Well, Its been about a week since I finally finished my Guillemot Petrel. I'm pretty pleased with the way it turned out. This was my first stripper and It definatly won't be my last..... next on the list is a canoe.

I really can't take credit for a few things on the boat, these are the seat and backband, recessed bungee fittings and paddle park. All of this work was done by Dan Caouette of Clear Stram Woodworking in NH. It was an absolute pleasure dealing with Dan, and his work really speaks for itself, without his pieces the kayak wouldn't not be as interesting as it is.

I must also thank everyone that helped me on this Forum, of course there were problems along the building process and all of them were solved without me pulling too much hair.

A few notes about the boat.
It is indeed a Guillemot Petrel however there is one alteration that I made which was to the cockpit recess area. This was something that I had a mound of trouble doing and I just didn't go about it the correct way. I love the recessed cockpit design but It just didn't come out the way I wanted so I went with the traditional coaming, I hope Nick doesn't cringe too much.....

The main wood is of course Western Red Cedar which took about two months to find pieces that I liked. I tried to keep everything dark brown and I really found some excellent old growth cedar that looks amazing.
The other species are Alaskan Yellow Cedar for the accent strips and down the middle of both the deck and hull is a think strip of Padauk which turned out really well.
The hull is 6oz e-glass with Carbon/Kevlar hybrid on the inside which I really like. The deck is 4oz e-glass both sides. No varnish yet only epoxy so its not at its full sheen that will come in a few weeks.

I hope everyone likes it, it was a real pleasure to see something go from pieces of flat stock to a finished product.
Enjoy

Pat Deopp
Pitman, NJ