Global Nomad

Cost. Now, this is a matter of debate. There's a difference between the cost of raw materials that are strictly part of the boat (that is, they end up on the water) and the cost of building it (strongback, special tools). The first comes to $470, the second to $395. Shipping is included but that only applies to the $77 & $152 orders below. The rest was bought locally. I'm in the Washington DC area where EVERYTHING is more expensive, so that probably factors in too. The only tools involved were paint brushes, and cheap bungee cords & hot knife from Harbor Freight. $45 plywood $56 glue, cedar stringers 1x4x8 $42 floor boards & paint $10 screws for rub strip, Lexel caulk $13 paint for coaming $77 tung oil, keepers foot braces, 1 roll of sinew $152 back band, 14' 11 oz fabric, needles $38 8 ft 1x6 for strongback $37 bungee cords for assembly, 6 chip brushes & Harbor Freight hot knife Total: $470 I had wood for the coaming & rub strips, sandpaper, hardware for strongback assembly, & silcon bronze screws for the coaming so no cost there. Without tools & strongback -- take off the last 2 lines & it comes out to $395. Can't really build one without a strongback though. Not included: cost of the book (plans) -- this should be in there, but I'm too lazy to look it up. seat paddle I could have cut costs by painting it all one color. I used cheap plywood because it was an experiment. I didn't want the expense of shipping BB or driving over to Annapolis for a $130 sheet of marine mahogany ply. So, it cost more than I expected but it was fun to build anyway. I'd love to do another model if I can ever make it to Alabama for a test paddle first!

Built to plans? Yup. This is kayak #5 for me. I've paddled each. 16' Folboat double (built back in high school from a kit) 15' CLC Cape Charles (stitch & glue lofted from plans) 18' CLC Cape Charles (stitch & glue lofted from plans) 14' Pygmy Kayak Arctic Tern (stitch & glue from kit). The Pygmy performed the best. I built it for my daughter & if I could have afforded to, I would have built another for myself. The 15 foot CLC was a good fit too. I've also done a strip-built Cosine Wherry from full size plans & a couple other small boats. Seat height: I didn't sit on the boat cushion for long! Pulling it out improved the stability. Floors are 5/8" slats lashed on top of the frames. Secondary stability was great. It's true that feel is a personal thing. A canoe is like a second skin to me and it takes the right fit & feel to feel at home in a kayak. I loved the lashing method -- screws on that old folboat were forever pulling out -- and loved the light weight. Looking for the right design will just keep me building, I guess. I'll look up cost & post that.

I finished one of these this summer from the plans in More FF Boats & was disappointed with the result. It may be that I just don't understand what 250 lb displacement means. With me or my son-in-law in there (about 190 lbs) sitting on the floor boards, it was low in the water & initial stability was bad. With a 140 lb paddler, it was fine. Having built a screw & glue SOF decades ago, I loved the lashing method -- SO much better! Cost was significantly higher than $300 but I was OK with that & thinking about a Ravenswood for a 2nd boat till I got this one in the water. Now I'm gun shy about investing the time & money in it. Don't know what I'm missing. I had to build a short boat because of limitations in shop space (think Jethro Gibbs, if you're an NCIS fan) but I thought a 250 lb displacement would handle a 190 lb paddler with no problem. Now I've got to decide whether to hang onto it for when the grandkids get older or try to sell it to somebody little.

Thanks, Jeff.

I've got both of Jeff''s FF books and noticed that the first recommends a minimum of 1 inch from the stringer to the inside of the frame. The second book says to make a 2" parallel line. I thought this might be a difference between kayaks & open boats but More FF Boats includes 2 kayaks. Did the recommended frame width change? Thanks for the clarification!

Just 1. I figured a real test would be more and longer but thought surviving an hour would be good enough for an interior frame on a kayak.

Thanks, PAR, that's helpful info. It lasted an hour in the pot (which is far longer than I plan on boiling the boat), seems to have a good core, and I can get it locally for less than $45/sheet so I'm going to give it a shot.

I've got a sample of Purebond veneer core hardwood plywood from Columbia Forest Products that I need to run a boil test on. Anyone ever use the stuff for frames? I'm going to sneak another question in -- What width & length do I need for skin material for a Ravenswood? I'm starting to collect materials. Thanks.