kayak278

The 2 cord method worked great for me using the 8oz polyester. Here's a photo of the kayak that I finished for my son...it kind of shows the 2 cord stitch in front of the coaming...sorry I don't have a better photo that shows the stitch close up.

I've sewn up three kayaks.....the last one using Jeff's "2 cord" sewing method, in which you roll the two sides of fabric around cordage and then run the stitch under the rolled cord. I really like the clean look that this method gives over the whip stitch method. In my humble opinion, having a visible stitch running down the center (straight or not so straight LOL) adds to the beauty of a SOF boat that you built yourself! It's also a great conversation starter when people walk up to you at a put-in site and ask what it is. Good luck in whatever method you decide to use..... It's hard to make just one!

Jeff....you're probably right on that......although since he is 3 and a half, my wife wanted the outriggers on and I deferred to her I do have a greenland paddle all made up for him that we will use once we hit the water again next spring! Hopefully I'm doing Proverbs 22:6 justice by starting him out young in a kayak!

Here's a look at the inside of my son's 10' SOF. And just because I'm a proud father, here's a shot of the two of us kayaking up near Muskegon, MI on the White River a few weeks ago. I need to come up with a better "hydro-dynamic" outrigger system. The swim noodle outriggers pushed a lot of water as I was towing him! All worth it though!!

Looks great! Your wife will love it. I just finished a 10 footer for my 3 yr old son.....now I just have to make one for my wife so she won't be the only one in the family paddling a plastic kayak!

No, I don't paint the interior.....as per Jeff's YouTube video on painting, by thinning the first coat, it allows the paint to soak into the weave of the fabric. When you look inside the fuselage, you can see either a blotchy color or a uniform color, depending on how well the paint soaked into the weave. Hope that makes sense! Jeff's video on finishing polyester

I tried thinning Rustoleum 15% with acetone on one of my SOFs and ended up with a blotchy interior. On my latest SOF, I found on Rustoleum's website that it should be thinned 20% with acetone...I did this and it worked like a charm..... I ended up with a nice, even, uniform interior.

I've been using the bags for about 5 years, no signs of leakage. On Tom Yost's site Yostwerks, you can find plans for making them. Chris Cunningham also has good instructions in his traditional Greenland Kayak building book. As Jeff mentioned on a different thread, I would check out heat sealable nylon instead of the vinyl that is used on the Yostwerks site, primarily for durability.

Another strategy to be used with flotation is the use of a "sea sock", a big "bag", which slides into the fuselage and is held to the cross sections with Velcro tabs or ties. The opening of the sea sock has a bungee in it which then goes over the lip of your coaming. The paddler slides into the sea sock to paddle. This keeps any water from a wet exit contained mostly to the sea sock. If you look through the back issues of the QajaqUSA's online newsletter called The Masik, there are plans for making a sea sock, or just google it if you're having a hard time picturing it. I'm currently making one but don't have any good pics of it.

I used swim noodles on my son's 10' Sea Flea and locked them between the cross sections before skinning, they can only be removed if the skin is removed. However, as Jeff stated, floatation bags are much better and displace more water. I use them on all of my "adult sized" SOFs.

That is a great technique, one I use as well....funny story: I'm an early riser, so at 4:30am one morning I put on a headlamp on my front porch and proceeded to check for pinholes on my North Alaska Retrieval SOF, I guess it looked a little shady because my neighbor thought I was a burglar and came over to try to scare "the burglar" (me) off! We both had a good laugh over it. Matt

I second the Helmsman Spar Urethane....used 3 coats on my first SOF several years back on 8oz poly. Worked great. I applied it using a foam brush.

Thanks! We were so blessed to be able to adopt him and my wife was even able to be in the room when his birthmother gave birth. God really provided!

I love the new stitching method. It did take longer, but it looks so much cleaner. I've done two other SOFs using the running/whip stitch method and I am now sold on this rolled method. I just finished a Yost Sea Flea for my 3.5 year old son. He won't stop telling everyone he sees about his blue kayak! At the rate he's growing (already 56 lbs and almost 4' tall) I'm going to have to build him a bigger one next year. Kayak specifics: 11' long, 8oz polyester using Jeff's new rolling method with paracord, 3 coats of Rustoleum with the first coat thinned 20%. I build the outriggers based on Kirk Frederick's cool instructional video. Floatation provided by many swim noodles taped together and sewn into the fuselage. No lip on the coaming, although if I want to add one later, I can use the rope/epoxy method.

Looks great! I especially liked your God story of finding your Suburban! I've been searching Craigslist for the right trailer to do the same thing.....I ran out of room on top of the family minivan, plus it's just plain easier to put them on a trailer.

Thanks for posting the video....I'm going to try this stitch on my son's 11' Sea Flea that I built over the winter. Do I need to do anything different when I'm using this stitch with 8oz polyester?

Looks great! I love the matching deck lines and coaming! I'm really curious about how you stitched this one up and tried to figure it out by looking at your pictures... Could you do a short write up on how you did the sewing?

Just ordered my copy on Sunday!! Can't wait to see it. Thank you so much for all of the help through your videos and website!!!

Tomorrow is skinning day, using some of your polyester and super excited to finally finish my boat. Two more questions: 1. I'm skinning at a different location than where I will be painting and was wondering if any rain will affect the un-coated polyester during transport? 2. What kind of a ratio do you use, or what consistency do you look for when adding acetone to your first coat of oil base paint?

Hi Jeff.... Thanks for the great videos and forum! I'll be ordering some polyester from you in a few weeks as the weather gets warmer and I have a few questions on the finishing process: (would also love to hear advice from the other experienced users here, as this is my first build) 1. What material do you use for sewing the skin on.... sinew? 45lb test fishing line? other? 2. I love the two tone paint on the Sling Shot....did you tape it off in order to get the nice line between the black and red or did you free hand it? 3. What has worked well for you in applying the paint....disposable brushes? rollers? 4. When installing deck line hardware, do you screw directly through the skin or do you use some sort of sealant? Also, when installing bow and stern grab loops... is there a special way to seal where the lines pass through the skin and the gunwales? Thanks! Matt S.