Building a kayak: Methods

This is to give you a brief overview of the commonly used methods to built a light craft, using plywood, massive wood and/or fabric. Each method has it's advantages and disadvantages, and the choice should depend on the intended use of the boat, as well as on one's own skills.

The boat's final durability is given by
Plywood- and
Strip built boats by using resin and fibreglass cloth
Clinker built boats are robust enough no not need any extra reenforcement, and
Skin on frame boats are the companions of extra careful paddlers.

Plywood

This methods starts with cutting plywood panels. These parts are joined temporarily with wire, the construction is aligned and then glued together

(+) Relatively fast
(+) Concise, manageable and straight forward

(-) Hull shape tends to become rather „box-like“ (or coffin-like) in cross section
(-) Optically, the construction holes of the wiring might be offensive

=> a method well suited for boats with hard chines

Form-moulded plywood

Wafer thin veneer layers are placed in ready-made mounting forms. The gluing is done under high pressure. Racing boats are/were built that way.

(+) Rounded, seamless hulls

(-) High work load to fabricate the forms
(-) and to set up a construction to achieve high gluing pressures

=> less suited for the hobby craftsmen (?)

Strip building

Working with thin, elastic wooden strips, the boat is assembled „slice by slice“. To do this, a construction frame of several „bulkheads“ is mounted onto a strongback. Over this framework, the strips are placed and glued together.

(+) Many design options for the shape of the plan due to the good pliability and adaptability of the strips
(+) Creative patters when using different coloured wood strips

(-) Very time consuming in preparation and shaping of the strips, and in smoothing the surfaces

=> well suited method for rounded and/or strongly sweeping hull shapes, and also, for people how like tinkering with hand tools, pocket knife and white glue

Clinker

Wide wooden strips are placed tile-like overlapping over permanent ribs.

(+) Very robust

(-) Considerable weight

With this method, rowing boats and sailing dinghies are built, whereas it does not seem common for kayaks. A beautifully crafted historical kayak example is exhibited on the web pages of the canoeing club (Kanuabteilung) Klausdorf - Clinkerboat Klausdorf.
More about the different methods, together with some sketches, under this link Clinkerboot Klausdorf.

More about the different methods, together with some sketches, under this link here.

Skin on frame

An internal wooden framework is wrapped with fabric and subsequently waterproofed.
This method is based on the traditional kayak building style of the Inuit. They however built the boats using bone frames and animal skins.

(+) Use of +/- only natural products
(+) A very flexible boat which moves with the waves

(-) Skin susceptible to wear and tear
(-) No bulkheads (air tight compartments, for safety)
(-) Demands a lot of TLC (waterproofing the skin)

=> This type of boats is a whole philosophy by itself

My choice & why:

My first boat is a hybrid, the hull is made from plywood and the deck is strip-built.

Hull: Because it is a hard-chined boat, the plywood method seemed the most suitable, as well as the option of building together with a friend who knew what to do.

Deck: I wanted a gently curved deck. To do it with plywood, it would have meant to use several very narrow panels. However, I wanted to try out strip building – and it turned out to be a great method which gives beautiful results.

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