I  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 article, I am going to talk more about general styles of kayaks that you might come across if you’re out looking around. Now a quick look at Wikipedia gave me a list of about 17 different types of kayaks. Personally I think that’s making the discussion a little too complicated, so I’m going to keep our list a bit shorter and just talk about the following types of kayaks:

• Recreational
• Sit on top
• Fishing
• Whitewater
• Sea Kayaks
• Tandem Kayaks

I’ve also talked about some of the different shapes and features of kayaks in a little more technical detail in my article on Kayak Hull Shapes, Length, & Width. In that article I introduced some terms including “length overall”, “beam” and “rocker” and you will see those terms being used in the descriptions below. 

Recreational Kayak

Recreational kayaks are quite possibly the largest group of kayaks you’ll find since it is a bit of a catch all term. Now sometimes the label ‘recreational’ can get applied to a cheap, not very well designed kayak but that isn’t always the case. The characteristics that I think define a recreational kayak include:

• Moderate length – probably in the 10′ to 14′ range. This will give you a kayak that is big enough to hold an adult comfortably without looking like a monster
• Relatively wide beam – for example the Wood Duck 12′ by Chesapeake Light Craft has a 30″ beam. The Little Auk, which is a strip built recreational kayak by Guillemot Kayaks is a little narrower at a 28″ beam. This is wide enough to give a high initial stability, so that it doesn’t feel too tippy when a new kayaker starts to use it.
• Fairly large cockpit – a larger cockpit makes it easy for a paddler to get in and out of the kayak regardless of how flexible their joints might be. A larger cockpit can also be more comfortable for someone with a touch of claustrophobia. I know folks who are convinced they would be trapped if they ever flipped over in a kayak and having a larger cockpit opening helps to take away that fear.
• A little bit of rocker – this bit of upturn along the keel line will make it easy to turn the kayak. Of course the magic balance that everyone looks for in a recreational kayak is something that will let a new or novice paddler go straight when they want to but still let them turn without making it feel like they are paddling an oil tanker.

A couple of things that you will give up with a recreational kayak are:

• Speed – a recreational kayak won’t be as fast as a longer, narrower sea kayak will be. This is true with the same person paddling with the same amount of effort between the 2 kayak types.
• Rolling – once you learn how, doing an eskimo roll is a lot of fun. There are a few of characteristics that make it hard to roll a recreational kayak. First the wider beam means that it is harder to tip it over. This is true both when you are tipping it upside down and when you are trying to roll it back rightside up. Secondly that large cockpit that makes it easy to get in and out of your recreational kayak means that it will also take on water fast – even with a spray skirt on. The more water that gets in to your kayak, the harder it is to turn the big, heavy bathtub over again. Finally that large cockpit also means that you won’t have knee braces which you would have in a whitewater kayak and which are important to helping you roll.

 

Sit on Top Kayak

 A sit-on-top kayak is usually just a special case of a recreational kayak. Now you might argue that sit-on-top kayaks aren’t “real” kayaks, and many days I’d agree with you. However, as I’ve had time to think about it, I’ve decided that they have a pretty good purpose. The big advantage of a sit on top kayak is that you don’t have to get “in” it. For folks who aren’t comfortable being “stuck” in a traditional kayak, then a sit-on-top kayak gives them the opportunity to enjoy most of the benefits of a kayak including being able to sit down, rather than having to kneel, being able to use a double bladed paddle, and being able to easily handle the boat on their own. One example of a sit-on-top kayak that you can build yourself is the Sea Island Sport  which was designed by Nick Schade and which you can order as plans or as a kit from Chesapeake Light Craft. I found a few other designs for wooden sit-on-top kayaks, but they just reminded me why I don’t really like them.

Fishing Kayak

Making a kayak into a fishing kayak often has more to do with the toys that have been added on to the kayak than anything else. Pretty much any kayak can become a fishing kayak if you add a rod holder to it. A friend of mine has his rod holder bolted on to his polyethylene sea kayak and it works just fine for him.  In addition to a rod holder, I’ve seen kayaks with fish finders/depth finders mounted to the deck. I’ve also seen some neat hardware to mount an anchor from the bow and control the anchor line from the cockpit. Having the anchor mounted at the bow lets the kayak ride bow first into the wind & waves when you are anchored to fish and is a lot safer than having an anchor hanging from the middle of your kayak. So while admitting that making a kayak into a fishing kayak really has a lot to do with the outfitting, there are a couple of design features that also make for a good fishing kayak. First off is a fairly wide beam. This gives you that extra stability, just like a recreational kayak, so that you will be comfortable when reaching over the side to pull in that monster trout you finally hooked. You will probably also want a larger cockpit to give you room to dig around in your tackle box without having to watch your favourite lure slide off the deck.  The Wood Duck 12′ which I mentioned under the Recreational Kayak section is one that I’ve been thinking about building as a general purpose kayak for the cottage, including some extensive fishing. It’s extra beam at 30″ wide compared to the Little Auk with a beam of 28″ will give it that extra stability to make it a better fit for fishing.

Whitewater Kayak

 I haven’t found any links for building your own woodstrip, plywood or skin-on-frame whitewater kayak. This makes sense given how much abuse a whitewater kayak tends to take. Most whitewater kayaks that you’ll see these days will be made out of plastic, but I did find a “Design and build your own WW kayak” article that gives a high level walkthrough of building a fibreglass whitewater kayak. So what defines a whitewater kayak? Well these boats are designed to turn easily which means they are short – probably in the 7′ to 9′ range. They will have LOTS of rocker to help which again will let them turn on a dime. Whitewater kayaks do come in different flavours – river boats, creek boats, freestyle boats, and slalom boats. In general though, you will find that a modern whitewater kayak has a fairly flat hull shape which is intended for surfing on waves. That flat bottom can give you some fairly wide boats in the 26-27″ range on the higher volume kayaks intended for larger paddlers.

Sea Kayak

If recreational kayaks are the most common type of kayak, then the sea kayak is probably the most common type for folks to build themselves. This could just be because they look so darn beautiful, like Scott’s Endeavour on our home page. The characteristics that I think define a sea kayak include:

• Long – sea kayaks tend to be at least 16′ long but are usually in the 17′ to 19′ range. The extra length on a sea kayak is there for a couple of reasons. One is to help the kayak track easily which means it will be easy to keep it moving in a straight line. The other reason is to give you extra cargo space, since one reason for a larger sea kayak is to be able to do some overnight tripping.
• Relatively narrow beam – for example the Endeavour by Bear Mountain Boats has a waterline beam of 22″. The Chesapeake 17 by Chesapeake Light Craft is a little wider with a 24″ beam, but a Night Heron by Guillemot Kayaks is even narrower with a waterline beam of only 19.6″! This makes sea kayaks any where from 4″ to 10″ narrower than a typical recreational kayak.
• Fairly tight cockpit – now not all sea kayaks are going to have a tight cockpit, but on average they will be closer to the size of the cockpit on a whitewater kayak than the size the cockpit on a recreational kayak. The smaller cockpit opening allows for knee braces to be installed which give the paddler more control over the tilt and angle of the kayak
• Very little rocker – sea kayaks are pretty much at the opposit end of the spectrum from whitewater kayaks and will have a very flat keel line.  However, while a sea kayak isn’t going to spin on a dime like a 9′ whitewater playboat can, they still turn very easily and gracefully. This is done by “heeling” or tilting the kayak in the direction of your turn. Doing this takes advantage of the curve along the side of the kayak to lift or ‘free’ the bow and stern of the kayak effectively shortening the keel line and letting the kayak turn more quickly.

 

Tandem Kayaks

A tandem kayak is a ‘kayak built for two’. Looking for tandem kayaks, I found that they tend to be stretched versions of other sea kayak designs. The length is typically kept to about 21′  or less , which is a bit longer than a typical sea kayak but still about the minimum you need to add to fit a second set of legs into the same boat. Now in order to keep the length under control, you still have to add some extra volume to hold the additional weight of a second paddler. To take a look at another Guillemot kayak as an example, the tandem Great Auk Double has a waterline beam of 24.3″ compared to a waterline beam of 22.7″ for the solo Great Auk. Similarly, Chesapeake Light Crafts Chesapeake Double has a beam of 30″ compared to the 24″ beam of the Chesapeake 17.

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