We just filmed and uploaded a new version of our Construction Details video to the Cape Falcon Kayak YouTube channel. In part one of this two part series we take you on a detailed tour of wood choices, scantling sizes, various materials, modifications, design philosophy and more. This is a great primer for anyone...
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Timelapse: Making a dye palette
After a record 20 YEARS of procrastination Liz and I finally made a palette of all the different fabric dye colors we recommend (a a few we don’t) for our skin on frame kayaks. It’s taken so long to get around to this because the variables of time, water to vinegar ratio, liquid to...
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Classic “Brian”
Here’s a classic “Brian” moment: I spent 15 minutes this morning carefully drawing how you can get an entire kayaks worth of parts out of a nominal 2 x 6 for a customer in Ireland where western red cedar cost nearly as much as teak! Proud of my scale drawing complete with saw kerfs...
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Video: Testing some bending oak
Doing some quick test bends on a batch of Oregon White Oak kayak ribs I’m sending to Australia. This is probably three times as flexible as you need the wood to be to actually build a skin on frame boat but it certainly makes things easier especially as a first time skin on frame...
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On YouTube: How durable are skin on frame boats?
We just posted a super detailed video about skin on frame durability on the Cape Falcon Kayak YouTube channel. We discuss the pros AND the cons of skin on frame from a durability and longevity perspective and I tell quite a few entertaining stories of situations where I’ve seen skin boat to survive and...
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Making white oak ribs for kayak kit orders today.
Making white oak ribs for kayak kit orders today. It always seems kind of insane to me that I have to sell these for four bucks apiece, but the process really doesn’t give me much choice. We start out by driving a couple hours down to Zena Forest Products where only two out of...
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Material notes from a student in New Zealand
For anyone thinking about building a skin on frame kayak in New Zealand I wanted to share this email I got a couple days ago from a student where he discusses materials sources and building methods. I figured this might be helpful to some people even if you’re not building one of my boats:...
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Building a canoe paddle
Over the years I’ve made about 20 times as many boats as I have paddles because, with the exception of Greenland paddles, most commercial paddles are better made and less expensive than my time and skills can afford. Occasionally though with the liberal application of power tools and a few household objects I can...
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Video: Steam bending tests using kiln dried European Beech and kiln dried Hickory
A student sent me of this video of his tests bending kiln dried European Beech and kiln dried Hickory, both soaked in water for a little over a week. These are the two kiln dried woods that I have found bend the best, and while not technically rot resistant I’m not sure that really...
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New set of oars
This new set of oars is based on the grant pattern for an Adirondack guide boat with a bunch of modifications. To make the best use of precious materials and also to select for different properties in different parts of the oar I start with a Sitka spruce shaft which gets mostly shaped before...
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Video: A quick view of our pop up sail rig
Just a quick video of our pop up sail rig. The rig tucks tightly out of the way and doesn’t interfere with normal paddling until you’re ready to deploy it. One hand pops a ball bungee, then a quick tug on the halyard with the other and you’re ready to sail. The sheet can...
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Video: Largest of the triple nesting canoe set, Day 9
I put four thick coats of two-part polyurethane on the canoe today which took about five hours. I won’t need to do anything else to this until the skin needs to be replaced after about 5000 miles of paddling. When you compare this to the finishing marathons that define every other kind of boat...
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Video: Largest of the triple nesting canoe set, Day 6
Finished fairing the stringers into the stems, tied them on, shaped and tied on the keel, installed some mounting blocks in the seat location, and just generally cleaned up the frame. About a half day’s work overall. I really like the contrast of the pine against the oak. This is the first canoe I’ve...
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Video: Largest of the triple nesting canoe set, Day 2
I’m using pine and fir for the longitudinal wood and the stems on this one, mostly just to use up some wood that I have around the shop. I imagine that this will end up tipping the scale at about 40 pounds which is definitely not as nice as my 30 pound smaller red...
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The less glamorous side of what we do here.
The less glamorous side of what we do here. Today we are mass producing bits and bobbles for the kayak building kits. Pretty tedious but I’m glad to have a job....