kayak Model

Mon, 20 Nov 2006 15:19:50 -0500

An 18" model of the Night Heron carved from Mahogany and Ash with a Maple cockpit, mounted on a piece of Manzanita root.

Paul Doughty - Night Heron

Mon, 06 Feb 2006 15:55:51 -0500

Cedar Hull, Deck is clear pine and walnut.

Paul Doughty - Night Heron

Mon, 06 Feb 2006 15:51:40 -0500

cedar hull, clear pine and walnut on deck. My first paddle was an eight day tour of apostle islands. the first scratch in the shiny varnish wan'nt as traumatic as imagined. Now I am proud of each and every scratch in this heavily paddled kayak.

Night Heron Prototype

Sun, 29 Jan 2006 09:29:20 -0500

Paddling the first Night Heron past Ironbound Island in Maine.

Abdulla's Night Heron

Sun, 29 Jan 2006 09:27:41 -0500

Book matched western red cedar with pine accents

Night Heron - Profile

Tue, 27 Dec 2005 13:54:51 -0500

I built the deck of this Night Heron with sequential strips cut from two flitch western red cedar sawn boards.

Night Heron with Wooden Seat

Tue, 27 Dec 2005 13:52:45 -0500

In this kayak I built a wooden seat of western red cedar and Alaskan yellow cedar

Ken Stone - Night Heron

Fri, 18 Nov 2005 11:40:51 -0500

Ken Stone - Night Heron

Fri, 18 Nov 2005 11:38:46 -0500

I won't bore you with any more for the time being, though I do want to send you some close-ups of the hatches and deck fittings. I tried to incorporate what I considered the best of the factory stuff (VCP hatches & nylon 'mushroom' recessed deck fittings). I am especially pleased with the deck fittings - I came up with a design, that was quick, easy, and repeatable. I ended up plunging a series of 'cups' into mahogony stock to receive the nylon fittings using a plunge router with an appropriately sized round nose bit. I then used a circular cutter with an appropriately sized pilot bit to both cut out the plunged plug and to drill a pilot hole for insertion of a threaded brass insert.

Roger Turgeon - Night Heron

Tue, 15 Nov 2005 13:04:09 -0500

The hull is primarily P.O.White Cedar, which is about 35% denser and stronger (and heavier) than Atlantic White Cedar, but since I went with strips of 3/16" thickness instead of 1/4", the weight and strength come out to the same as 1/4" thick Atlantic cedar, on the bottom of the hull where I fugure I need it most. The "darts" in the bottom are a light-colored WRC (I was running out of the POWC). Tiger maple front stem. Note the Great Blue Heron carved into the shingles in the side of the house. The house is called "Heron's Rest", which I am sure must have influenced my decision to build the Night Heron as my first stripper.

Roger Turgeon - Night Heron

Tue, 15 Nov 2005 13:03:22 -0500

Paddler's eye view. The design is of 2 Great Blue Heron's (blue-dyed Bolivar wood) flying across a full moon of lightly yellow-dyed bird's eye maple. The cockpit rim (and the external stems) is of laminated tiger maple. Hatch covers are held down with internal bungies to maintain clean deck lines. I chose a picture with all this reflection to show the smoothness of the high gloss finish imparted by having the final UV-protective coat in the form of a sprayed-on automotive clearcoat instead of multiple layers of varnish.

Roger Turgeon - Night Heron

Tue, 15 Nov 2005 13:01:45 -0500

All the wood tones on the deck are from Wester Red Cedar--I got lucky and found 3 very different colored boards. In particular, the center section started as a beautiful shade of pink that I haven't seen again in another board. It "browned" a bit with epoxy. The only non-WRC on the deck is in the two intertwined stripes, which are of Port Orford White Cedar and West African Padauk.

Günter Stühler - Night Heron

Thu, 10 Nov 2005 14:51:34 -0500

Dear Nick,
during my holidays in 2003 I visited the Wooden Boat Festival in Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia, Canada and fell in love with some wooden sea-kayaks that were exhibited there. The builders of the kayaks had your book "Strip-built sea-kayaks" with them and my first deed when I arrived at home again was to order your book and the plan for the NIGHT HERON. These days I'm about to finish my first Night Heron, just the seat and the gloss are still missing. I think I did some good job as you can see in the picture.
My next project will be a LITTLE AUK for my wife.
I had much fun in building the kayak and I would love to build some more of that kind and maybe sell some of them if I can manage to find interested people. Therefore I now ask you, whether you do allow me to build your kayaks in licence for Germany (or Europe ?) and to sell them.

Night Heron at the Museum of Modern Art

Tue, 02 Aug 2005 15:09:38 -0400

I built this boat for an exhibition at the American Craft Museum. It is now in the permanent collection at the Museum of Modern Art. photo by Richard Bergen