I’ve been wanting to build a wooden kayak for over 25 years ever since I worked on the Charles River in Massachusetts and saw a guy commute to work with a kayak. A bucket list item is to view The 4th of July fireworks on the Charles River at the Hatch Shell Esplanade in Boston M.A. for an incredible view above with the Boston Pops playing in the background.

I’ve kayaked on Quincy Bay in Massachusetts to Boston and the Harbor Islands in a 17’ sea kayak with rudder control. Great for beginners like myself. It can be peaceful at times and downright frightening.

I purchased Nick Shades’ of Guillemot Kayaks “Petrel Play “ strip version plans. It’s been a great journey so far thanx to the well detailed and informative Guillemot youtube video series, “Crafting a handmade kayak” along with the book, “Building Strip-Planked Boats” by Nick Shade. Below is my build experience. The hardest part is not obsessing over the quality of construction keeping in mind the goal is to get out on the water. It’s not a boat until she’s on the water and gets scratched up. The river table epoxy techniques I learned and vowed not to work with again will be helpful when using epoxy and fiberglass on the hull and deck inside and out.

EXPLORING BUDD LAKE, N.J.

After initial launching the kayak I found it was weathercocking ( The wind pressure on the bow pushes the kayak into the wind) and difficult to control and track straight on an open lake with a crosswind. I added Nick Shades’ of Guillemot Kayaks retractable skeg design and it worked awesome. This is the first time I tested the kayak in a 13mph moderate wind and I was very pleased with the results. Film by Martin Bunyi.

MAKING THE FORM, SELECT THE WOOD, MILLING, SHAPING, AND SOME STEAMING OF WESTERN RED CEDAR AND ACCENT WOODS. Above is a rough scale model of Nick Shade 14' high performance Petrel Play kayak to workout pattern of western red cedar,eastern white cedar and mahagony.
M.L. Condon Company Inc. Whitehouse, N.Y. source for Western Red Cedar.
Wood paradise. Boards and Beams in Fairfield, N.J. for accent woods.
Tablesaw set up for ripping 16' strips. Placement of tablesaw lines up with window. Instead of roller stands a scrap piece of plywood with scrap vinyl for gliding surface.
Lots of 3/4"x1/4" strips of northern white cedar, mahogany, basswood, cherry and western red cedar.
Mahogany and basswood glue up.
Close up of mahogany and basswood strips after ripped on tablesaw after glueup.
Template for strongback cutout for each stem form.
14' Petral Play form with aluminum 2"x4" strong back. Ready for 3/4"x1/4" Western Red Cedar strips.
Forms on the aluminum strongback with 2"x4" saw horse setup with 5/4" x 6" work surface. The hardest strip is first. The 1/2" northern white cedar sheer strip with a top rolling bevel,then 1/4" walnut stip , then 3/4" western red cedar.
Using a Lie-Nielsen (Made in Maine U.S.A.) #60 1/2 Rabbet Block Plane for small bevel matching the previous strip.
Belt Sander jig for shaping scarf joints. Scrap wood double face taped to work surface.
Hand planed scarf joint setup
CA glue with CA accelerator for quick strong scarf joint.
Nick Shade's Robo-Bevel tool for beveling strips. (without cove and bead) Robo-Bevel uses a Veritas Miniature Shoulder Plane. Magnetic holder for planing in both directions depending on the grain.
Closeup of Bow. Strips run mostly parallel to sheerstrip which accentuates curves of kayak. Hotglue and staples act as temporary clamps until glue sets.
View looking at bow down the hull with a centerline football pattern split at keel.
Industrial heat gun for tricky curves.
I wasnt able to bend the complex curves like Nick does with the heatgun so i tried steam. My First steam generator setup with a 2" pvc 16' tube. Not enough steam. Upgraded to a Wagner wallpaper steamer. Excellent steam volume and capacity.
Steam bent the difficult chine which bent and curved in multiple directions. After it was clamped all night, the next day a rolling bevel can be planed with Guillemots' robobevel or a rabbet plane. Finally can be glued and held with staples and hotglue.
From bottom orientation, sheerline (The curve along the top edge of hullside) layed with a Northern White Cedar 1/2" strip and a 1/4 " strip of Mahogany moving upward with Western Red Cedar. The chine is next (The section where the sides of the hull intersect the bottom of hull.)
Ready to remove hot glue, staples,sculpt, and cut out cockpit.
View of port side.
3mm Okoume plywood fairing tool with 80 grit sandpaper. Great for smoothing out ridges.

BUILDING THE COCKPIT. Cockpit cutout with 3mm okoume cockpit recess assembly above
Cleaning up cockpit opening with double curved luthier palm plane
Cleaning up the 3/32" sitka spruce accent with a flat luthier palm plane underneath the deck
Laminating the cockpit recess assembly with 1/16" western red cedar strips to somewhat match deck pattern. The many colors and patterns of the cedar strips to left.
Finishing up the laminates on cockpit recess assembly
Hotglue risers at opening edge and yellow glue to one another. Risers will be encapsulated in 4oz fiberglass cloth and epoxy. A large sawdust and epoxy fillet will strengthen deck to riser.
Center riser detail of Western Red Cedar, Sitka Spruce. Ebony, Sitka Spruce, Western Red Cedar riser detail.
Scribing riser to 1 1/4" to be cut even.
Cutting riser with thin kerfed pull saw. Next step to apply a 3/8" fillet of epoxy and sawdust to deck to the riser intersection and cover with fiberglass cloth and epoxy.
Testing 18 thin 1/16"x1/4" Mahogany and Sitka Spruce strips that make up lip laminate to hold spray skirt.
Green flashing tape (APT, 2 MIL Polyester tape) covering riser to create a mold for riser lip. Slightly tenacious and impervious to all adhesives.
Cutting scrap strips to 2'' with anvil type shears for cockpit lip spacer temporary stand..
Flash tape covered spacers hot glued to original blue masking tape to set lip height to 3/4"
Heating cockpit lip to accelerate capillary action before brushing on epoxy.
Brushing riser with epoxy 2 clamps at time. Capillary action will bond layers.
Lip removed easily because of flash tape. Cleaning up riser lip before adhering to cockpit riser.
3/4" high spacer to set lip before C.A adhesive.
Tangent cut of wrap around spray skirt lip. Next step - curved laminate on front of cockpit opening.
Curved front clamped ready for C.A. glue to temporarly hold before removal and shaping.
Curved front section adhered. Next step to sculpt a 1/4" bullnose on lip edge. Nick modifies a cheap scraper blade. I used a 1/16" thick cutting wheel for an angle grinder to cut concave profile.
Modified scraper worked like a charm creating bullnose.
Top 1/4" riser combing is cut flush with horizontal lip surface. Sanded and laminate bullnose compete ready for epoxy and glass.

COVERING THIGH BRACES WITH CARBON FIBER CLOTH. I wasn't happy with the look of the epoxy wood fiber fillet between the veneered okoume thigh brace and cedar riser and thought it would be fun to experiment with carbon fiber cloth.
Epoxy wood fiber (also known as "dookie smutz" ) ready for swipe with 1/2" radius tongue depressor. Flashing tape barrier to contain filler. Easy to apply with a pastery bag.
Fillet cleaned up. Normally entire boat is stained dark and fillet blends in but I chose to keep it natural and covered the okoume with a cedar veneer which hightlighted the fillet.
Thigh braces wrapped with 5.7 ounce plaine weave American made .012" carbon fiber cloth. Discoverd cloth is very ridgid and difficult to wrap aroung 3mm okoume and kept releasing from bottom of thigh brace. It needed a clamp or mold. Clamped flashing tape covered cedar worked great.
Clamps removed carbon fiber trimmed and sanded. Need trim pieces to cover raw carbon fiber edges. Discovered it was very easy to sand thru fiber and expose wood below.
Thin Sitka Spruce and Dark Western Red Cedar accents. Covered in 2 coats of epoxy. Ready for light sanding and Spar varnish.

EPOXY END FILLS: A dam is created in the end of the bow and stern hull ends with a bondo scraper to create a form that thickened epoxy flows into to create a watertight cavity .
The kayak is tilted upward to allow thickened epoxy to level off .
Once thickened epoxy cures a 3/8" hole is drilled thru bow and stern ends to allow a line and handle to be attached to carry kayak.

WHAT WERE YOU THINKING? STERN HATCH MISTAKE: I made the cutout for the stern hatch way too big and took out most of the strength in the stern. Once my "design change" was corrected It added a lot of weight to the boat but ended up being a blessing because I added a retractable skeg and I had full access which made it really easy to work on.
I added a layer of carbon fiber and epoxy to strengthen the stern. The next step was to laminate a 3mm layer of okoume with a smaller cutout.
Thicken epoxy was added to the 3mm okoume plywood and a shop full of clamps.
A larger hatch recess was added to add strength to the hatch and catch the hatch cover.
A layer of fiberglass and epoxy conforms to the recess adding strength.

BUILDING THE HATCH COVERS/OPENINGS: What I thought was a foolproof template and jig for routing an opening on the deck with a 1/8" spiral router bit with a 1/4" bushing turned out to be a different story.
The router slipped and created a "design change"
The stern hatch cover was made smaller by 1/2" and then (5) 1/16" layers of walnut was wrapped and glued to repair slip up.
1/16" sitka spruce detail covers end grain on hatch opening.
Sitka spruce accent was planed clean with a flat luthier plane.
Detail of hatch handle made from 1" carbon fiber tube cut at an angle. Fiberglass covered handle and epoxied over smooth.
I wanted an easily accessible watertight storage compartment for water and snacks. An off the shelf 6" ABS screw type day hatch was laminated with carbon fiber cloth to match the other carbon fiber details.

JOINING THE DECK TO HULL: The deck is taped to the hull and every 6" C.A. glue is used with an accelerant to hold in place.
The kayak is tilted on its side so gravity can let epoxy flow evenly on the cloth on the inside of kayak.
A 3" wide by 14 foot 9 oz. cloth is soaked in epoxy rolled up then unrolled joining both sides inside of kayak.
The outside of the kayak is taped with green tape 2" above and below the deck to hull seam. 6" blue tape with a drip edge protects the epoxy from dripping on the hull. Strips of bias cut cloth are bonded to the kayak. After epoxy cures to a leather like consistency a sharp knife cuts cloth clean and the green tape is removed.

ATTACHING RECESSED DECK FITTINGS: I purchased beautiful mahogany and maple egg shaped cnc cut deck fittings from Guillemot Kayaks© with a template. After you layout where you want them the recess is cut with an 1/8" router bit and a 3/8" bushing.
I found string and a paper template useful for laying out the other side.
Finished fitting with 1/4" bungee for holding paddle float and bilge pump for pumping water out of boat in case of a capsize.

BENDING & ATTACHING THE OUTER STEMS: The bow and stern need a hard wood to protect the soft Western Red Cedar from abrasion. Masking tape covers the bow edges. Layers of epoxy and 1/16" White Oak strips are bent to the shape of bow and held in place with stretch wrap acting as a clamp.
Once the laminate is cured the tape is removed and the stem is glued with thickened epoxy. Once that cures the stem is shaped with a rasp and sanded smooth.
A strip of fiberglass with epoxy covers the outer stem running down the hull a few feet. That is sanded smooth. The process is repeated for the stern end. The boat can be finished after the epoxy cures for a week.

FINISHING WITH A U.V. SHELLAC. : Epoxy has no U.V. qualities and would quickly degrade without a protective U.V. Finish. Interlux Schooner Varnish has a beautiful amber tint that shows off the grain well. The boat is sanded smooth to 220 grit and wiped down with denatured alcohol.
I thought I'd experiment with spraying the boat because I have a large compressor and a spray gun. I also liked being able to coat the entire boat in one go taking about 15 minutes to coat. I added some extensions to my rolling stand and secured the boat with 3/8" rods with protective ends as they were eye level to prevent poking my eyes out. I had to wait for days without wind and the kayak could be rolled out of the sun. Looking back I liked how quick it took but wasted a lot of shellac with overspray. I repeated this process 5 times.
In between coats I sanded with 320 grit to knock the nibs down and then wiped with denatured alcohol. After the final coat I sanded the varnish with 400grit,600 grit,1000 grit then 1500 grit. I used Meguiars 105 compound, then Meguiars M210 to buff to a mirror finish with a variety of buffers.
A small buffer was used with a removable foam pad with speed control for all the hard to reach areas.
All the small items were attached to plates to hold them while I sprayed. A lazy Susan was great to spin the objects around to cover all the sides.

ADDING BULKHEADS: Bulkheads are a way of keeping the kayak from sinking when it's filled with water. A bulkhead creates an airtight area so the boat cannot sink. I made a cardboard template before the deck and the hull are joined because it more difficult to reach into the kayak after.
3" thick MiniCel Foam® designed for marine applications that does not absorb water is cut from the cardboard template easily with a bandsaw.
Black 3M 5200 polyurethane sealant is used to seal the foam to wood for a watertight seal. It is guaranteed to get all over you. I found citrus solution is the only thing that removes it.

RETRACTABLE SKEG: A skeg is used to prevent the kayak from weathercocking which is when the boat turns into the wind which makes it difficult to go where you want to go. I thought I didn't need one but on a windy lake you do. Normally its installed before the deck is joined to the hull. I purchased Nick Shades' retractable skeg design and acquired and built all the parts. It's essentially a retractable surfboard fin.
Nick Shade makes the fin from 3mm okoume with fiberglass or forms his own sheet material. I chose to form my laminate fin from carbon fiber and fiberglass cloth by layering both materials between 2 pieces of glass with wax paper as a mold release.
Skeg box parts and fin ready for fiberglass.
Hole drilled for stainless barb fitting to hold stainless wire that runs in 3/8" polyethylene tubing for his beautifully simple kink proof design that's been tested over 10 years.
After a fat fillet is added for support of skeg box to hull 9oz cloth bias strips are added.
The skeg box can now be cut flush to hull for further waterproofing.
Walnut and Sitka Spruce skeg control ready for fiberglass.
Fiberglass is added to the inside of the skeg control
Once the deck is cutout to fit the skeg control its epoxied in and a layer of fiberglass is added to the outside.
Finished skeg control with Walnut slide knob.
Skeg fin partially extended.
Skeg fin fully retracted.

CUSTOM PARTS MADE BY U.S. KAYAK BUILDERS: Measuring the cockpit opening for Redfish Kayaks to build a custom seat. He needed to know the relationship of cockpit opening to distance from stern and depth at various points.
Custom seat made by Redfish Kayaks, Port Townsend, WA
Walnut hatch toggles designed and CNC cut by Humpback Kayaks, 1313 S. Schoolhouse Rd. #7, New Lenox, IL 60451

RIGGING: Bungee crimped with 1/2" stainless hog rings before 3/4" shrink-wrap sealed with heatgun.
Drilling 1" carbon fiber tube for kayak handle.
Bungee storage behind cockpit
End of the handle line attached to deck with velcro so it doesn't bounce around when underway.

EXPLORING BUDD LAKE, N.J.

MAKING THE FORM, SELECT THE WOOD, MILLING, SHAPING, AND SOME STEAMING OF WESTERN RED CEDAR AND ACCENT WOODS. Above is a rough scale model of Nick Shade 14' high performance Petrel Play kayak to workout pattern of western red cedar,eastern white cedar and mahagony.

M.L. Condon Company Inc. Whitehouse, N.Y. source for Western Red Cedar.

Wood paradise. Boards and Beams in Fairfield, N.J. for accent woods.

Tablesaw set up for ripping 16' strips. Placement of tablesaw lines up with window. Instead of roller stands a scrap piece of plywood with scrap vinyl for gliding surface.

Lots of 3/4"x1/4" strips of northern white cedar, mahogany, basswood, cherry and western red cedar.

Mahogany and basswood glue up.

Close up of mahogany and basswood strips after ripped on tablesaw after glueup.

Template for strongback cutout for each stem form.

14' Petral Play form with aluminum 2"x4" strong back. Ready for 3/4"x1/4" Western Red Cedar strips.

Forms on the aluminum strongback with 2"x4" saw horse setup with 5/4" x 6" work surface. The hardest strip is first. The 1/2" northern white cedar sheer strip with a top rolling bevel,then 1/4" walnut stip , then 3/4" western red cedar.

Using a Lie-Nielsen (Made in Maine U.S.A.) #60 1/2 Rabbet Block Plane for small bevel matching the previous strip.

Belt Sander jig for shaping scarf joints. Scrap wood double face taped to work surface.

Hand planed scarf joint setup

CA glue with CA accelerator for quick strong scarf joint.

Nick Shade's Robo-Bevel tool for beveling strips. (without cove and bead) Robo-Bevel uses a Veritas Miniature Shoulder Plane. Magnetic holder for planing in both directions depending on the grain.

Closeup of Bow. Strips run mostly parallel to sheerstrip which accentuates curves of kayak. Hotglue and staples act as temporary clamps until glue sets.

View looking at bow down the hull with a centerline football pattern split at keel.

Industrial heat gun for tricky curves.

I wasnt able to bend the complex curves like Nick does with the heatgun so i tried steam. My First steam generator setup with a 2" pvc 16' tube. Not enough steam. Upgraded to a Wagner wallpaper steamer. Excellent steam volume and capacity.

Steam bent the difficult chine which bent and curved in multiple directions. After it was clamped all night, the next day a rolling bevel can be planed with Guillemots' robobevel or a rabbet plane. Finally can be glued and held with staples and hotglue.

From bottom orientation, sheerline (The curve along the top edge of hullside) layed with a Northern White Cedar 1/2" strip and a 1/4 " strip of Mahogany moving upward with Western Red Cedar. The chine is next (The section where the sides of the hull intersect the bottom of hull.)

Ready to remove hot glue, staples,sculpt, and cut out cockpit.

View of port side.

3mm Okoume plywood fairing tool with 80 grit sandpaper. Great for smoothing out ridges.

BUILDING THE COCKPIT. Cockpit cutout with 3mm okoume cockpit recess assembly above

Cleaning up cockpit opening with double curved luthier palm plane

Cleaning up the 3/32" sitka spruce accent with a flat luthier palm plane underneath the deck

Laminating the cockpit recess assembly with 1/16" western red cedar strips to somewhat match deck pattern. The many colors and patterns of the cedar strips to left.

Finishing up the laminates on cockpit recess assembly

Hotglue risers at opening edge and yellow glue to one another. Risers will be encapsulated in 4oz fiberglass cloth and epoxy. A large sawdust and epoxy fillet will strengthen deck to riser.

Center riser detail of Western Red Cedar, Sitka Spruce. Ebony, Sitka Spruce, Western Red Cedar riser detail.

Scribing riser to 1 1/4" to be cut even.

Cutting riser with thin kerfed pull saw. Next step to apply a 3/8" fillet of epoxy and sawdust to deck to the riser intersection and cover with fiberglass cloth and epoxy.

Testing 18 thin 1/16"x1/4" Mahogany and Sitka Spruce strips that make up lip laminate to hold spray skirt.

Green flashing tape (APT, 2 MIL Polyester tape) covering riser to create a mold for riser lip. Slightly tenacious and impervious to all adhesives.

Cutting scrap strips to 2'' with anvil type shears for cockpit lip spacer temporary stand..

Flash tape covered spacers hot glued to original blue masking tape to set lip height to 3/4"

Heating cockpit lip to accelerate capillary action before brushing on epoxy.

Brushing riser with epoxy 2 clamps at time. Capillary action will bond layers.

Lip removed easily because of flash tape. Cleaning up riser lip before adhering to cockpit riser.

3/4" high spacer to set lip before C.A adhesive.

Tangent cut of wrap around spray skirt lip. Next step - curved laminate on front of cockpit opening.

Curved front clamped ready for C.A. glue to temporarly hold before removal and shaping.

Curved front section adhered. Next step to sculpt a 1/4" bullnose on lip edge. Nick modifies a cheap scraper blade. I used a 1/16" thick cutting wheel for an angle grinder to cut concave profile.

Modified scraper worked like a charm creating bullnose.

Top 1/4" riser combing is cut flush with horizontal lip surface. Sanded and laminate bullnose compete ready for epoxy and glass.

COVERING THIGH BRACES WITH CARBON FIBER CLOTH. I wasn't happy with the look of the epoxy wood fiber fillet between the veneered okoume thigh brace and cedar riser and thought it would be fun to experiment with carbon fiber cloth.

Epoxy wood fiber (also known as "dookie smutz" ) ready for swipe with 1/2" radius tongue depressor. Flashing tape barrier to contain filler. Easy to apply with a pastery bag.

Fillet cleaned up. Normally entire boat is stained dark and fillet blends in but I chose to keep it natural and covered the okoume with a cedar veneer which hightlighted the fillet.

Thigh braces wrapped with 5.7 ounce plaine weave American made .012" carbon fiber cloth. Discoverd cloth is very ridgid and difficult to wrap aroung 3mm okoume and kept releasing from bottom of thigh brace. It needed a clamp or mold. Clamped flashing tape covered cedar worked great.

Clamps removed carbon fiber trimmed and sanded. Need trim pieces to cover raw carbon fiber edges. Discovered it was very easy to sand thru fiber and expose wood below.

Thin Sitka Spruce and Dark Western Red Cedar accents. Covered in 2 coats of epoxy. Ready for light sanding and Spar varnish.

EPOXY END FILLS: A dam is created in the end of the bow and stern hull ends with a bondo scraper to create a form that thickened epoxy flows into to create a watertight cavity .

The kayak is tilted upward to allow thickened epoxy to level off .

Once thickened epoxy cures a 3/8" hole is drilled thru bow and stern ends to allow a line and handle to be attached to carry kayak.

I added a layer of carbon fiber and epoxy to strengthen the stern. The next step was to laminate a 3mm layer of okoume with a smaller cutout.

Thicken epoxy was added to the 3mm okoume plywood and a shop full of clamps.

A larger hatch recess was added to add strength to the hatch and catch the hatch cover.

A layer of fiberglass and epoxy conforms to the recess adding strength.

BUILDING THE HATCH COVERS/OPENINGS: What I thought was a foolproof template and jig for routing an opening on the deck with a 1/8" spiral router bit with a 1/4" bushing turned out to be a different story.

The router slipped and created a "design change"

The stern hatch cover was made smaller by 1/2" and then (5) 1/16" layers of walnut was wrapped and glued to repair slip up.

1/16" sitka spruce detail covers end grain on hatch opening.

Sitka spruce accent was planed clean with a flat luthier plane.

Detail of hatch handle made from 1" carbon fiber tube cut at an angle. Fiberglass covered handle and epoxied over smooth.

I wanted an easily accessible watertight storage compartment for water and snacks. An off the shelf 6" ABS screw type day hatch was laminated with carbon fiber cloth to match the other carbon fiber details.

JOINING THE DECK TO HULL: The deck is taped to the hull and every 6" C.A. glue is used with an accelerant to hold in place.

The kayak is tilted on its side so gravity can let epoxy flow evenly on the cloth on the inside of kayak.

A 3" wide by 14 foot 9 oz. cloth is soaked in epoxy rolled up then unrolled joining both sides inside of kayak.

ATTACHING RECESSED DECK FITTINGS: I purchased beautiful mahogany and maple egg shaped cnc cut deck fittings from Guillemot Kayaks© with a template. After you layout where you want them the recess is cut with an 1/8" router bit and a 3/8" bushing.

I found string and a paper template useful for laying out the other side.

Finished fitting with 1/4" bungee for holding paddle float and bilge pump for pumping water out of boat in case of a capsize.

BENDING & ATTACHING THE OUTER STEMS: The bow and stern need a hard wood to protect the soft Western Red Cedar from abrasion. Masking tape covers the bow edges. Layers of epoxy and 1/16" White Oak strips are bent to the shape of bow and held in place with stretch wrap acting as a clamp.

Once the laminate is cured the tape is removed and the stem is glued with thickened epoxy. Once that cures the stem is shaped with a rasp and sanded smooth.

A strip of fiberglass with epoxy covers the outer stem running down the hull a few feet. That is sanded smooth. The process is repeated for the stern end. The boat can be finished after the epoxy cures for a week.

FINISHING WITH A U.V. SHELLAC. : Epoxy has no U.V. qualities and would quickly degrade without a protective U.V. Finish. Interlux Schooner Varnish has a beautiful amber tint that shows off the grain well. The boat is sanded smooth to 220 grit and wiped down with denatured alcohol.

In between coats I sanded with 320 grit to knock the nibs down and then wiped with denatured alcohol. After the final coat I sanded the varnish with 400grit,600 grit,1000 grit then 1500 grit. I used Meguiars 105 compound, then Meguiars M210 to buff to a mirror finish with a variety of buffers.

A small buffer was used with a removable foam pad with speed control for all the hard to reach areas.

All the small items were attached to plates to hold them while I sprayed. A lazy Susan was great to spin the objects around to cover all the sides.