Building the Sea Kayak

Emboldened by my success with the Foamee, I decided to embark on a bigger project: the Glen-L Sea Kayak. There are several manufacturers of sea kayak kits on the web, notably CLC and Pygmy Boats, but I chose the Glen-L plans. Glen-L is oriented towards those interested in puttering around with tools, wood, and fiberglass, and ending up with a respectable boat while the others are more oriented towards dedicated sea kayakers who decide it's time to hand-craft the perfect kayak. Also, building the last boat was enjoyable partly because the plans are so good. Since my boatbuilding assistant Tanya, was interested in her own kayak, we decided to build two, and paint them pink and blue so we'd be able to tell them apart. See the costs page for an expense breakdown.

Glen-L file photo.

The plans are straightforward and exhaustive, but I also purchased the construction video, which is enjoyable on many levels. It's a really good description of how to build the boat, it looks like it was shot around 1972, and it's narrated by a chain smoker with a light muzak background. Plus the kayak in the video is painted an institutional turquoise. My kind of boat!

We used 4mm Okoume marine ply for the hulls. Since I'm planning on building a Farrier trimaran from carbon fiber and Kevlar someday, I decided to practice using Kevlar and cover the hull with it. The deck is covered with a light (3 oz) cloth so the grain of the wood shows through, as is the interior of the cockpit.

Deck draped in cloth.

I also wanted to do some more experiments and gain more experience with vacuum-bagging.