More Kayak Photos

Thought I should post some more shots of my finished kayak.

This is the view from the inside looking forward, those of you who have done too much study on kayaks may notice that the ribs have a slightly different profile than standard, I flattened and widened the bottom section, and made the curve up more abrupt. This was to increase the stability of the boat, and give me more cargo space inside.

And the view to the stern. One thing I have been noticing that I thought was interesting, is that despite the increase stability I can still lean the boat easily to one side or the other with my hips, and essentially park it over with the cockpit almost in the water, yet it stays comfortably there.

Shot of the cockpit, and rear deck line. I decided to just install the aft deck line at first, use it for a while, and figure out what works best before installing the fore-deck line. I am using carved yellow cedar for my toggles. I have to say that wow is it a great system, simply slide the toggles to the centre to slacken the lines, slide them to the gunwales to tighten them up. They hold well enough to attach a paddle as an outrigger, and thus avoid some drenchings whilst getting in and out of the boat. Which I suppose is another plus for having a flat rear deck.

Shot of the boat in sun. One thing thats important to note for anyone building one of these with similar materials, every hole, or mark, or dowel thats in the gunwale shows up through the finished skin. Had I realized this I might have tried to make more aesthetic decisions on where to place certain things