Hi Mike,

I have not built a Walrus, but after asking some questions of those who had, I opted for Tom Yost's stringer-on-frame kayaks. I was told that the 'floors' and 'trestles' in the Walrus were quite a bit more fiddly, and used more material.... I was told that they were no more durable, and I believe one builder told me he had one or more of the trestle pieces break. I think he also mentioned that the floors put his COG up a little higher than he would have liked.

For my daughter's Sea Flea, I used a couple 2x3 s ripped for stringers and coaming. I cut the frames for 2 Sea Fleas and my 'Iggy' from half of a sheet of 1/2" ply. For the Sea Fleas skin I used inexpensive canvas from the art store - $15 Cdn for each Sea Flea. For paint, we were lucky and scored several cans for free from the recycle centre. Some alum, angle for seat brackets, and line for toggles. I think I spent around $30 or $40 on the Sea Flea. It was very simple, easy to build - I had the children (8 and 11) do the 'lofting' of the frames, which gave them ownership, and was a great 'summer review' of their math/graphing lessons
They did much of the assembly work, which also gave rise to many teaching moments on safety, problem-solving, and teamwork.

Not sure if this is info you were looking for, but I hope it is useful.

kelly t

: I've been asked to make suggestions for a construction project at a boys
: (13-15) summer camp. Last year we built 3 very simple flat-bottom SOF
: kayaks. I was thinking of the Walrus as a potential project this summer.
: Who out there has experience building this style kayak. How much time did
: it take? What skill level is necessary to construct? What about material
: costs?

: Thanks,
: Mike Scarborough
: Friendship Kayak