: My husband's birthday is coming up and I am looking for a pattern to a kayak
: we recently saw. We talked to the people who had them, and they said they
: were made in the 70's by a high school shop teacher and they thought the
: pattern came from POPULAR MECHANICS. I have been searching and searching
: everywhere I can think of and have been unable to find anything. Perhaps
: somebody has a copy of this or can tell me where I can get one quickly!

: The kayak is made out of one sheet of plywood and is collapsible. The gussets
: (I think that is what they are called) are held in place by pressure and
: the sides have some sort of taping or fabric stripping around them to make
: it flexible, enabling them to fold flat.

: If anyone can help me, please respond to my email, bubba41437@hotmail.com

This should be what you are looking for:

http://www.duckworksmagazine.com/articles/foldingkayak/

I have seen similar plans being offered, usually in the $10 to $15 range, by people who have made similar versions for Boy Scout troops, or church groups. I think there is a version around which uses a single sheet of 4x8 foot plywood. Please note the line in the Duckworks writeup whih says that the author's friend built his 12 feet long. Longer is better if the paddler is over about 150 to 175 pounds.

This plan calls for 10 foot long plywood. It is difficult to find plywood that long, and when you DO find it, then you'll see that it is quite a bit more expensive than the standard sized 4x8 plywood. Do not let that discourage you. Check for postings and instructions on "Scarfing" ro Scarphing" on this BBS. Or, you can find such instructions in books such as Chris Kulczycki's "The Kayak shop" or "The New Kayak Shop". Check with your library for the book. If they dont have it, then ask if they can get it through interlibrary loan.

Scarphing is a method of cutting a long tapered joint along the edge of a sheet of plywood, which, when combined with a strong, waterproof glue, allows you to make a longer sheet of plywood from 2 (or more) shorter ones. With this method of combining sheets of plywood it is practcial to make a 12 foot long version of this boat from 2 sheets of 1/4 inch plywood. this will leave you some excess material which can be used for the other plywood pieces. Two pieces of the 1/4 inch plywood can be laminated to make the 1/2 inch thick materials for the spreader boards.

By the way, the article says you can make these for $15 each. Don't believe it. That was the price 50 years ago. Nowadays you'll spend nearly that much just for the paint. $60 to $80 is a more reasonable estimate. Exterior glued lauan is now a very common and inexpensive plywood to work with, and perfectly suited for this project. You should find nominal 1/4 inch lauan (probably 5.5mm) for $10 a sheet or less.

The canvas called for on this project is going to be thicker than what you'll find in most fabric stores. Usually the heaviest canvas they have is called "10 ounce duck", and refers to the fabric weighing 10 ounces for one square yard. You do not want this. What is called for here is a material which is about 50% thicker. The proper material is called #8 or #10 duck, and as you can see, the second choice has a name which is very similar to the wrong material. #10 duck weighs about 14 ounces per yard, and #8 duck is heavier, at about 20 ounces per yard.

You can get short quantities of the real stuff, #10 duck, by mail order from Clark Craft (www.clarkcraft.com) Look on their website for canoe building supplies. Other places which sell these heavy weight fabrics in short lengths are art stores. Look for unprimed cotton canvas at:

Pearl Paint:

http://www.pearlart.com/10cottonduck.html

http://www.pearlart.com/8cottonduck.html

Utrecht art supplies:

http://www.utrechtart.com/dsp_view_products.cfm?startrow=1&page=1&classID=1310&subclassID=131010&gallery=off

or Dick Blick Art supplies:

http://www.dickblick.com/zz073/02/products.asp?param=0&ig_id=567

2-3 yards of a 45 to 60 inch width should do. If you go with a wider (72 inch) fabric you could probably get by with just 2 yards. Figure on about $20 worth of canvas.

Happy birthday to your husband. Hope he enjoys this project.

PGJ