: I've been lurking here all summer, soaking up what information I
: can, so I'll start with a quick introduction.

: I was born in, raised in, and haven't moved from the mountains of
: southern Vermont, nowhere near a sizable body of water. I've
: been curious about kayaking for some time, but never tried it.

: A couple of years ago, I stumbled across Wolfgang Brinck's
: excellent Greenland kayak instructions on the Instructables
: website. The first night, I read all seven sections from
: beginning to end. From that point on, I had it firmly planted in
: my head that I wanted to build a kayak. I read and re-read the
: instructions during the winter months, and sort of half planned
: on building a boat "someday". At some point I came
: across this forum, and spent evenings looking at all the great
: kayaks that folks were building.

: In April, "someday" came. I finally convinced my wife
: that I was serious about building a kayak, and she finally
: relented, probably knowing that if she didn't, I'd keep talking
: about it, or find an even worse hobby to take up.

: So, with very little woodworking experience, and zero kayaking
: experience, I spent the summer building the Elizabeth Rose, a
: boat named after my daughters. The name is a combination of
: their middle names.

: I basically tinkered on the boat here and there throughout the
: summer, sometimes only spending a few minutes a night, and other
: times leaving it for a couple of weeks with no progress. I
: decided to build it entirely with hand tools, and mostly I stuck
: to that (the ribs were cut on a table saw, and my drill was
: electric). Not having a workshop, I was forced to work outside,
: so weather also played a big part in my build.

: This evening was my kayak's maiden voyage. I just wanted to share a
: photo, and thank everyone for the inspiration this group has
: given a new builder. My kayak is nowhere near perfect, but it
: was fun to build, and hopefully others who are thinking about
: giving building a try can see that even a complete novice can
: build a functional boat.

: Final length for the boat came in at 17'5", with a beam of
: 23". I'm not sure of the weight, but I had no trouble
: lifting it up onto the top of my car.

: For those who are interested, I kept a photo-journal of the
: building process:
: http://www.flickr.com/photos/12534314@N04/sets/72157626616939804/with/5919474928/

: Included at the end of that gallery are a few short videos that my
: wife shot of my first kayaking experience. My favorite is the
: short clip where she comments "Well, he hasn't sunk
: yet..."

: Now, to get some proper instructions on how this paddling thing is
: supposed to work...

: -Elroy
: Hope u had as much fun building yours as i did mine, the best parts yet come, paddling it. Kevin