New Black Dog Completion

[nobucks]

I just received pics from one of our builders, so I had to brag on him a little bit. I'll post more pics when he puts on the finishing touches.

Bruce, from South Dakota, finished his Greenland Style Kayak this past week. He's still waiting on his seat, backband, deck rigging, and trim, as well as his coaming, due to some backordered parts, but he'll have those mid-week.

Bruce reports that he started building on a Friday and had it ready for skin by Sunday. The skinning was the most challenging part of the job, and was completed over the course of several evenings this past week.

According to Bruce, it's narrow, but it handled well, slicing through wind and waves, and never threw up a bow wake during three hours of paddling.

Total weight, 35 pounds and just over 17 feet long.

 

[islandpiper]

A thing of beauty........what else can be said?

congrats to you and him both!!

Piper

 

[Kayak Jack]

Looks like a bloody arrow! Nice design, Joel.

 

[hairymick]

Heya Joel,

I bloody LOVE the lines of that boat. Well done, again mate. One of these days, I will have the confidence to attempt one of your beautiful designs.

 

[dangermouse01]

Nice boat.
So lets see, I have a brand new roof size blue tarp with the word FEMA printed all over it in large white letters, from a few years back. I wonder how that would look as a SOF kayak.

DM

 

[Kayak Jack]

Danger,

There are folks who make "emergency kayaks" out of such tarps and brush. If it's one of the polytarps, it may work. they are so cracklingly noisy that I refuse to even buy them for home use anymore.

 

[nobucks]

--

Bruce sent me another pic of the kayak, this time with the accessories installed and the following account:

The Seattle-like weather in South Dakota lifted last Saturday and we ran the "Dells" at Dell Rapids to Baltic. The Greenland kayak maneuvered well in the rapids and with all the rain we had, I was able to avoid all the ROCKS. I caught several waves in my chest but the spray skirt and comming held. I had a repair kit along (gorilla tap, contact cement, cord, extra fabric) in case I miss judged the rapids. My son, however, put a new significant scratch in the bow of my old plastic boat.

 

[Kayak Jack]

Joel,

It has to feel good to see your designs being made and paddled. Kind of like a Father watching his children as they grow.

 

[bearridge]

Observin' Jack,

I figger when Joel turns geezer, a warm feelin' will come on him when he sees one of hiz boats out on the water. Dont know how long that will take. Depends on how much time he spends here....round Ole Sparkler 'n the other ole fellas. :mrgreen:

regards
bearridge

A system of licensing and registration is the perfect device to deny gun ownership to the bourgeoisie. Vladimir Ilyich Lenin

 

[Kayak Jack]

If "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery", then "Replication would be the "seriousist form of life insurance.

 

[nobucks]

Something doesn't seem right about letting someone else paddle my children...

But, seriously, it does give me a mixed feeling of satisfaction and a little bit of apprehension, waiting to see how they'll turn out, so, yes, again, I guess it comes back to the analogy of having children .

I hit 40 years old a couple of months ago, so my children tell me that I'm already a geezer. Of course, you guys are good examples of only being as old as you feel.

 

[Kayak Jack]

Well, happy birthday you Olde Farte! In a couple of months I'll be 70. I STILL wanna be a cowboy when I grow up.

 

[oldsparkey]

40...

Jack , when did we start letting the kids join up on here with us? :lol:

Cheer up nobucks you just hit the magic number , the years will fly by and before you turn around three times you will be up there with Jack , Myself , I never got past 39 and have been going in reverse ever since then.

Thinking about it I probably was going in reverse before then but just did not know it. Just don't tell Social Security , I do like those checks every month. :wink:

A belated Happy Birthday to you.

Chuck.

 

[Kayak Jack]

My secret to health so youthful looking, handsome, energetic, and smart is simple. When I celebrated my 50th birthday, I also celebrated my 100th. At my 52st birthday, I also celebrated my 99th. And so on down until they meet at 75. Then, I'll start going in the other direction.

Mark Twain observed, "Folks ask me my secret to making it to the age of seventy. My rules of health are simple:
I never smoke,
..............more than one cigar,
...........................at a time.
.........................................I have no other restrictions."

 

[nobucks]

Huh, that's funny, I never smoke more than one cigar ata time either. Although, I have been known to drink more than one beer at a time.

Truthfully, I don't feel a day over 25 and, as my wife can vouch, I don't act a day over 25.

Thanks for the belated Birthday wishes. Happy Birthday to you too!

 

[nobucks]

Another one!

--

Light up another cigar - Black Dog Kayaks had another baby!

Yellow seems to be the color for the Greenland Style Kayak, at least, the guys with the yellow kayaks are finishing theirs first. We've also shipped some black kayak skin so we should be seeing a couple more of those in the future.

Note that this is a different one from the yellow South Dakota kayak. This is Jim from North Carolina. He's a 70 year old self-taught swimmer, turned triathlete.

You can find more pics of Jim's kayak and the building process here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/greenlandka ... DogKayak02

 

[Kayak Jack]

Quite a work of artful functionality, and functional artfulness. That looks more complicated to me than S&G with plywood. I may be "framework challenged" (read karpentry klutz).

Do they ever cut holes for lightening into those long, plywood stringers? I keep thinking of aircraft structures.

Joel, have you ever been to the Bush Plane Museum in the Canadian Soo? Fascinating! You would be right at home there, looking at the aircraft frames and all. It's in the SE'ly corner of the Soo, just off of Highway 17 where it breaks from going E'ly to N'ly on your way to Wawa. I can email you a map if you want.

 

[nobucks]

I haven't been to the Soo since I moved to the U.P. I was there when I was in college, but not to the Bush Plane museum. We were up to ski and to help keep LaBatt in business.

We keep meaning to get up there though. One of these days. I'll add the museum to my list of things to do there.

The long stringers are cedar, so it's a very lightweight frame. The Greenland frame weighs +/-25 pounds and the finished kayak weighs less than 35 pounds.

As complicated as it looks, I can assemble the frame, with glue and screws in an hour. Someone who's never done it before may take three hours. If you can drill a hole and turn a screwdriver, you can build one of these.