Hi Ken. A friend and I have almost finished building two Shearwater Baidarkas. They're absolutely gorgeous kayaks, but not trivial to build.

My friend's husband built a Pygmy Coho, so we can make a comparison with a fairly straightforward multi-chine kit. I have spent over 300 hours on it so far - I was only up to the first layer of glass when I passed the 100 hour mark! I'll end up around 320 to 330 hours. That's at least twice the Coho's build time.

I suppose I am a type "O" builder, too, since we have glassed the kayaks inside the hull and deck with four ounce glass and fully outside with one, two, even three layers in some places. Type "O" building is common in South-Eastern Australia, since surf launches and landings are the rule. We have three bulkheads in each kayak and I have a Nairn (New Zealand copy of Beckson) pry-out day-hatch, which adds extra weight. I expect that my finished kayak will still only come in around 21-22 kg (46-48 lb). Sharon's should be under 20 kg (under 44 lb), since it is a 94% scaled version (16'6" LOA x 19.75" beam).

We used 3mm Hoop-Pine (Auraucaria cunninghamii) marine ply, which weighs about the same as 4mm Okoume, so didn't save weight there. The plans are for 8' by 4' sheets. If you use metric sheets (eg 2400mm x 4800mm) then the plans won't fit!

We used halving joints (lap-joints) cut with a plunging router, to join the sheets of ply. These joints are not as strong as diagonal scarfs but are vastly superior to butt joints. Their advantage is that they look very neat and square on the finished hull.

You will probably find the hull panels require a lot of force to get them to bend to Eric's design. If you don't do this, then the deck and hull won't fit.

It is essential to make the lowest panels in the hull fit at the designed angles. Accurate marking and cutting helps here. We spent nearly 50 hours on the two kayaks at this stage and it paid off.

The carvings are not difficult - the shapes are relatively simple - but the fit is very important, since they have a strong impact on the hull shape. My friend built her bow without the carving at all! Hers has a very conventional sea kayak profile, but with the correct cross-sectional shape - very cunning.

The transom stern is not trivial. You will need a lot of very long stitches going from side to side of the kayak to pull the panels together. Four hands will help when lining up the transoms with eight hull panels and the carving.

You won't need end-pours, since the carvings distribute shock loads evenly to all the panels. We just made substantial fillets, then glassed right around the inside of bow and stern.

My friend used the standard cockpit coaming type - stacked ply - and I have an insert (as shown on Eric's web site) with a standard white water keyhole cockpit. I have used 2 vertical ply strips for the coaming riser. My coaming has taken about 35 hours to my friend's 5 hours!

We are writing a brief account for the New South Wales Sea Kayak Club magazine. There are a few pictures in the first draft at http://www.nswseakayaker.asn.au/mag/43/baidarka.html

We expect to start sea trials within a fortnight.

Do I recommend the experience? Yes. Would I build another? No. Why? David Zimmerly's web site points to several very graceful 19th century baidarkas. I'd seriously consider MAE 593-76 as the next project.

Any questions, feel free to ask. Good luck.

Andrew

: Well enough lurking on this board and on to building.

: After a couple of days of chasing the kids around at the lake on the weekend
: I will return and get down to serious (kayak building) business. My
: plywood is scarfed and my panels are cut I will begin stitching on Monday.
: I'm building a Shearwater Baidarka 19'. This is my first kayak and I know
: that I am definatly a type "O" builder (prone to over-building)
: so I'm going to try and watch myself and keep things light. Other than
: large and heavy fillets are there errors that are commonly made by first
: time builders? Also, if any of you have built this model kayak, any tips
: you may have would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

: Have a great weekend!!!!

: Ken