Kudzu

Kudzu Craft is closed. It started with COVID. I expected lots of sales because people were stuck at home, what a great time to build a boat! What happened? Sales did the opposite and plummeted. Bad enough I was forced to take a partial retirement. Things did pick up... a little. But it has been a struggle ever since. Things like poorly made, cheap priced WalMart kayaks, crazy economy, young people that no longer DIY or go outdoors for that matter.... all these have really hurt my business. I have tried to keep the doors open but I have not paid myself a salary in I don't know when. I finally realized I am beating a dead horse. Thank you to all that supported us over the years. Wife and I are starting to look for an RV and next year expect to travel out west and work on our photography. At some point, head south toward the Keys and kayak the springs of FL on the way. Maybe even head up the East coast to New England. Life is short and we want to enjoy it while we can. Again, Thank You for you support in the past.

They will be fine. I had a very hard time finding decent WRC in my market. I just used what ever i could find and cut out the knots and scarfed them to longer lengths.

No I have not bought any in a while. Trying to find someone to cut cuts kits and really concerned about what to use for plywood. I would probably go marine but I have to have it shipped in and freight shipping is not cheap. So not sure what we are going to do.

Sorry I missed your posting. There is so little activity here I don't check daily and it should have notified me of your post. I can make one boat kit such as the VARDO from one 5x5 sheet of BB. It was the perfect size for boat kits. Very little scrap. I never made them from 4x8 sheets. It wouldn't have been nearly as efficient for me trying to use large pieces of scrap. I suspect that you will run a little short since a 4x8 sheet has 32 sq ft verses (2) 5x5 sheets having 50 sf ft. I just don't think you are squeeze two boats into that one sheet. It might fool me! But that is a big difference.

Been a long time coming but we are open for business again. Inventory is low and I will be adding materials as sales dictate.

I am about a month away from moving into our new house. Shop will be finished about the same time. Once that is done I will have time to start looking for fabric again. Most of sources dried up or just priced themselves out of my market. No hard date but I am working my butt off trying to get this all finished so I can get back to it.

Here you go https://www.kudzucraft.com/web/which-boat-should-i-build VARDO has been extremely popular with first timers. Good all around boat but for me the interior volume is just to large. But that is what beginners like. I prefer a boat that my knees touch the deck because as your skills increase you learn to turn the boat with you hips as much as the paddle. Being able to wedge yourself in the boat makes this much easier. It is not so tight you are locked in. Matter of fact if you flip on purpose you will tend to slide out.

Love it!!

Mine are aimed more at flat water and new paddlers. I don't think you would be happy with any of my designs compared to what you have.

New store is finished. I moved it to my website. You will find we are carrying a much smaller inventory now. Sales levels since Covid have dropped dramatically and it is just economically feasible to keep our previous inventory in stock. We are focused on plans, books and a few basic supplies. Our fabric source has dried up and we have no fabrics at the moment. We hope to add it back to the store but finding fabric has always been a struggle. But I am going to keep looking because I was about the only one selling a good polyester fabric Want to say thank you for your past support! Jeff

Looks great! Since you bought those plans I have made a couple of small changes. One is the frame under the rear of the coaming now has a center brace cut in the frame. I found after a couple of years of regular use the plywood started to weaken and eventually collapsed. You can make a simple brace that will wedge between the keel and the deck. I just cut a couple of slots and made it snug fit. Works good and will save issues down the road. You can remove it if you need access to the rear space too. As for the coaming support, since you did a laminated coaming you can probably get along fine without it. I don't use them in mine but of course that will depend on how strong you coaming is. How much spring back it has.

Did not think about it till seeing you photo, but last ones I did were with the old fabric which had a loose weave and was easy to more around to conform. I don't have any good suggestions without seeing it person. I do remember the first one I built I ended up putting a seam horizontally along the fantail. I will think on this but not sure I have a good idea. New fabric may not be a good choice for this boat.

I always sew mine. It takes some patience to get it right but it can be done.

This is the reason I never built a traditional boat. They are built by eye, not by plans (for the most part). There isn't a good easy way to build two exactly alike boats. Fuselage frame may not be identical but they will be extremely close. And no, no longer doing classes. Last one I tried to put together all but one student backed out. Just hard to put on a class for a price people are willing to pay. So I sold off all the tools and supplied I used in the classes.

I have not read about bledding fingers but if you follow my method for sewing on the skin it won't be a problem. I have a video(s) up showing how I sew on the skin. Use the thread to pull the skin tight and a dowel to pull the thread.