Ok, so you’ve decided to go ahead and build a kayak, you’ve done some searching, you’ve looked at different kayak models and styles, and you noticed that there’s more than one way to build your own kayak. So, which kayak building technique is the best?

Well, I can’t tell you which building technique is best for you, but I can help explain the differences.  The most common techniques for building your own kayak are:

• Stitch and Glue
• Wood Strip
• Skin-on-Frame

Stitch and Glue

Chesapeake Light Craft is one premier source of both plans and kits for stitch and glue kayaks. With stitch and glue construction you start with relatively large, flat panels of plywood that are temporarily “stitched” together  before being permanently glued together using fibreglass tape and epoxy. Just as if you were sewing together a bag, the shape of the individual panels combines to create the finished shape.

A few advantages of the stitch and glue approach are

1. It requires less initial set up than a wood strip or skin-on-frame kayak.
2. The marine plywood used is extremely hard, durable and tough making you finished kayak very hardy.

The biggest drawback to a stitch and glue kayak seems to be that the plywood panels can only twist in one direction at a time. This means that the kayak shapes that can be built with this method are more limited than with a wood strip or skin-on-frame method. Of course you can always use more, narrower panels of plywood to get a more complex shape and this done. However, the more panels you add, the more work you create and the closer you get to a wood strip construction style.

Wood Strip

Good sources of wood strip kayak plans and building instructions include Bear Mountain Boats and Guillemot Kayaks. With wood strip construction you start by setting up a strong back - a long, straight building platform - with station molds set up at regular intervals. The wood strips, usually of cedar, are temporarily fastened against the molds while you construct the hull and deck of the kayak. Each strip is glued to the strips beside it. The temporary fastening to the station molds can be done using staples, clamps, straps, or a combination of all three. Once the hull or deck shape is completed, a full length and width layer of fibreglass is attached using clear epoxy to both the inside and outside of the hull or deck.

Some of the benefits of wood strip construction include:

1. Being able to build a more complex or even just a smoother hull shape than you can with a stitch and glue method.
2. The durablility of the wood-fibreglass sandwich. While the cedar is a lot softer than the plywood in a stitch and glue construction, the fibreglass shell gives a lot of protection.
3. The option of creating beautiful patterns not only with the layout of the strips, but also by including contrasting woods.

Most of my experience in boat building is with cedar strip construction and I really do like this approach. Nonetheless, I can see a few drawbacks. Setting up the strongback properly isn’t trivial. This is a detailed part of the job and your accuracy in getting the strong back and station molds set up straight & square is crucial to the process. Compared the stitch and glue, wood strip construction may take a bit more woodworking skill, but more likely it really just looks a little more intimidating up front.

Skin-on-Frame

Skin-on-frame is undoubtedly the most traditional method for building a kayak. One nice write up on the building process is Terry Reed’s site showing his construction of a Yostwerks Sea Tour 15-R. With this method a series of cross sections or stations are fastened together with longitudinal stringers to create a frame. The frame is then covered with fabric and waterproofed. While a historically authentic covering would be seal skin, more recent options have included canvas and nylon.

Some of the benefits of a skin on frame kayak can include:

1. The traditional feel of a skin on frame kayak. This just might be the closest you can come to the ‘real thing’
2. The minimal use of wood. While you still need full length pieces for the longitudinal stringers, and I would still recommend a marine plywood if you are using plywood for the stations, you aren’t going to be using the very long, very clear cedar required for strips in a wood strip kayak, or the marine plywood made from tropical hardwoods in a stitch-and-glue kayak.
3. You still get the ability to create complex hull shapes, just as you would with a wood strip kayak.

The biggest disadvantages I see to a skin on frame kayak are durability and rigidity. The skin itself is going to be much less resistant to a puncture than either a stitch and glue or wood strip/fibreglass kayak will be. At the same time, the lengthwise strength of the kayak to maintain it’s shape is entirely provided by the stringers. If you crack or break a stringer, maybe even just by dropping the kayak awkwardly when putting it on a car some day, you could have a serious repair job.

1. Build a Kayak - How to build a Kayak - Building a Kayak » Blog Archive » Choosing a Kayak Design Says:
   February 22nd, 2009 at 8:01 pm

   [...] building technique to [...]

2. Slim Says:
   May 3rd, 2009 at 10:23 am

   One major advantage of Skin-On-Frame that you missed is the weight of the kayak. My 18′ Sea Ranger ST weighs in at only 25lbs. Both Stitch-n-Glue and Cedar Strip designs result in significantly heavier kayaks.

3. rwaywell Says:
   May 15th, 2009 at 9:55 am

   Hey Slim,
   That’s a good point about the weight. I checked with Scott and his Endeavour came in somewhere between 40 & 50 lbs. That’s still a decent weight for a 17′ kayak, but roughly twice as much as your skin-on-fram Sea Ranger.

4. Build a Kayak - How to build a Kayak - Building a Kayak » Blog Archive » Types of Kayaks Says:
   April 13th, 2010 at 8:41 pm

   [...] have already talked about building techniques such as wood strip, stitch-and-glue, or skin on frame methods for building your kayak. So in this [...]

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