Boat Building Forum

Find advice on all aspects of building your own kayak, canoe or any lightweight boats

Al, born 1963. Lived in Wiltshire & Somerset for most of my life. We moved to Lochcarron in the Scottish Highlands in 2005. I had my first go in a kayak in 2008. I went off the next day and bought a pair of perception general purpose kayaks. These are fine for messing around on the salt water loch Carron, but not really suitable for anything over two or three miles paddling. I first saw some photos of a strip built sea kayak in 2009 and decided I wanted one. I like making stuff from plans. I bought Nick Schade's book strip built kayaks and decided to build the guillemot, so I drew the patterns in 2009. The kayak got shelved as my hovercraft that I was building at the time took a lot longer to finish and sort out than expected. August 2011 I ordered the wood and materials to finally start building the Guillemot kayak. Hovercraft is working fine and gives my family & myself a lot of pleasure.