Boat Building Forum

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

Re: Other: concrete kayak
By:Björn Thomasson
Date: 2/28/2012, 4:01 pm
In Response To: Re: Other: concrete kayak (Bill Hamm)

Back in 1970 a couple of friends of mine made a small rowboat for temporary use on a summer vacation. A form of sand directly on the beach, covered with a sheet of plastic, chicken mesh (three layers if I remember correctly, sewn together with thin wire and folded over a couple of times at the sheer for strength) and then concrete, worked into the mesh (the concrete as dry as possible to be strong enough). Hull thickness approx. 4-5 mm. The result was surprisingly flexible, with a horrible finish and not as heavy as feared (I guess 30-35 kg or so for the two meter dinghy). A couple of wooden pads with oarlocks were glued on with Plastic Padding and a piece of styrofoam was thrown in to sit on. It leaked badly but after a coat of cheap house paint that was under control. At the end of the summer it was still serviceable, and was thought to have deserved a pair of crude wooden rails glued in to stabilize the wobbly sheer. It was still about, and used the following summer but was then lost. Nobody ever admitted having anything to do with the disappearance. Despite the obvious shortcomings of the quick-and-dirty boatbuilding attempt, I was so impressed with the ratio between cost, work and result, that I later build a ferro-cement yacht http://www.thomassondesign.com/nyheter/maria-kristina-tillbaka-i-sitt-ratta-element.
So why not a temporary concrete kayak?

Messages In This Thread

Other: concrete kayak
gilad naor -- 2/21/2012, 10:22 am
Re: Other: concrete kayak
Robert N Pruden -- 2/21/2012, 12:45 pm
Re: Other: concrete kayak
Matthias -- 2/22/2012, 2:25 am
Re: Other: concrete kayak
gilad naor -- 2/22/2012, 3:26 am
Re: Other: concrete kayak
Dan Caouette (CSFW) -- 2/22/2012, 8:26 am
Re: Other: concrete kayak
Bill Hamm -- 2/26/2012, 2:31 am
Re: Other: concrete kayak
Mike Savage -- 2/26/2012, 11:19 am
Re: Other: concrete kayak
ancient kayaker -- 2/26/2012, 12:43 pm
Re: Other: concrete kayak
Bill Hamm -- 2/28/2012, 2:41 am
Re: Other: concrete kayak
Björn Thomasson -- 2/28/2012, 4:01 pm
Re: Other: concrete kayak
Bill Hamm -- 2/29/2012, 1:57 am
Re: Other: concrete kayak
Björn Thomasson -- 2/29/2012, 2:29 am
Re: Other: concrete kayak
Bill Hamm -- 2/29/2012, 1:59 am
Re: Other: concrete kayak *PIC*
Björn Thomasson -- 2/29/2012, 2:51 am
Re: Other: concrete kayak
Etienne Muller -- 2/29/2012, 3:23 am
Re: Other: concrete kayak
Björn Thomasson -- 2/29/2012, 4:03 am
Re: Other: concrete kayak
Bill Hamm -- 3/1/2012, 1:51 am
Re: Other: concrete kayak
Paul G. Jacobson -- 3/7/2012, 6:10 pm
Re: Other: concrete kayak
Rob Macks/Laughing Loon CC&K -- 3/7/2012, 8:57 pm
Re: Other: concrete kayak
Bill Hamm -- 3/8/2012, 2:09 am
Re: concrete or newspaper kayaks
Paul G. Jacobson -- 3/8/2012, 2:53 am
Re: concrete or newspaper kayaks
Jim Ham -- 3/9/2012, 12:13 am
Re: concrete or newspaper kayaks
Ulrik Schou -- 3/9/2012, 1:31 am
Re: concrete or newspaper kayaks
Björn Thomasson -- 3/9/2012, 1:11 pm
Re: Other: concrete kayak
John Messinger -- 3/1/2012, 5:44 pm
Re: Other: concrete kayak
Mike Savage -- 3/2/2012, 9:45 am
Re: Other: concrete kayak
Bill Hamm -- 3/4/2012, 2:01 am
Re: Other: concrete kayak
John Messinger -- 3/4/2012, 7:34 am
Re: Other: concrete kayak
Paul G. Jacobson -- 3/8/2012, 2:40 am
Re: Other: concrete kayak
Kevin McAtee -- 3/8/2012, 3:57 pm
Re: Other: concrete kayak
Mike Savage -- 3/9/2012, 4:49 am
Re: Other: concrete kayak
Robert N Pruden -- 3/13/2012, 6:02 pm
Re: Other: concrete kayak
John Messinger -- 3/14/2012, 9:46 am
Re: Other: concrete kayak
Robert N Pruden -- 3/14/2012, 9:58 am
Re: Other: concrete kayak
Cole -- 3/9/2012, 9:21 am