Kit to purchase

Submitted byUHBlackhawk onFri, 03/27/2020 - 20:29
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Kayak Building

As with many other it appears I will have some time off. Looking to build a kayak. I’ve been thinking for some time. This is my first build.

1. I live on the Hudson River. South of Newburgh. I can see the River from my front door. Boat landing less than a mile away.
2. Good size basement for building.

3. Good shape. Not much kayak experience. Quite a bit of canoe experience. When I was younger I raced war canoes and lead long canoe excursions into parts of Canada.

4. Looking for something I can obviously use on the Hudson but maybe longer excursions.

Thanks.

 

JohnAbercrombie

Sat, 03/28/2020 - 02:58

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You'll likely want to take some instruction to build your kayak paddling skills and practice rescues, etc. .

My advice is to get a boat that will be good for learning, something on the 'sporty' end of the spectrum rather than a freight hauler for that future trip.

I've paddled a Pygmy Arctic Tern 14 a bit and I like it. Friends have other Pygmy boats (Murrelet, Ronan) and they like them as well. All of those boats perform better with a skeg, IMO.

One limiting factor can be your shoe/boot size, so be sure to ask about that for any boat you are planning to build.

I've built a couple of Arctic Tern kits and I thought the instructions and support from Pygmy were excellent.

 

Which kit boats have caught your eye?

4. Looking for something I can obviously use on the Hudson but maybe longer excursions.

In that case fit a rudder and make longer distances easy. And while you are at it, make decent rudder pedals with auto-adjust lines, don't fit commercial ones.

I have been paddling a Lightning 17 for two decades now...still love getting in it, stable enough for me to do my photography, lots of storage, sleek enough to go at a decent clip if so desired. I don't envy you...there are so many great options within North America that it'd be like a child in a candy store trying to decide if the best choice was made. I would be working on my boats, too, took a layoff due to this covid business and have lots of time on my hands...but all surface water is still frozen here (Alberta), it just snowed something like 6 inches overnight, and I do not have a heated garage...

Robert N(ot doing anything) Pruden

tomcoates

Sat, 04/04/2020 - 21:18

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I too wanted to build my first kayak, S&G, either the Guillemot or the night heron. I ended up buying a kevlar Sealution (2001) $600, 16'. Great boat definitely affected by wind and following waves, always carried 25# of sand ballast when i paddled to make it track a bit better at first, as skill increased i didn't need it as much.  My second boat was a 1998 Solstice "fish form" 17'8" for $100. Besides the little bit of work that it needs, it is a totally different handling boat. I haven't been out on the big river with it yet,  but i was out on the lake with 15-20 mph winds it tracked very well. The point i am trying to make is that you may want to go with a bigger boat then smaller, just because of the size of the river near you. If you can rent or try someone else's kayak, it might put you in the right frame of mind of what you are looking for. I still plan on building one but I have to clean out the garage and sell my MC.

Mac50L do you have a pic of the rudder pedals you are talking about?

good luck

Tom