Chris Martin

I don't know how much trademark there is in a name but there are a few production models (Tahe Marine) called Sea Spirit and years ago Bobby Curtis was selling plans for his Stitch and Glue kayak called Sea Spirit. Maybe a variant "Spirit of the Sea"

Looks really nice. I think if I push the Christmas tree away from the wall a little there is a spot for it. My wife always says I have too many kayaks outside so I will bring this one inside.

I had some success with minimal splintering using a very fine tooth blade 20 tpi Bosch T101A0 I have also put masking tape down first on both sides when cutting small pieces but would not really work for our frames. I does make my wonder if some tear-out could be solved by painting both sides of the Baltic Birch with polyurethane first before you glue on the plans and cut.

Thanks for posting these pictures. Seeing things like this is why I kayak. I just like to be out in nature and feel the wind and quiet. I like to see the deer, raccoons and alligators along the shore and along the Gulf Coast duck, geese, huge Night Heron and the occasional spoonbill.

Thanks Jeff. I don't know if people appreciate just how good you are. You build your "boats", test them and give people your honest opinion both pros and cons. Also your plans are dead-on and if there is a confusion you always seem to jump in. I contrast this with some plans I bought involving a more traditional kayak which was made into "fuselage". The plans were about $10 less but even though I am sure the individual meant well the plans came on something which looked like a brown grocery bad and they had taken a black sharpee and somewhat traced them from a mold. There was no plans or drawing for the stem and stern as they claimed these just needed to be fit. Anyway thanks for being the professional that you are.

Jeff, With all of the changes that you made to your Long Shot did it ever get a name? Are you planning to make the plans available or should someone just buy the Long Shot plans and then follow this thread to make the alterations? Thanks.

Somehow I also remember from some years ago that Current Designs modeled their design Caribou S on the "Iggy" http://www.cdkayak.com/products/template/product_detail.php?IID=154 If you read the comments on Paddling.net it had a lot of problems with weathercocking and really need a skeg. http://www.paddling.net/Reviews/showReviews.html?prod=329 Kajak Sport has a drop in box already made http://www.kajaksport.com/www/index.php?option=com_virtuemart&view=productdetails&virtuemart_product_id=56&virtuemart_category_id=7〈=en pdf file on details http://www.kajaksport.com/www/index.php?option=com_phocadownload&view=category&id=1&Itemid=117〈=en

For those of you interested, the "Original Iggy" was designed as the following. If you want to look for yourself you will need Free!Ship http://www.softpedia.com/get/Science-CAD/Freeship-Plus.shtml The Model http://personal.inet.fi/koti/tonivee/KOG/models.html Project : Illorsuit, EK 1959, Ken Taylor's kayakDesigner :Created by : Toni VäkipartaComment : Rough model by data from webFilename : C:UserscmDownloadsKOG_072B-Illorsuit.fbm Design length : 16.562 [ft]Length over all : 16.554 [ft]Design beam : 1.745 [ft]Beam over all : 1.745 [ft]Design draft : 0.403 [ft]Midship location : 8.281 [ft]Water density : 62.428 [lbs/ft3]Appendage coefficient : 1.0000Volume properties: Displaced volume : 3.184 [ft3] Displacement : 0.089 [tons] Total length of submerged body : 13.685 [ft] Total beam of submerged body : 1.592 [ft] Block coefficient : 0.3622 Prismatic coefficient : 0.5067 Vert. prismatic coefficient : 0.5636 Wetted surface area : 17.379 [ft2] Longitudinal center of buoyancy : 8.110 [ft] Longitudinal center of buoyancy : -1.245 [%] Vertical center of buoyancy : 0.271 [ft]Midship properties: Midship section area : 0.459 [ft2] Midship coefficient : 0.7148Waterplane properties: Length on waterline : 13.685 [ft] Beam on waterline : 1.592 [ft] Waterplane area : 13.998 [ft2] Waterplane coefficient : 0.6426 Waterplane center of floatation : 8.220 [ft] Entrance angle : 12.963 [degr.] Transverse moment of inertia : 2.013 [ft4] Longitudinal moment of inertia : 123.65 [ft4]Initial stability: Transverse metacentric height : 0.903 [ft] Longitudinal metacentric height : 39.110 [ft]Lateral plane: Lateral area : 4.107 [ft2] Longitudinal center of effort : 7.908 [ft] Vertical center of effort : 0.240 [ft] The following layer properties are calculated for both sides of the ship:| Layer | Area | Thickness | Weight | COG X | COG Y | COG Z || | [ft2] | | [tons] | [ft] | [ft] | [ft] ||-------------------------|--------|-----------|----------|---------|---------|---------|| bottom | 13.450 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 8.518 | 0.000 | 0.166 || chine | 14.001 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 8.404 | 0.000 | 0.514 || deck | 17.382 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 8.453 | 0.000 | 0.693 ||-------------------------|--------|-----------|----------|---------|---------|---------| Total 44.833 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 Sectional areas: | Location | Area || [ft] | [ft2] ||-----------+----------|| 1.642 | 0.012 || 3.284 | 0.102 || 4.926 | 0.250 || 6.568 | 0.400 || 8.210 | 0.459 || 9.852 | 0.393 || 11.494 | 0.233 || 13.136 | 0.089 || 14.779 | 0.000 ||-----------+----------|NOTE 1: Draft (and all other vertical heights) is measured above the lowest point of the hull! (Z= -0.132)NOTE 2: All calculated coefficients based on actual dimensions of submerged body.

I guess what I have always wondered is take any of your kayaks for example the Long Shot. Currently it is designed for max paddler I think at 250 lbs and for that design you have a set of hydrostatics Suppose a 200 lb and 300 lb person said make me Long Shot with the same hydrostatics as for the 250 lb design I have always wondered if this would be possible and how you would tweak the length, width and depth to maintain nearly the hydrostatic numbers. I am a math guy by trade and yes I ponder these weird ideas but in the past have been too lazy to really put it to a test.

Jeff, When you scale the numbers in your program which I assume is something like FreeShip do you scale the width, length, depth uniformly or have you come across a more consistent approach whereby the hydrostatics remain similar? To be more specific do you shrink width, length and depth all by 1 inch at a time or if you shrink width by 1 inch length does length go up say 2 inches. I guess what I am wondering is if one day someone could tell you -> I like the "Iggy" shape and I am 5-11, 225 lbs and then your program scales for more individual fits. Almost like ordering a pair of shoes.

The picture is very stunning and I am sure a lot of people would be interested, including myself. In your early designs and calculations how would you say that it differs from the Shad in terms of paddling?

Not your fault P Douglass, perhaps I did not formulate the question clearly. I was not so interested in design shape as much as building practices and I admit many design choices are trade-offs and often what is easy to get. Sometimes "more" is not better as in 8oz or 12oz fabric is great but 15 to 20oz for a kayak may not bend or sew on correctly. Sometimes a particular coating might seem great but you need a hazmat suit and respirator to put it on.

If you lurk around SOF discussion boards you will often hear "my kayak is the best, because ..." and it often this centers around the following: 1. It is the narrowest, lowest freeboard, most Inuit/Aluet like. Personally never really cared to compete in this area. I do appreciate what the Inuit/Aleut did but my body even with the leanest bodyweight would never fit and second there are no seals in the Houston waterways. 2. My kayak is the lightest, used all WRC and 6oz fabric and it tips the scale at 23 lbs. While weight is important seems to me anything 25 - 40 lbs still beats any glass or plastic kayak. 3. My kayak is the cheapest at $250 While noble it is your life out there and if you are stuck alone out in the water in something that just pops up did that $100 cost saving really matter. 4. My "Best Kayak" is a. Frames - Okoume and Baltic Birch close second b. Stringers, Keel - Cypress most rot resistant, people talk WRC but have heard it is "brittle" and the dust bothers some people. Might go "fir" for those 2 stringers you sit on behind the seat to wiggle in for strength. c. Cloth - Would not mind trying polyester 11.5 but I already have 12 oz Dyson Nylon. Keep hearing people say nylon is more abrasion resistant. d. Coating - I like the 2 part Corey Goop but think I would give nod to Coelan. So what is your best?

I have also see a lot of people talking about Coelan as a really nice coating. http://www.premapro.com/products/coelan-boat-coating/coelan-boat-coating-details

Let me start by saying I have no first hand experience with the situation. I have heard builders on Qajaq USA swear by it in terms of toughness and abrasion resistance. Here is a link with information and some videos. http://www.skinboats.org/skinboats/sewing_your_baidarka.html#!urethane-application-/c1xub The only negative I have seen is that it is not cheap.

This is both a question and a suggestion. Question Is there a place on the website which for lack of a better word an "addendum" which would have changes or errors that had been found in the plans or books? A perfect example would be the recent discovery in the plans for the Shad and the height at certain brackets. Suggestion If this does not exit perhaps make a pinned area so that users / builders could go and look if there had been updates after they bought the books or the plans.

They might deliver. Here is the link http://www.houstonhardwoods.com/ As far a as tear out with the jig saw I suspect some of it is due to vibration of the sheet. It is hard to keep the whole sheet clamped securely unlike the band saw where you have smaller parts and a flatter table.

Well the good news 1/2'' 5x5 Baltic Birch 4B (patched on both sides) $31.00 1/2" 5x5 Baltic Birch 3B (patched on 1 side) $36.00 4x8 sheet 12mm Okoume $120 4x8 sheet 12mm Hydrotek $85 4x8 sheet 12mm Aquatek $79 Good news is they will sell a 4x4 sheet at 1/2 price + $2.00 I probably would not get the Okoume if I had to buy a whole sheet but pretty sure I can fit all that need in 4x4. Speaking of Cost I have 2 "plastic" British Style Sea Kayaks and if I had to replace then even on sale $1600-$1900 Fiberglass is now in the $3500 range Stick and Glue Kits are $1200 or so. So even if these kayaks are in the range $400-600 it is still a great deal. You might say why am I building when I already have 2? At age 55 those 60 lb kayaks don't just jump up on top of the truck and even though I built a nice roll it up system heavy is heavy.

The Curlew plans came in the mail today. Thanks Jeff for the prompt work. For anyone who has ever thought about it you can take the cutout plans and iron them with an iron on medium heat with steam. I did not use an ironing board just used a largish sheet of nice finish 3/4'' plywood. The ink does not run, the plans do not curl. The good news is all of the creases are gone which should allow them to be applied on the wood even easier without worrying too much about flattening them out. Yes, maybe a little overkill but it worked. In the morning off to a place near me which has both 5x5 Baltic Birch and Okume BS 1088 and will check on the price. 12mm Okume is a little shy of 1/2'' but 15mm seems a little overkill. Houston, Texas

There is a nice kayak/canoe put in spot at Bay Area Park which leads out to Clear Lake. From the park out to Clear Lake is about 3 miles, lots of birds, some alligators, deer and raccoon. It is a wake free zone with no motor boats at least till Clear Lake. It also has numerous branchings. http://www.yelp.com/biz/bay-area-park-Webster North of Houston Lake Woodlands is also nice. http://www.yelp.com/biz/northshore-park-the-woodlands

Some of the early discussions of this appear in the following which has works by John Brandt and George Dyson Contributions to Kayak Studies (Canadian Museum of Civilization Mercury Series), 1992 Paperback: 347 pages Publisher: Canadian Museum Of Civilization (January 1992) Language: English ISBN-10: 0660129132 ISBN-13: 978-0660129136 Some reasons that are discussed are: 1. The lower jaw inceases the actual waterline length of the kayak. Greenland Kayaks have long pointed ends but the legnth that actually counts is the amount of the kayak in the water. 2. The upper jaw if you look at the picture by John Brandt is triangular in cross section which adds to flare which helps the bow not get buried in waves.

Jeff, Was there something in the Youtube clips that stuck out that you would not do? Not clear on your comment about do not start on top. From what I can see the baidarka is upside down, they do part of the bow, mark for stern stretch, hook the stern and then flip it over and work from top middle out to the ends.

Corey Freedman from the Skin Boat School http://www.skinboats.org/ has 10 Youtube clips on the progression for sewing. The whole series is about 18 min total. The link below is for clip 1 in the series. I am no expert but it is what I hope to follow.

There are a lot of different baidarka bows but I have always been partial to the one in John Brand's book 1984. I like the look and it seems it might be little stronger if you run into something.

I will add a few comments to your Q5 about fuselage vs steamed ribs. I have the books by Cunningham, Morris, Brinck and Starr on building the traditional SOF. I understand the methods but unless I had an "elder" who had done it a lot to me it seems to be a roll of the dice as to whether the kayak would be good or not. How much rocker, where to put the chines, how much v in the ribs? I have a Necky Chatham 17 and a Valley LV Aquanaunt and I guesss I could try an measure rocker and chine placement based on what I like but again to me that seemed hit or miss. Jeff has taken the time to design fuselage boats that he himself has built, tuned, fixed, tuned and run the hydrostatic numbers. He has done all of the trial and error and so when you get his plans or his pre-cut forms there is no question where the chines go or how much rocker since it is all built in and based off of the strongback and the forms. If you are deciding between the paper plans or the pre-cut forms you need to look at your tools and your access to good plywood. In fuselage kayaks the strongback and the forms set the shape. I bought the plans but after messing with the plans and my tools I question my original decision. My saber saw I got from dad seemed to die, so I had to buy a new saw and my band saw tire decided to break so new tire is ordered. Yes it is fun to do the whole thing by yourself but it is your choice.