OK, I'm willing to believe you are stranded on a remote island and have nothing else to use to build an escape vessel. Heck Daedalus faced a similar problem and made wings from feathers and wax. Unfortunately, the Greek myth tells us his son Icarus died -- and we want to avoid this outcome.

So, you originally asked for designs and it is time to get you some.

We need some more information from you about your size and your materials. How big are you and how big is your son? Get out the tape measure and scale. Need to know your weight, shoe size, height and width (measure at your hips). Need the same specs for your son.

Next we need some specifics about your materials. How many coolers do you have? How big are they? If you cut them into blocks or slabs how big would those blocks be? Would the thickness be consistent or would the blocks be thicker on one edge than on the other?

How big are your cardboard boxes? If you cut them open and cut off the flaps what is the biggest sheet size you'll have? What's the orienta
tion of the corrugation? How many do you have?
Ideally you have boxes from water heaters or refrigerators. They are tall and the corrugations run the long way.

Tell me more about your elastomeric roofing material and your drywall tape.

There are several brands of these materials but they tend to come in two viscosities. The thinner material has the viscosity of latex wall paint and is spread over the roof surface with a coarse brush. Three or four coats h3den to a thick and very durable rubber film. A layer 1/16th of an inch thick would make an excellent skin for a kayak. There is a thicker grade of this roofing material which is too stiff to apply with a brush. This is usually applied with a trowel and used for repairing roof cracks. It builds up to a thick and strong coat. You can thin this with water to apply it with a brush. When bridging cracks one coat of elastomeric roofing material is applied then a piece of fiberglass mesh is pressed into the wet material and covered with another coat of the roofing compound. The fiberglass mesh looks like window screen material. It limits the stretch of the roof covering material.

Hopefully you have the open mesh fiberglass tape and not the paper tape. The fiberglass tape is quite strong For drywall use it comes 2" wide but the same material is used in wider widths for bridging cracks in leaking roofs when it is coated with elastomeric roofing coating. The paper drywall tapes aren't nearly as good for our purposes and the crease in the center makes it much weaker if you use it to cover seams and fold it along that crease.

Do you have access to a table saw? How about a handheld circular saw or a saber saw or jig saw?

Do you have a staple gun? If you are using contact cement you may not need one.

Do you have double-blade kayak paddles or will you need to make those, too?

You'll need a pair of cedar 2x4s to make 2 Greenland-style paddles.

The general idea is to find a pair of plans for Skin-On-Frame kayaks which will fit you and your son. You'll make the frames from your styrofoam. You'll also make the seats and backrests from the foam coolers.

To tie the frames together you are going to use strips of wood which are 3/4" by 1/2". You can cut these from a nominal 1x6 board with a hand saw if you must, but a powered saw will make the process easier.

You'll laminate pieces of foam to get sheets which are large enough to cut the forms from then lash them together with the wood strips to create a fairly conventional frame. You'll skin this with pieces of cardboard. Waterproof this and go paddling. The cardboard won't last long. When it wears out you can p*tch it with more cardboard, recover it completely with fresh cardboard, or cover it with something more durable like cloth or thin plywood. For the sake of safety we will get the foam and wood frame to be bouyant enough to keep you afloat in the event of tot" loss of the cardboard skin. Should the floor fall out you'll be able to paddle the bouyant frame to land.

I have some ideas on waterproofing that cardboard.

: ...a couple sheets of cheap plywood - $30- $40

1/4 inch lauan plywood sells for about $10 a sheet. You can make a good tandem canoe from two sheets, or a "Boy Scout" folding kayak for your son from one sheet. When I get to my other computer I'll send a link to plans for that. You may like to look at them. You can cut panels of this thin plywood to replace the cardboard when it wears out the third time, and you'd rather paddle than patch.

I'd still have to
: waterproof plywood, what's the economical way of doing that?

House paint. Varnish. Elastomeric roofing material.

: My son likes the ideas of apddling around the local lake. We used
: the demo kayaks last weekend. Mine was too small, his too heavy

The nice thing about building your own is that you can make them fit.

: - but we had fun on the river. There will be no current or
: whitewater in this warm southern lake. I told him he'd have to
: build a Viking helmet with horns before he can paddle this thing
: - he's going to use the foam for that.

I understand the real vikings had helmets without horns. Those seem to have come out of Wagner's operas. Vikings had large round shields which were decorated in individual patterns and hung on the side of their longboats. Cardboard would be great for this project.

: I am getting some ideas from you guys and am browsing the webpages
: that have been suggested. The best warning I've heard is to
: protect the elastomeric coating from abrasion.

Boat enamels stick to it. Latex house paint does a good job. The roof coating tends to be a bland white or gray. Get a colorful paint.

Send back the info and let's get started.

PGJ