Skin on Frame Kayak Plan

[Tom Hoffman]

My son in law would like me to help him build a single approx 18' skin on frame kayak.

Would any of you have a suggestion for a nice plan and where might I get it. I have done a search, and seen some, however I would like one that you may have built or helped with.

Ease of const. etc.

Thanks for any help......

[Cuyahoga Chuck]

Tom,
You don't really need a plan. Skinboats can be built from anthropomohphic measurments. Meaning the big guy gets longer boat the fat guy gets a wider boat etc, the kid gets a boat he can paddle without holding his elbows at shoulder height.
There is a text called "Building Skin on Frame Boats" by Robert Morris that takes you thru' all of this. For about $25 you can have everything you need to know to build Greeland kayaks, baidarkas, skin canoes and even a neat sailboat.
The benefit of building your own is that you can build to fit any member of your family that is old enough to hold a paddle. These boats are ,generally, very light and are relatively cheap to construct.
There is also an older book by George Putz that has updated plans for a 1920's design called "Walrus". Don't recall the name.
Charlie

[Aramas]

Check out the links page at Pouchboats (http://www.pouchboats.com/links.html)

It's mostly about folding kayaks, but there's also stuff about greenlanders and soforth.

[George Jung]

alright, a topic I'm really interested in! The Morris book seems to be the 'bible' on this topic. I'd suggest you pop over to the kayakforum.com, lots of knowledgeable people there. That said, you might consider a skinonframe, ala' Tom Yost (yostwerks.com). You can build it with a traditional wood frame, or you can do it with tubular aluminum;; there's even a folder, that fits in a bag about the size of a golfbag. And there are several different modesl to choose from. Best of all, Tom gives 'em away for the incredible price of... free. Check out his site; his construction manual is there for the picking, too.

[Arko]

Since you didn't specify which Type of kayak is desired I am going to post this. It is a synergy of kayaks characteristics from the Eastern Arctic regions of Hudson Bay/Hudson Straight, Labrador and Baffin Island. This is not a Greenland type boat,unless you take into account the kayaks of the Polar region of Greenland, which share many similarities with the E. Canadian types in form as well as construction.
I can tell you that it is extremely fast and very capable in any water. Comfortable and able to support expidition size loads ( if thats your thing ). This type is also agile beyond compare. They behave somewhat differently than most other types due to thier hull form and a rather idiosyncratic detail, the bow skeg.
I have built one of these and still use and enjoy it very much ( three years ). These are the closest I have seen to actual SOF building plans for a specific kayak. All very clear and concise. Construction is simple and very fun.
You could change the size of this kayak in many respects, using the anthropometric rules, to get the size that is anthropometricaly correct for him. These are long, swift, load carrying kayaks. Sea going in every respect. They also behave OK on rivers and lakes. This I can say from experience.
This is not a kayak for rolling.
Perhaps you have looked at this already but if not you can go to the link and click the East Arctic Kayak you can have a look for yourself.

http://www.arctickayaks.com/

[Doug Canada]

May be of interest;
http://home.adelphia.net/~kwinter/baidarka.html
http://rtpnet.org/robroy/baidarka/
http://www.gaboats.com/
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0881791911/qid=1119785541/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/103-0602812-9948630
(Building Skin on frame Boats)

All the best,
Doug

[Rob Hazard]

You may also get some useful information from:
<www.qajaqusa.org>

Rob

[Rob Hazard]

Sorry,
www.qajaqusa.org (http://www.qajaqusa.org)

Rob

[Chris Stewart]

Originally posted by Cuyahoga Chuck:

There is a text called "Building Skin on Frame Boats" by Robert Morris that takes you thru' all of this. For about $25 you can have everything you need to know to build Greeland kayaks, baidarkas, skin canoes and even a neat sailboat.

(snip)

There is also an older book by George Putz that has updated plans for a 1920's design called "Walrus". Don't recall the name.
CharlieI have the Putz book and would not recommend it. One good thing about Morris's book is that it covers (no pun intended) several types of boats. If your son in law specifically wants a Greenland style kayak, two other books to consider would be "Building a Greenland Kayak" by Mark Starr and "Building the Greenland Kayak" by Christopher Cunningham. You could probably get all three books through interlibrary loan and then decide which if any you want to buy.

There are lots of different SOF kayak styles besides the broadly defined baidarka and Greenland styles. In addition to the excellent http://www.arctickayaks.com/ mentioned above, http://www.traditionalkayaks.com/ has pictures and commentary about most of the documented styles. Both sites are well worth a look.

[Tom Hoffman]

Thank you all for the help. I have looked at all the sites and references that you suggested. Lots of good info. Greatly appreciated.

I think he wants one to go gunk holing for ducks. So just a fairly simple one. I found one book on Amazon called Wood and Canvas Kayaks, looks good, so I ordered it. I love the look of the east arctic and greenland kayaks, would build one of those for myself sometime. Have to finish my Whitehall for now.

Thanks again.

Tom....

[Paul Scheuer]

This is a Folbot "Sporty" rigid 15' kit boat. About as simple as it gets. They're still in buisness somewhere in the Southeast. At the tine that I finished the 60's kit, about '85, they sold parts and materials. It's a plywood plank keel, six plywod frames, plywood stems, with naugahide skin.

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid74/p2cafbb89fbeb7d5eb6686862c010a22c/fb5fef5a.jpg

Here a duck/goose story.

I had the Folbot out on the local Forest Preserve pond in late spring a couple years ago. Doing my best to manage a thermos of coffee, a few smokes and a cross-word puzzle, slouched down in the cockpit with my paddle stowed, while I did a slow drift down the length of the lake.

The geese were at the stage where the flock re-assembles with the pre-teen goslings for foraging training. I had seen them earlier and sort of lost track of them. There must have been fifty goslings, with ten or so moms, escorting and herding their charges around the edges of the lake.

When I noticed them again they were crossing the lake, as a group with the moms behind and at the edges. The flotilla and I were on a collision course, and I was curious to see what they would do when they got "dangerously" close to me. I was shocked when they did nothing. The little yellow guys just paddled up, gently parted to get around the boat, and continued on their way. They were close enough for me to reach out and grab a few. The moms did say (quack) a thing. Somehow they knew that I, or at least the boat, was OK.

[Tom Hoffman]

Paul, My first boat was a Fulbot, bought it in 1975 it was the 17 or 18' two place model, it folded up and went into two bags and would fit in a car trunk. My wife and I did a lot of river floating in it. I also used it to go duck hunting in the marshes around Iowa. Just like your story, the boat is so quite and so easily handled, that you can literally slide into places other people can't go. I then bought a vinyl skin on frame home made single kayak 14-15' made very similar to the folbot, almost impossible to capsize, you would almost have to throw yourself out to get it to turn over. I bought it for $100 back in late 70's Probably the skin alone on one that I am going to build for my son in law will cost that much. My ex wife now has the folbot, but you brought back a lot of nice memories.

Tom....