Hi Everyone,
We launched the Yost Sea Flea 11 kayak that I built for my daughters nearly two weeks ago on a Saturday afternoon. The launch was a hurried affair as some weather was rolling in and the rain started while the second daughter had her turn. The next day we took it out for a more extensive run. Both girls had a lot of fun in the kayak.

The kayak is the 11 foot version of the Sea Flea: http://yostwerks.com/SeaFlea3.html

I constructed it with a wood frame, using scarfed cedar stringers and 1/2" plywood cross sections (stations). I coated the entire frame in epoxy, and painted the visible portions of the frame (and some extra) and cockpit yellow using Tremclad paint (aka Rustoleum). I picked that particular paint because I was shopping at a hardware store with limited selection and priming wasn't required. The kayak was skinned with 18 ounce PVC fabric purchased locally (Denham Awning Makers). The colours and designs used were selected by my daughters. I tried to include them as much as I could through the build. Of course this wasn't really very much and sometimes was insignificant things (holding something for me that didn't absolutely need holding) but they really enjoyed being part of it and are very proud of the boat they built. The cartoon orca on the deck was done using scrap pieces of PVC fabric, thrown in when I bought the fabric for the rest of the kayak.

I built fore & aft flotation chambers using the instructions on Tom Yost's web site. http://yostwerks.com/FloatbagA.html

A block of minicell foam was cut to fit tightly between the gunwale stringers as a foot brace. It's quite secure like that and when her legs are longer if it needs to move I can trim it and move it forward.

The outrigger is similar to that designed in the Cunningham SOF kayak building book. It uses boat bumpers as floats with the floats being held in place by bungee and a webbing strap. I also added small wood pieces to the underside of the cross piece to help keep the floats in the right spot. I did this because initially I was only going to use the bungee, but decided it need something extra so added the webbing around the float

The paddle that I made to go with the kayak was constructed of a cedar shaft (left over wood from making the stringers) with 1/8" birch plywood blades. The shaft is 7/8 x 1" and the total paddle length is about 55". The blades were drawn out to what looked about right and are symmetrical with a curved power face. The blades were painted, each daughter putting her own special touch on one of the blades. The blade painting was done before attachment to the shaft. The blades were edged with a 14 gauge bare copper wire for protection (tacked in place initially with crazy glue then held permanently with epoxy). The blades were covered on the power face with 1 layer of 6 ounce glass (I planned on using 4 ounce, but forgot where I put it for a few hours).

As usual, I have kept a blog of the progress. The link at the bottom will take you to all posts pertaining to the Sea Flea build (or use the label "kid kayak").

The launch write-up and a few photos can be found here: http://pawistik.blogspot.com/2008/06/launch-of-sea-flea.html

Many thanks to Tom Yost for the design and making the plans available to the community. Your efforts are greatly appreciated!

Cheers,
Bryan Sarauer