Some details on the finished frame for the big guy (or gal) kayak prototype. I’m probably somewhere around 30 hours into the project here. Next I wait a couple days for the oil to dry, wrap in plastic and hopefully do a float test! ___ This post was originally featured on our Instagram feed....
"Photos: Finished frame details for the big guy kayak"Continue readingCategory: Boat Design
Photos: More progress on the big guy kayak
A few more photos of the progress on the big guy kayak prototype. Seems like things are going pretty smooth with just a minor diversion of having to cut the entire thing apart to replace a couple ribs that weren’t giving me the shaping I wanted. I’m about five days into the build here,...
"Photos: More progress on the big guy kayak"Continue reading
Photos: Developing the larger person kayak prototype
Here’s a few more photos of the larger person kayak prototype construction process. I’m about 16 hours into the build here (including prep time). Tomorrow we put the ribs in....
Video: A 14-year-old F1 kayak, one of the originals
I started designing the F1 kayak about 15 years ago, based on the lines of the Mariner Coaster (with permission from Matt Brpze), since then, it has undergone a relentless process of iteration, ultimately resulting in a kayak that his lightweight, stable, highly maneuverable, impervious to weathercocking, and surprisingly fast for a 14 foot...
"Video: A 14-year-old F1 kayak, one of the originals"Continue reading
Video: Edge turning the LPB
Not great footage, but a really good demonstration of the LPB’s edge turning abilities. it will do the same thing in a 20 mph cross wind. With the recent focus on sailing I’ve been putting a lot of rudders on kayaks, so I can say from personal experience that the LPB actually turns FASTER...
"Video: Edge turning the LPB"Continue reading
Video: Getting the canoes ready launch
There’s an inverse relationship between the amount of hassle that it takes to get a boat to the water and how often you actually go boating, and it’s this truth drives my obsession with simplicity and light weight. Likely because of medical issues that I deal with relating to metabolism, I’ve always found the...
"Video: Getting the canoes ready launch"Continue reading
The F2 Tandem Sea Kayak
24 inches wide, 9 inches deep, 20 feet long, custom everything I like doubles, a lot of people don’t. While it’s true that a double removes some of the freedom and spryness of traveling in singles, it also adds efficiency for straight line travel and can be a great way to even out the...
"The F2 Tandem Sea Kayak"Continue reading
Surfing the F1
Visit F1 design page here …But how does it surf? Ahhh yes, the perennial question, and perhaps the most misguided one because sea kayaks, by design, are not good at surfing. Not real surfing, not the kind that surfers do. This of course never stopped me from trying to make one that is! I invited my buddy...
"Surfing the F1"Continue reading
The F1 Kayak: Adventures in Kayak Design
“Brian, I finally got a chance to paddle one of your kayaks. It was my birthday and Judy let me paddle her boat. It was a peak experience, it was like wearing silk underwear.”– Lorraine “Thank you so much for the loan of the F1. I had a blast! Today I took your boat out on...
"The F1 Kayak: Adventures in Kayak Design"Continue reading
SC-1 Design Evolution
Skin-on-frame definitely has its drawbacks, but the single most positive thing about building this way is the ability to evolve designs. We build boats, you give feedback, the design changes. My last Mariner inspired skin-boat went through two years of design work and got worse and better throughout the process and is still being...
"SC-1 Design Evolution"Continue reading
Building the SC-1
The perfect flatwater kayak for beginners.The perfect ocean kayak for surf enthusiasts. The original Coaster was designed by Cam Broze of Mariner Kayaks in 1985. This 23″ wide 13’5″ kayak quickly gained cult status as a superior kayak in the surf. Surprisingly it went on to prove itself as a remarkably versatile sea kayak...
"Building the SC-1"Continue reading
Copying a Fiberglass Kayak in Skin-on-Frame: Building the SC-1
Note: I built this interpretive copy of the Mariner Coaster with permission.It is not cool to copy someone else’s design work without asking them first. “….lets double check that measurement one more time,” — our motto Taking the breadths with crude calipers. Setting up the gunwales, again and again and again, to get it...
"Copying a Fiberglass Kayak in Skin-on-Frame: Building the SC-1"Continue reading