At last I can post some pics of all four of the Tom Yost designed Sea Pup kidyaks together in the water! I'm sure some of you remember our 'progress reports' from late August, when I got four dads and sons together to build these boats. A couple of the boats were done very quickly, but a couple of the dads had conflicting schedules, and one of the dads lives an hour away. In any case, we got all four boats together at the harbor in Ventura, CA, this weekend. Terrific, calm weather- perfect for paddling. Unfortunately, one of the boys bailed at the last minute. I think he had a case of 'Idon'twannago-itis. Perhaps not coincidentally, he's the one that flipped his over four times on our last outing, and the weather report was calling for very chilly. So, the big 'kid' in the pics is me. His boat was already tied on my van, so what the heck! For the record, no one else has tipped over, and I find the boat to be plenty stable. I think he got nervous and stiffened up, and had no paddling experience behind him. We need to do some 'clinics' on bracing, and maybe even rolling.
Some details on the boats for those unfamiliar with them: They're about 14'-8" long by 19" wide, they weigh 23 lbs, the non-folding frames are 1/2" plywood stations with pine stringers, and the skin is 18 oz/yd PVC fabric. (This fabric is very tough- it's a layer of vinyl bonded on each side of a layer of polyester. Very quick- no coating! The down side of the fabric is that it has very little stretch. It's the stuff the kid party 'moon bouncers' are made of.) We spent, including strongbacks and an electric stapler, right about $150 each. I'm pretty sure it could be done for less, with a little scrounging. The boats are very fast and maneuverable, and track beautifully. My stitch and glue now seems REALLY heavy to me! I'm very eager to build a bigger version of the Pup for myself, although I'm very comfortable in the regular Sea Pup.
I've written up some rather extensive 'directions' for building the Sea Pup, and if anyone's interested, click on the link to our family webpage. If you look around the site a bit, there are also a lot of other Sea Pup pics, especially of the construction process. I would encourage anyone to do a project like this- the process was very rewarding, and now my son has a high performance kayak that he'll enjoy for years to come.
P.S. I sent my digi-pics to Tom Yost, and he turned them into the fantastic group of shots you see below. Can't thank you enough, Tom!
Steve Phillips