Hello! These pages tell my story about the building of my plywood kayak.  

It all started when my son Mike, decided to take up kayaking as a new hobby at the age of 9 after deciding sailing with Mum and Dad was not much fun!

Taking Mike to various courses and events, I was gradually drawn into something that I had last spent many happy hours doing in Poole Harbour when I was a young boy some 40 years previously.

We started attending a Saturday morning club on the River Trent at Nottingham and we were soon both happily kayaking away in borrowed boats.

After a couple of years or so, after Mike already had purchased a play boat,  I decided I would also like to have my own kayak so took myself off to the local shops to see some boats. The prices were very high and the products did not fit in with my traditional ideas about how kayaks should look.

Having built a couple of dinghies and various canvas and fibreglass canoes about 30 years ago, I decided to have a go and see if I could build a plywood Kayak that looked good and could be used on both the sea and the river. I wanted a boat that was easy to paddle and would go in straight lines without too much effort. Modern short boats have a tendency to go around in circles for me!

I guess I must confess now that I have worked as an Engineer all my life so have "practical skills" that serve me well. But I have tried to put these pages together to show how to build a kayak in as simply a way as possible.

Thanks for coming to see my pages, call back, I shall be adding pages on building, kayaking and other interests as time allows.

Good luck and happy building!

Bob