After several months in my workshop dealing with high humidity, a delayed epoxy shipment, wind-blown fiberglass, bugs and bird poop, my two kayaks are finally in the water!

The hull design of these kayaks is similar in most respects to Vaclav's designs at One Ocean Kayaks. One of my kayaks is 17.5 feet and the other 18.2'.

The wood is Dakua (similar characteristics to basswood, but redish). Mohagany accents.

During a shakedown cruise of the 17.5, I learned I need to lower the backrest a little and perhaps move the paddle park back one foot, but otherwise it performed great in moderate wind and seas. I haven't yet found a good perimeter line, so that will wait for another few weeks.

The only significant feature changed from my earlier kayaks is to make footbraces out of wood triangles (see bottom photo). This is similar to many sit-on-tips designs. I wish I had dome this on my earlier boats. They adjust to a variety of leg lengths but have no moving parts and nothing to corrode.

This photo is the 17.5. I'll post a photo of the other boat in a few days.

Thanks everone for sharing your building tips. I searched this message board several times with success to learn about 2-part polyurathane, high humidity, etc. :-)

Cheers,
John