Date: Thu, 19 Nov 1998 13:00:30 -0600
From: "Wolfgang Brinck" <wolfgang.brinck@hksystems.com>
To: baidarka@lists.intelenet.net
Subject: Re: baidarka H.C. Petersen's Book
I believe that Petersen never actually built a kayak which is why his book
is so vague.
Also, Svend Ulstrup, a Danish kayak builder and teacher claims that if you
build a boat according to the plans that Petersen provides that the boat
will be unseaworthy. He went so far as to convince the Danish National
Museum not to distribute the book until Petersen put in better plans.
Petersen then supposedly put out a second edition.
Having said all that, I build my first Greenland boat according to this
book. It had a number of flaws, none of them fatal. The first was too much
rocker. The second was that for someone my size, (6 foot) the seat was too
far forward making the boat trim noseheavy. I later moved the seat back 3
inches and it trimmed much better. Finally, it nosed into the wind which I
solved by adding a skeg. So in the end, I had a usable boat.
However, if you do want to build a Greenland kayak, I would recommend Chris
Cunningham's articles in Sea Kayaker or Bob Boucher's video - build your own
sea kayak, or a class by someone like Superior Kayak. Petersen leaves you
guessing what to do on a lot of the important construction details which
will leave you with a lot of headscratching. But it's a book I would add to
my library since it does have some pictures of real Greenland kayaks and
kayak construction.
Wolfgang
Will Sahli wrote:
> I just received via Inter Library Loan, "Instructions on Building a
> Kayak" by H.C. Petersen(spelling?). Wanted to know if anyone has used it
> for the basis of a kayak? I only had a few minutes to look through it.
> It seems to be fairly vague in some areas, and somewhat confusing. Maybe
> it's because the instructions are in Greenlandic, Danish, and English,
> and I have a difficult time tracking from page to page.
>
> Is it worth while to see if I can get a copy on the used market?
>
> Also I purchased a hoofknife intending to use it as a substitute for a
> crooked knife. It is clumsy and awkward to use. I think I will find
> either plans to make one or purchase one from one of the tool stores.
>
> Will Sahli