I had three playful goals this year: To learn how to kayak, make sushi and design earrings. Well not only am I learning how to kayak but I just built my first one! It is a Tom Yost designed "Sea Otter R" skin-on-frame. She is 15.5' long by 20 inches wide and I spent many wonderful evenings and a number of weekends with my boyfriend, Dave Gentry, cutting, sanding, staining and stitching. Well the stitching wasn't so wonderful . . . .
It's a wooden framed, non-folding, version covered with 12 ounce nylon from George Dyson and coated with untinted Zar polyurethane. It weighs about 25 pounds and took about four weeks to build.
On Friday Dave surprised me with the beautiful finishing touches and we had her in the water before we even ate dinner (priorities!).