Cedar strip kayak

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Made a Cedar strip kayak mostly from a Chesapeake Light Craft Little Auk 11 kit. I customized it a bit with sapele accents, mahogany bulkheads, laminated ash bow and stern outer stems.  Epoxy and fiberglass with 5 coats of Total Boat Gleam spar varnish

Slideshow of the build: 

23 Comments

Amazing! Great work. 

Ryan/// ~sigh~ I blew up another bowl. Moke told me "I made the inside bigger than the outside".

Great looking Lake Yacht!!!

Ron

Looks like a comfortable ride and will really outclass those plastic contraptions!
beautiful kayak, love all the pic's.

working with my hands is a joy,it gives me a sense of fulfillment,somthing so many seek and so few find.-SAM MALOOF.

Excellent job! I built a Redfish King years ago and now am to the point where we would prefer the design of the Great Auk. It looks like a fun boat to use.
Are there access ports in the bulkheads?
Ron,

That is a beauty.  Looks great.

daveg, SW Washington & AZ

I've never built a kayak before but have built a redwood strip canoe. It's alot of work. Yours looks beautiful and something to be proud of achieving. Good on ya!
Wow, beautifully done!  I love to kayak, but imagine building one to be challenging (I haven't watched the video yet!).  Also, with all the rocky shorelines here in Missouri, I would cry to scratch a kayak like this.  Thanks for sharing, and planting the seed for at least looking into building my own.

If your first cut is too short... Take the second cut from the longer end... LBD

Nice slideshow video.  How long did it take to build?  So many details!
Thanks everyone! 

Steve Rasmussen -  No access ports to the bulkheads.  I like your Redfish kayak!  I got my seat from Redfish.

BB1 - Took about 7 months to build. 13 months start to finish with about 6 months off waiting for my shop to warm up to do epoxy/fiberglass
Wow - that's a time (and space) commitment.  Turned out so nice and I'm sure getting out on the water will be extra special.
Beautiful kayak, impressive accomplishment for sure.

.................. John D....................

What a beautiful kayak! And a great video presentation. Thanks for sharing!

https://dutchypatterns.com/

Looks great! Chesapeake has great plans, I used them (with modifications) for the paddle boards I've made. Did you track the hours? The paddle boards were fairly quick (30 hrs over two weeks) but yours looks like a lot more work

Angellos

Westcoast Arts - I  didn't track the hours. Wild guess maybe 400.  But it wasn't an efficient build. I didn't staple the strips, so I sometimes only added one strip per side a day.  Most work was done 1-2 hours per day.