Denis Arquette has been kind enough to send the enclosed pictures of his Li' Beauty, built from the same Hobbycraft Kayaks plans as mine. Photos and captions below are by Denis...
At this point I have the framing pretty much done with the stringers attached. I made mine a little longer it's 15' tip to tip. I also used Lowes' wood. Spruce and Douglas fir are really hard to get around here unless you special order it. I used hemlock and I had to rip three 2x4s to get enought good wood to make the stringers. I also had to scarf joint on some extensions to the stringers because of my boat being longer than the plans called for.
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Here are a few more pictures that were taken this weekend when we put it in
the water for the first time. I have since dispenced with the stadium
seating chairs and gone to using thick cushons as suggested by Walter Head.
Did I mention that I used exterior semi gloss latex paint on the boat?
I am also including a close up of the bow before I painted it. I used
aircraft finishing tape to reinforce the fabric on the bow an stern as well
as the seam between the deck and hull fabric.
The eye was painted by my daughter, unfortunatly she ran out of time before the weekend so we only have a one eyed kayak for now. The boat floats well even with my rotund self in it. Yup I'm the big guy. The other pictures are of my son-in-law and daughter. BTW my kayak is 15 feet long and about 4 inches wider than the plans specify. it weighed in at 36 lbs. | |
I also made the paddle myself. I used a closet pole from Home Depot and the blades are made of plywood that was left over from the floor.