The New Kayak Shop by Chris Kulczycki is a standard resource for anyone who is thinking about building a stitch-and-glue plywood kayak. Chris is the founder of Chesapeake Light Craft and The New Kayak Shop is the updated version of his original The Kayak Shop.

This book covers the full sequence of building a plywood stitch-and-glue kayak from design considerations through to the outfitting details. Included in the book are plans for the Chesapeake 16 and West River 180 sea kayaks, along with the Severn flatwater kayak.

There are a couple of things to keep in mind as you read the book. When you are working through Chapter Five: The Plans, you will probably notice that no offsets or measurements are provided for the plywood deck sections. Don’t worry, this is on purpose. Over the years, Chris has found that tracing the shape of the deck sections from the kayak once you have the hull built works out best. The next thing to remember is that with any kayak project book, you really do need to read it pretty much cover to cover. I spent a fair bit of time while reading wondering if plywood stitch and glue construction really could be as easy as Chris makes it out to be. By the end of the book I’m convinced that it’s all there.

To quote from Chapter One: The Wooden Kayak – “The hardest part of building your own kayak is getting started.” So what are you waiting for?

1. Build a Kayak - How to build a Kayak - Building a Kayak » Blog Archive » Kayaks You Can Build: An illustrated guide to plywood construction Says:
   March 25th, 2010 at 7:56 pm

   [...] you through all the building steps for a plywood kayak. For all that I liked Chris Kulzycki’s The New Kayak Shop, these are the kind of instructions that I was looking [...]

2. Chris Tomer Says:
   February 23rd, 2011 at 8:42 am

   Hi Chris , I’ve just purchesed a Severn Kayak in So. Ca. would do me a favor and fill me in on the Severn Kayak. It’s in good shape and it paddles very well. I’m not sure how it handels in wind or large waves I guess that I will find out soon. I’ve tryed to find information on the Severn but haven’t found much. I’m sure that your websight will help in the future. Thanks for the help .

   Chris Tomer

3. rwaywell Says:
   February 23rd, 2011 at 7:26 pm

   Hi Chris,
   I’m guessing that you are looking for Chris Kulczycki who wrote “The New Kayak Shop”. Unfortunately Chris isn’t part of our site, although I would love to have him contribute. Also unfortunate, none of us have built a Severn so I can’t give you any first hand feedback on how it handles. One good place that you might want to ask your questions would be on the Chesapeak Light Craft Builders Forum . You will certainly find some folks over there who have built a Severn before and I expect they can give you a pretty good idea of how it handles.

   Thanks for dropping by.
   Rob