Free Kayak Plans: 1883 Southwestern Greenland Kayak
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The original survey for the 1883 Southwestern Greenland kayak appears in The Bark Canoes and Skin Boats of North America (Figure 206). Howard I. Chapelle, the surveyor, writes that this kayak represent one of the last southwestern Greenland boats of the old style, a style characterized by a strong sweeping sheer at the bow and stern. This kayak shows what Chapelle believed was close to the maximum amount of rocker used in a southwestern-style kayak. The original survey shows bone plates pegged to the bow and stern to protect the kayak from landing and launch on ice. Chapelle writes that the old form was a fast and handy hunting boat.
These free drawings include a pdf of the station and stem plans, a 3-D view of the boat with axis baselines and an image of the linesplan. The original kayak used two deck beams, but because they’re not shown on the survey, I decided to round the deck slightly following the profile view of the survey. Where Chapelle’s survey disagrees, I defaulted to the profile and plan views instead of his stations.
Specifications
Length: 16 feet, 6 inches
Beam: 20 inches
Depth: 6-7/8 inches
Recommended Kayak Building Books
- Building Strip-Planked Boats: A canoe, kayak and row-boat building book by kayak and canoe building authority, Nick Schade. A must have for canoe and kayak building.
- The Strip-Built Sea Kayak: Three Rugged, Beautiful Boats You Can Build: The gold standard of kayak building books. Explains everything from tools to epoxy work. You will save time when using the tricks and tips in this book.
- Kayakcraft: Fine Woodstrip Kayak Construction: Lots of great ideas.
- The New Kayak Shop: More Elegant Wooden Kayaks Anyone Can Build: Stitch and glue kayak building.
Get the Drawing Package
The drawing package includes the full-sized study plan and each station and stem drawn separately on a PDF that prints full sized on ARCH D size paper (nestings). You can cut these out and glue them to plywood to cut full-sized forms. A pdf of the electronic drawing package. is available for this kayak. You can print the file on 24- by 36-inch paper on your own.
Free Kayak Plans Downloads
The free cedar kayak plans come as a pdf (free Adobe Reader required to view) that you can print off at photocopy stores. Paid options upgrades are also available. See all the options here:
13 Comments
Rob L
Anyway we could get a larger image of the linesplan? Can’t read the numbers.
Rob L
Oh, and this is great stuff, keep them coming.
Bryan Hansel
I replaced the small linesplan image with a larger one.
Jean-Luc Bellieud
I have done it last year with my son.
I have use the drawing founded on the excellent dashpoint pirate blog.
The model is 60cm long, the next one will be longer.
You can see it on my facebook page
“navikayak”
Bryan Hansel
Nice, Jean-Luc!
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Bob
Is it possible to build a SOF kayak from the nestings of this kayak?
Bryan Hansel
If it’s a Yost-style then the stations won’t be in the right places, but you should be able to make a SOF by using the stations to. The deck will need to be improvised as I drew a rounded deck instead of a traditional deck. For Yost-style, if you know where you want the stations, I can send you the custom stations.
Bob
Will it matter whether I use the Yost-style or just us the stations? I was considering using the stations as follows. The station directly in front of the cockpit and then a station every two feet until I reached the bow and then I was going to use station no. 2. The same thing with behind the cockpit. If I remember correctly from looking at the lines from the photo.
Bob
I’m sorry. At the 14 foot mark not station no. 2.
Bryan Hansel
Sounds like a plan to me.