Hi folks,

I have been asked by a kayaker who wants to take some wooden boats up to Greenland what designs might be suitable. They will be unsupported for two or three week stretches at times. ......

I realise that some of those criteria are oxymorons, but I was hoping to generate some discussion on this: opinion and experience welcome.

Et

I travelled the West Greenland coast as crew on a small (doublehanded) sailboat in 2000.

My advice would be to take plastic (poly) boats.
I didn't see a lot of sandy beach landing spots in our travels, though there were a few.
Although it was often dead calm, there were sudden spells of windy weather (on one occasion, wind went from 10 kn to75kn (yes, that's kn...- fortunately we were well anchored in a channel with no fetch, so waves weren't an issue, but the winds were incredible - pegged the anemometer and blew white spray horizontally)) which for a kayaker would call for beaching at the next possible spot...rocky or not.

Everything in Greenland was expensive by N. American standards ($20 for a shower....), so saving money on the boats doesn't 'fit' with the locale, IMO.

I don't know if Greenland is any more 'formal' these days, but immigration and customs were 'casual' in 2000 ('You want a stamp in your passport? Let me see if I can find one...') , so there would be the possibility of selling the boats rather than bringing them home. Again plastic (name brand) boats would be better.

In Disko Bay there was pan ice and lots of floating bits, so again a plastic boat would be best, IMO.

There will be lots of gear anyway, and Greenlanders are accustomed to hoisting fishing gear and freight, so a few kg of boat weight will not be an issue, IMO.