Plywood Kayak Kits - FAQ's

Given the number of established plywood kayak kit suppliers to choose from, why should I consider building a Bear Mountain kit?

There are many ways of combining plywood and epoxy that will produce a functional kayak. Our book Kayaks You Can Build looks at all these methods and demonstrates safe and effective ways to make any kit into a beautiful kayak. Building light weight kayaks by joining plywood panels without battens began with motivated and curious paddlers looking for a fast, low tech and economical way to build a kayak. Over time, novice builders have shown that building a beautiful kayak was as important as paddling. The quality of kayaks being built has improved as casual builders have shown just how much pride they really have. The problem is that the effort is directed at refining a building method that is based on the philosophy of building fast with the least amount of preparation time or use of basic boatbuilding techniques to control the process.

A Bear Mountain Kayak Kit is based on lessons learned over 30 plus years of building and restoring high quality wooden boats using both contemporary and traditional building methods. One of the secrets to surviving this long in the wooden boat business has been the constant search for 'the shortest route to the best results'. Rather than rushing through a step then doing a lot of cleanup and repair work to keep the quality under control, our routine makes each step accomplish it's objective as well as being prepared for the next step; every step is a positive step forward, everything we do is productive. One of the reasons why our building method is fast is because we have eliminated all the usual put-it-on and sand-it-off steps. Every effort and trick is used to reduce the amount of sanding necessary to do a first rate job. We don't want to tell you as one supplier does that sanding will take longer than any other part of the project. Like most people, we don't mind a little sanding when it is productive but at best, it's not the fun part. It is faster, healthier and a lot more satisfying to keep each step under control rather than trying to recover your kayak from under a mess of filler later.

Joining plywood panels together the free form method is a fast way of getting a structure that resembles a kayak. Unfortunately, controlling the shape visually and holding it in that shape while balanced on a couple of saw horses is a lot to ask of a novice builder. By introducing basic boatbuilding components and controls, a Bear Mountain kit goes together quickly and gracefully in the shape the designer intended.

If an amateur quality kayak is all you expect and you enjoy frustration, our kits may be assembled using the customary free-form method; you don't have to use the forms, cradles, stems and jigs supplied. On the other hand, you may want more. To achieve this, you need the control provided by basic boatbuilding techniques, jigs and fixtures.

Am I taking a chance dealing with a company that is new to the plywood kayak kit business?

In this case, no. Providing boatbuilding plans, kits, instructions and support to the home-builder is what we do. In 1972, Ted pioneered a simple method of building wood-strip epoxy canoes. Not wanting to keep all the fun to himself, Bear Mountain began selling wood-strip/epoxy canoe kits in 1977. When it became clear that many people were interested in buying just the instructions, we put it all together in Canoecraft and began specializing in antique runabout restorations. Since the first addition of Canoecraft was printed in 1981, it has become the standard text on wood-strip/epoxy canoe building. Using the lessons learned teaching kayak building classes, KayakCraft was released in 1998 to make beautiful wood-strip kayaks possible for the neophyte. Perhaps our most valuable asset is our many years of teaching boatbuilding to first-time builders. It is easy for a professional boatbuilder to get into a rhythm of working where many things are done automatically without needing to understand what is really going on. We owe a lot to the hundreds of novice builders we have worked with for their insight into what they need to know to build a beautiful boat the first time and how they would like to learn how.

Why are there are no plans included in 'Kayaks You Can Build'?

The stitch and glue method of building kayaks was meant to be and is a simple way to build; that is assuming that the parts fit together perfectly. This means that each step in translating the plan into a finished plank must be perfect if the joints are to be fair. Because the kayak shape is developed by pulling the edges of the components together, simply cutting inside then outside the line is enough to make an obvious wave in the joint.

The long skinny planks are a very awkward shape to translate into plans. Working from a table of offsets is not rocket science but it will be time consuming because of the shape, the number of pieces to draw and the accuracy necessary to make everything fit together.

Full size drawings that can be traced directly onto the plywood are another possibility. For many boatbuilding methods, full size plans are practical. The problem with a plan for the plywood plank is that it must be as long as the kayak being built and finding a stable material to reproduce it on is critical. A high quality drafting velum is quite stable but we have seen it change about 5/8" over 18 feet after sitting open in the shop for a few days. Because the shrinkage or expansion is proportional, it would produce a kayak shape if all the pieces were transferred before the plan changed size again. Mylar drafting film is very stable and would be the obvious choice except it would make the plan very expensive. At this point we are getting too far from the original idea of simple and cheap. To begin with this kind of investment then still have to scarf the plywood sheets together, transfer the plans then cut out the parts should make a precut kit look like a logical solution. The simplicity of the building method really begins after all the components have been cut exactly to shape.

Some of the kit manufactures still offer a limited number of plan sets but don't seem to push them. This is not because they will make more money selling a kit but most likely because getting from plan to plank is where many builders get into serious trouble and then everybody has to spend time dealing with it.

Some building methods are easier to transfer to plywood than others. Since all the serious variables are at a joint, look for simple designs with the fewest number of chines (joints). If building from a plan is important, check out Chesapeake Light Craft's two panel/side hull and a tortured deck designs. There are no close tolerances in the deck as it is cut oversize and trimmed to shape after being bent over bulkheads and fastened to the hull.

What is the difference between building wood-strip epoxy and stitch and glue plywood?

The perception has always been that building with plywood is much faster than strip-planking. Having built many boats using both techniques, the plywood kit is only about a work day or two faster so speed is not the significant difference. Expect the cost of a strip plank kit to be more than plywood as the cost of old growth cedar is very high plus the added cost of machining it into planks. A strip plank kit will come in an 18' bundle which means shipping by transport. On the other hand, a plywood kit will fit in an 8' box and be delivered by courier. If weight is important, building with 4mm Okoume plywood is lighter than 1/4" western red cedar strip-planking with about the same strength. The significant difference is in the amount of dust and waste produced; a point to consider if you are building in a living space. Strip-planking is a series of flat, solid wood planks that must be shaped and sanded into fluid curves. Because the face veneers of the plywood are so thin, a lot of dust means the boat is in trouble. Once hull and deck have been assembled, the process is virtually the same for both techniques.