Building the Endeavour Sea Kayak
The Endeavour Sea Kayak is a Steve Killing designed wood strip kayak. It is also covered in the book Kayakcraft
by Ted Moores of Bear Mountain Boats. This is the first kayak that Scott and I have built.
-Rob
Ok Rob has asked me to provide a little personal perspective on the building of the Endeavour 17″ Cedar Strip Sea Kayak so what follows is a personal perspective of our build. I put this story together shortly after finishing the project for a number of people that wanted to know more about the Endeavour build. This project was inspirational for me and a lot of fun for both Rob and I and I hope others will catch the kayak building “fever.” I encourage anyone thinking about building a boat to “go for it.” You will not be dissapointed. In later posts I will add more detailed posts which I believe will help others navigate their own build so stay tuned!
Building a Kayak Called Endeavour
Following a week long kayaking “solo” in a rented kayak, I was convinced I wanted to own my own boat. After sharing this with my friend Rob Waywell, he encouraged me to build rather than buy. The end result was my own kayak called the Endeavour, which Rob and I built in our spare time.
When out with the kayak, people occasionally approached me to ask questions such as
“How long did that take to build?” or “How much did that cost?“
Difficult questions, but after some “guesstimating” I have come up with about 14 months (evenings and weekends) to build, and approx. $2200.00 in materials.
However, I believe how long and how much are the wrong points to question regarding a project such as this.
For me there is more to a build such as this, than time or dollar bills – after all, I could buy a kayak for close to this much money and save 14 months in doing so!
Indeed, there is something very special about taking long lengths of wood, working them and creating something so beautiful and yet so functional. Something incredible happens while sanding to the point of a Zen like meditation, running a plane along ash rub rails and watching wood shavings curl off the blade, or wetting out the hull with epoxy and seeing gorgeous wood patterns rise to its glistening surface.
Furthermore, I struggle to quantify the lifelong lessons learned from setting a goal and achieving it, managing the details of a long drawn out project, innovating, overcoming mistakes and the fear of failure which inevitably accompany beginning any new endeavour.
And, when the build is complete, and the boat can be taken on its inaugural run, what price can be assigned to the feeling realized when the boat I made with my own two hands glides effortlessly across the water.
So if I consider how many ways I have been affected by building this boat, I can see the true value of creating this humble yet beautiful Endeavour. The magic of joining wood, the peace and letting go of uncertainty and tension discovered while working in my garage turned boat building shop, the ability to create and make every decision, the knowing that I can improve on the next one. Simply, time and money cannot adequately describe the value I gained from this build.
More than time or money, I value the feeling of saying, “I made this in my spare time with my hands. This is something I helped create.” I am part of it and it is part of me. In many ways it has become a conduit to something much larger than I, and this makes me very happy indeed.
Giant thanks to Rob, my friend, fellow kayaker and blogger who originally suggested I build rather than buy, loaned me the use of his garage and tools until I was adequately setup in my own home shop.
-Scott
The following pages provide a photo record of various parts of the building process. To help sort out the different steps, we’ve broken the process down into the following segments: