Guillemot

Shortly after I finished my Panache, Nick Schade's book, The Strip-Built Sea Kayak, was published, and I immediately bought a copy.  It's a great book for first-time boat builders, plus it contains plans for three of his designs.  I chose the Guillemot, a 17 foot boat with a 21 inch beam.  If you want to jump right to the final outcome, here's the finished photos.

Setup

Where the Panache is built with a strongback with the forms suspended above it, the Guillemot uses a boxbeam that runs down the center of the forms.  Either method would work, but there are some differences to consider.   The boxbeam method allows you to strip one side and immediately rotate the boat and continue stripping the other side.  With strongback method, you first must detach the forms from their supports before being able to rotate the boat.  However, the strongback does provide a more rigid building platform than the boxbeam, and attaching the stem forms is a little easier. 

Hull

I stripped the hull up from the sheerline up to and over the chine (about 7 inches) until the side strips had almost completely covered the stems.   I spaced the cheater strips (read the book!) so that the stems were covered at the same time. I placed the 2 keel strips, and then alternated between sheer and keel until the two half-moon areas were filled.  The final sliver of a strip to close the gap takes the longest.  After the hull was done, I detached the boxbeam from the stands, rotated the boat, and placed it in carpet slings to begin work on the deck.

Deck

I spent a bit more time on this deck than I did on the Panache.  I experimented with strip layout, and wood species, color and grain.  The deck combines western red cedar, redwood, and pine strips.  While the hull took about 35 hours to strip, the main part of the deck (excluding the cockpit area) took nearly 100 hours. 

Cockpit

The cockpit area has a recessed area around the perimeter.  This provides a horizontal platform (from side to side) to build the cockpit coaming.  And like Nick Schade says in his book, "it looks cool."   I fully agree.

Glassing

After everything is stripped, it's almost time to glass.   Preparation for glassing requires planing down the rough strips to nice, smooth strips, and then hopefully, only a little sanding.  I then used 6oz. plain weave fiberglass cloth; a single layer on all surfaces, with a second layer on the hull between the chines.  I didn't bother to do a sealer coat, I did the initial epoxy cloth wet-out directly to the bare wood using a squeegee.  I liked the squeegee method, but it was a bit messy.  A lot of epoxy fell off the edge onto the floor (paper-covered, luckily).  But, as you'll see, everything turned out okay. 

Hatches

Once the deck is glassed on both side, I traced out the hatch shapes and cut them out.  These are flush hatches that require a lip on the underside of the deck.  To end up with flush hatches once the weather-stripping is applied to the lip required the hatch be dropped slightly in the opening while building-up the lip.  In the how-to section, I have a detailed description of how to use underdeck bungees to secure the hatch covers.

Seat

I used the seat mold I made earlier to make a seat for my Guillemot.  This seat is based on a Dagger production seat, and is extremely comfortable.  I'll continue to use the same mold for all my future boats as well.  I've described all the details on how I made it.

Bulkheads

I built rigid bulkheads out of a single flat strip panel.   I built the panel on the workbench, sanded and glassed both sides.  I made cardboard templates that matched the cross section of the boat where the bulkheads would be placed, and traced the template outlines onto the panel.  Once the bulkheads are cut out, they're glassed in place.

Miscellaneous Details

Here's a some miscellaneous pictures that don't seem to belong anywhere else.  There's details of the grabloop hole and toggle, a builder's signature, the seat and backband mounting, and how I made the skid strips.

Finished

Here's the finished product.  Well, nearly finished.  I do plan to add a retractable skeg and some recessed deck fittings, but I just can't allow the summer to go by without paddling it.  I'll save those additions for the cold, winter months.  To cartop the boat, I built a couple of cradles to fit on my Thule rack.

Many thanks to Nick Schade for a beautiful kayak design, a terrific book, and a great website hosting the finest kayak-building BBS anywhere.