The story of our boats begins with two women in my
life, my boss at work and my wife. The stories I brought home from work
about my boss’s new kayaking adventures awoke a latent yearning in my
wife to try paddling. After both of us taking a lesson, we were ready for
more and that led to finding kayaks. My first plan was to build a strip
built for myself and find a plastic one for my wife. But some things
happen that are just meant to be. A salesman listening to my plan, asked
me if I had looked into stitch and glue kayaks. They had the look I
wanted, and the cost and time investment in stitch and glue boats would
allow me to build two, instead of one. A visit to the Newfound Rendezvous
at Wellington State Park, Bristol New Hampshire, in the fall of 2003 gave
me an opportunity to paddle strip and stitch and glue kayaks, as well as
observe experts in the process of building wooden kayaks. You can watch
the rest of the story unfold in the pictures that show the process of
building the boats.
Notes: Pygmy Kayaks - Model: Osprey
Standard (Loa15’8”; Beam 24”, Depth 12”; wt. 38lbs.) Place of
construction: Since my mother-in-law had moved in with us, her house, just
a mile from ours, was vacant. The walkout basement was ideal and converted
easily into a workspace. Additional lighting, plastic to cover the floor,
and a ping-pong table that I extended to 16 feet table were helpful.
