Homemade kayak. Plywood kayak: types, purpose and self-production How fiberglass kayaks are made
Despite the fact that the title of the article indicates the manufacture of a kayak from plywood, you can not be limited only to this material. Sheets of fiberglass or cellular polypropylene are quite suitable for sheathing. All the same, the 21st century is in the yard, it is quite possible to use modern materials.
Drawings of a homemade kayak are intended for manufacturing homemade boat cut and glue technology.
Download drawings of a homemade kayak can
The archive shows the cutting of parts and their location on plywood sheets. The entire kayak assembly technology is also described, from cutting to the final finish.
It is worth noting that this assembly technology makes it possible to manufacture a swimming facility in a fairly short time. Usually a lot of time is spent on preparatory stage- development of boat drawings, purchase various materials, fitting when replacing the missing of what is.
In the technology of assembling from plywood according to templates, you are spared most of the difficulties. Cutting is calculated in an optimal way, there is no need to strongly bend the wood during assembly.
You can read in detail about working with plywood when making a boat with your own hands.
Download the drawings of a homemade kayak and make sure that you can build such a floating craft alone, in a couple of weekends. Construction can be carried out in a garage or, if you work at an accelerated pace, meet a couple of days off in an ordinary apartment.
hjy comments:
Instead of plywood, you can take coroplast or PVC
Andrew comments:
I was expecting to see drawings of a kayak.
ets comments:
I was expecting to see drawings of a kayak.
How to make your own kayak
Kayaks are called narrow rowboats with a sharp bow and stern, which are now actively used for rafting, tourism, hunting, expeditions, family walks and hiking in protected areas. They differ from ordinary boats in their low draft, high cross-country ability, compact size, light weight and rowing method, which is carried out by two-bladed oars. Kayaks are able to freely enter where the entrance is closed to a standard boat. These are, for example, narrow bends, littered, overgrown with algae and reeds or swampy reservoirs, rivers with a large number of steep rapids, and so on. That is why today they have become very popular among lovers of active water recreation.
Modern kayaks are made of polyethylene, composite materials, duralumin, thick fabric PVC. They are single, double, triple, quadruple, have different design and different cost. However, many lovers of spending time on the water do not want to buy a ready-made boat, but to make it with their own hands. In this case the best choice there will be a collapsible model with a shell stretched over a frame made of wooden and aluminum elements. It is better to prefer a single-seat kayak, which is quickly assembled, has sufficient strength, maneuverability, good running characteristics and a fairly large load capacity. The best option there will be a model like the Siren kayak weighing about 16 kilograms made of plywood and duralumin, which can satisfy both avid fishermen and fans of rafting on mountain rivers or traveling through spacious reservoirs.
How to start building a homemade kayak
To create a kayak with your own hands, you need to have its drawings, which you can develop yourself or find on the Internet. They should show in detail and with dimensions the stems, keelson sections, bulwarks, midelweiss, frames, stems, stringers, fenders, shell. To create drawings, you can take as a basis a kayak 4 meters long, 65 centimeters wide, and 20 centimeters high along the side.If a model is chosen by analogy with the Sirena kayak, its bulwark, sternpost, stems are made of plywood, stringer and fenders are made of pine, midelweiss and keelson are made of larch. The shell can be made of dense PVC or M-72 fabric. Initially for wooden parts it is necessary to prepare dry small-layer pine and larch wood, BS-1 plywood with a thickness of 5.7 9 millimeters, pieces of sheet duralumin with a thickness of 1, 1.5, 2, 3.4 millimeters, a metal bar with a diameter of about 8 millimeters, pieces of of stainless steel 08 and 2 mm thick. For fasteners, you will need aluminum rivets with a diameter of 3-4 millimeters, a length of 2-3 centimeters and screws with an anti-corrosion coating. The shell will require about 5 square meters waterproof fabric, the same fabric will go on the deck. You also need to prepare a rubber hose with a diameter of 3.5 - 4 centimeters and a length of 2 meters, a rubber cord with a diameter of 0.5 centimeters and a length of 1.2 meters and a slipway on which the boat frame will be assembled.
What you need to assemble the frame of a homemade kayak
The frame of the kayak includes two stems, five frames, a four-section keelson, four stringers, two fenders, a midsection and a bulwark. To assemble them, you will need tongues, locks, an oval duralumin bar, fasteners for fixing the fenders on the stems, an end bar connecting the stringers with the fenders, locks for the fenders and midelweiss, made of stainless steel. In addition, you will need fastenings of the keelson to stainless steel studs, an angle for midelweiss, a wedge plate made of duralumin, side and middle rails for the keelson, plywood crossbars, a tongue and a lock for the keelson, a rail for its middle section, a bracket for attaching the bulwark and midelweiss from duralumin, a bracket for fixing the stringer on the frame, a duralumin kilson latch with a stainless steel screw, aft plywood bulwark with a latch, a loop and a square.
Frame assembly
Fenders are assembled with stringers along the length. Sections, consisting of four parts, are attached to each other with reed locks. Locks are attached to the stringer rails in the amount of eight pieces at one end with rivets, and tongues at the other end. Locks are riveted to four of the remaining eight blanks, tongues are attached to the remaining four. Dural tongues and stainless steel locks are installed on the fenders. After that, they proceed to the assembly of the kilson. It consists of three vertical rails, which are connected by cross bars. Keelson sections are fastened together with locks and tongues made of stainless steel. They are installed on all middle sections. Either locks or tongues are attached to the extreme sections. The mid-section sections are also connected by locks and stainless steel tongues.Kilson is collected on flat surface. First, the center line and the location of the frames for the central sections are marked on it with a pencil. Then they saw out transverse strips for the kilson from plywood 5 mm thick. Their length is 2 meters, width 2.5 centimeters. Planks are glued to kilson rails epoxy resin and fasten with screws.
Near the stems, the side rails of the kilson are lifted and placed on the wedge plate so that the middle rail is under it. It is cut along the overlay, and it will be adjusted to other elements when the stem is installed. After that with inside cut off the lateral kilson rivers at a distance of 10-12 centimeters from the lining. They must be cut so that the stem fits snugly into the slots.
The stems are cut out of plywood with a thickness of 8-9 millimeters. Clips are mounted on them, which ensure the fixation of the stems on the kilson rails. The frames for the kayak frame are bent from duralumin tubes, the diameter of which is 14-15 millimeters, or made from duralumin profile U-shaped. For the middle frame, a profile with a thickness of 2 mm is taken, for the rest - with a thickness of 1.5 mm.
The profile is made from a duralumin strip. In order to bend it along the contours of the frames, first templates are prepared from steel, which are cut out according to the markings. Templates are made separately for each frame. After that, according to the templates, using a rotating roller, the profiles are bent.
Sections of the frame are interconnected by riveted duralumin inserts and plywood fillers. A large bracket is glued to the upper part of the second and fourth frames with epoxy resin, which is needed to fix the end of the midelweiss on them. Smaller brackets are placed on all frames in order to attach stringers to them. Additional brackets are still glued to the top of the first and fifth frames, which are necessary for the implementation full fit midelweiss. The frames are attached to the kilson with turntables.
To mount the fenders, oval strips are first riveted on them. In order for them to stand up correctly, they connect the two middle sections of the fenders, then lay 4 centimeters on both sides of the joint. On the fender section with a lock, the oval bar is turned 180º. To fix on the third frame in the tongue on the fender, a hole is drilled for the screw, which is machined from stainless steel.
If the fenders are first fixed on the three central frames, you can immediately mark the places for mounting the oval strips on the first and fifth frames. To do this, join the end parts of the fenders, then press them tightly against the end frames and mark the points where the fenders touch the propeller.
After that, it is necessary to rivet a hook and a lock to the midelweiss blank, fasten the tongue at the stems and put the fork in place. Then, with rivets, connect the ends of the fenders, stringers, midelweiss with stems. The fenders are connected to them with an overlay. Rivet holes are drilled after the frame is assembled. Stringers are attracted to it with twine.
The side sections of the bulwark are glued according to the template with waterproof glue. Strips for their assembly within a radius of 120 centimeters are first cut out of plywood with a thickness of 7 and 10 millimeters. A groove is made in the lower edge of the blanks, which is necessary in order to stretch the deck cord through it. The side parts of the bulwark in the bow are connected by a loop. To strengthen the frames on the bulwarks, small slots are sawn through, into which the ends of the brackets on the third and fourth frames should go. When the bulwarks are fitted to the frame brackets, you need to rivet the latches and install the back with the help of duralumin corners.
Creating a shell and deck for a homemade kayak
To create a shell, you will need a single piece of appropriate fabric, at least 4.2 meters long and at least 91 centimeters wide. It is applied to the bottom of the frame, then the edges of the canvas, which protrude beyond the fenders, are pulled together with thick or nylon threads. After that, the fabric on the bow and stern is cut and the shell is adjusted along the stems.
To reinforce the shell at the ends, the boat is glued outside and inside with a rubber hose, which is first cut into two parts in the longitudinal direction. The outer and inner hoses are closed on the stems, after which the sides of the shell at the extremities are cut from above under the deck.
Then they start cutting out the deck and attaching it to the shell that remains on the frame. For the deck, you will need four pieces of material - two middle and two end pieces. A rubber cord is sewn around the perimeter of the middle parts, which is necessary for the deck to fit the bulwark. It is sewn to the bottom of the shell. Then a sealed strip is glued to this seam. The edges of the deck with a sewn cord are inserted into the grooves on the bulwark and tightened.
Now you need to attach the back to the bulwark using oval planks and rods. After that, it is the turn of the footrest, which is easiest to create from a plywood plank measuring 18x24 centimeters. The bar is attached with wire braces to the second frame. Now there is a seat that can be plastic, inflatable, and make a paddle. It is not difficult. The oar blades are cut out of plywood 5 mm thick according to a template, its central parts are made of duralumin. The blades are connected to the saddle with bushings or screws.
On such a kayak, you can install sailing equipment, keel, steering. It is suitable for hiking in various reservoirs, swimming on rivers of medium complexity, walking along the sea coast. If desired, a low-power electric motor or a gasoline-powered motor can be attached to the kayak, if you mount a bracket on the stern and place a motor board. This will increase the speed of its movement and go on trips for many kilometers.
Based on the design of a single-seat kayak, if desired, it is possible to independently build a two-seat and even a three-seat boat. It is only necessary to correctly develop the drawings and prepare a piece of fabric for the shell, which has dimensions larger than that of a loner. The main thing is to carefully and carefully assemble the frame, remove and dry the shell in a timely manner, and then the kayak will be serviceable for many years. If the “skin” of the boat is torn, it can be repaired by sealing the damage, or simply replaced with another shell made of a denser fabric.
All photos from the article
if you love leisure, but do not want to spend a lot of money on a swimming facility, then you can make a plywood kayak yourself. This option is different in that you can build a structure according to your own parameters, while the cost ready solution will be several times, or even tens of times lower than that of a factory product. In the article we will talk about the main features of the process so that you understand its essence and understand its specifics.
Necessary materials
In order to carry out the work, you will need a certain set of components. To calculate their number, you need to have plywood kayak drawings on hand - it’s difficult to make them with your own hands without knowledge in this area, it’s better to buy finished project. Many companies sell patterns with life-size patterns, which is very convenient to work with and saves a lot of time and effort.
As for the materials, you need the following:
| Plywood | You need 3 sheets with a size of 2440x1220 mm and a thickness of 4 mm. For work will do only products of the highest grade without knots and other flaws. Ideally, it is better to use special marine plywood, it is not sold everywhere, but it is best suited for building ships, so the high price should not be an obstacle, it is better to take this option. |
| fiberglass | Requires material with a density of 130 g/m2, it is sold in rolls different lengths. On average, it takes 15 to 20 running meters. It is important that the fiberglass is of high quality, without flaws and damage on the surface. |
| Epoxy resin | To strengthen the structure, increase its strength and protect it from moisture, epoxy resin is used, it needs about 10 kg. Naturally, a hardener is also needed, its amount depends on the proportion in which the components are mixed. You should always take a hardener with a small margin, since most often it takes 10-15% more than the norm |
| varnish | There are special yacht varnishes on sale that perfectly resist both fresh and salt water and retain their properties over a long period of time. Also, do not forget to purchase a solvent, sometimes the varnish needs to be diluted, and it is also necessary to wash your hands and tools after finishing work. |
Important!
To tighten the elements together, copper wire 2 mm thick is used, do not forget about this important component, since the work process often stops precisely because of the lack of this material.
The working process
It is very important to do everything right, as any errors and flaws will make the design unusable. We will divide the process into two main stages to make it easier for you to understand.
Cutting and assembling the structure
At this stage, the following work is carried out:
- First of all, you need to carefully consider the drawings of a plywood kayak - with your own hands you need to transfer all the patterns to the material. As noted above, it is best to purchase a ready-made kit in order to avoid miscalculations and errors when cutting finished elements;
- Patterns are applied to the surface, and then transferred to it with an awl. To make the lines clearly visible, you need to draw them with a carpenter's pencil. When drawing, pay special attention to the accuracy of the lines, you need them to be as close to ideal as possible;
- The instruction for cutting the material is simple, but keep in mind that the thickness of the plywood used is small, so it is very easy to damage it.. When sawing, do not rush, you need to be careful. The better you carry out this part of the work, the better and more reliable the final result will be;
- It is very important to collect small sawdust when cutting, for this, spread newspapers, they will be useful to you in the future when gluing individual elements;
- When assembling the elements, holes are drilled at a distance of 10 mm from the edge and the parts are pulled together with copper wire, do not apply too much force so as not to damage the plywood.
It is worth noting that other options are assembled in the same way - do-it-yourself punt made of plywood is done in the same way, the difference is only in the shape of the elements.
Structural reinforcement
This stage is also very important, you need to perform a number of works:
- First of all, all seams are filled with epoxy resin filled with sawdust. This is done very carefully, after solidification;
- Then the outer joints are processed - they are filled with the composition, rounded and leveled. Next, fiberglass is cut out, applied to the surface and impregnated with epoxy. After drying, the excess is cut off;
- The top floor is made of slats 4 mm thick, first all the elements are cut out, and then they are fastened with transverse bars;
- Further, all elements are connected, treated with resin and aligned. The last stage is to the surface.
Of course, structures such as a do-it-yourself plywood yacht can also be assembled, but this is much more difficult than a small kayak or punt.
Output
To make an individual boat, you do not need to have sophisticated equipment at hand and have special skills, you just need time and accuracy. The video in this article will help you understand the process in more detail, and if you have questions, then ask them in the comments, qualified specialists will answer you.
Tools and materials:
- Sheets of plywood;
-Rail, bar;
- Epoxy resin;
-Rope;
-Fiberglass;
-Scotch;
- Clamps;
- Saw for wood;
First kayak.
Step 1: Making the Parts
On sheets of plywood, I made markings according to the drawings. Cut out blanks hand saw.
Step 2: Assembling the boat
First, the author tested several types of epoxy and insulating material before finding the perfect combination.
When assembling the boat to fix the parts, the author first used adhesive tape. But the tape does not hold well and I had to fasten the parts with wire.
To prevent epoxy resin from leaking into the butt joints, fiberglass tape was glued to the joints. After the resin hardened, the tape was removed. The joints were smeared with several layers of epoxy resin with sawdust. The boat was also covered with resin in several layers.
Step 3: Installing the Seats and Bars
On the upper edge of the boat, the author, for reinforcement, glued a beam. Made and installed seats. Seats and beams were also fixed with epoxy resin.
Step 4: Drawer
In the back of the kayak, the author made a waterproof box. The lid of the box was fixed with a rope.
Step 5: Launching
During testing, the kayak showed its survivability. Managing a kayak is more difficult than a regular boat, it needs to be balanced. But even a kayak full of water remained afloat.
Second kayak.
The author built the second kayak while in Chile. With the help of local residents who provided premises and tools, the author began to make a kayak.
In the manufacture of the second kayak, other drawings were used.
First, the details were cut. Then, taking into account previous experience, the parts were coupled to plastic clamps and the seams were coated with epoxy.
To protect against leakage of epoxy, adhesive tape was used instead of fiberglass.
My desire to build a Wood duck 10 kayak (hereinafter referred to as Duckling) is starting to come true. But first of all, I want to thank Andrey Konstantinov for providing detailed photos of the original version and Andrey Ivanov for their computer processing. All materials are located at .
Alexander (Barakuda) believes that writing should be done right away. Agree. Firstly, someone will need it, and secondly, they will help themselves. Well, the moderator did not mind, since he was silent. The only negative is that the work is only on weekends, which means it will drag on for two months.
Why Duckling. Somehow, firstly, it lay down on my idea of what I need and my design requirements. Secondly, I have a double kayak, and I did most of the exits alone, and it’s inconvenient to lift it on the trunk alone. Well, probably, and itchy hands. In general, there are drawings, there is one sheet of decent plywood 2440x1220 - we started.
What else is good about the hybrid version of the Duckling? One sheet of plywood goes to the hull itself, I’ll find some piece for the bulkhead, we’ll cut the rack deck, and we’ll cut the technological frames from all sorts of plywood debris.
The sheet was cut in half lengthwise. I fasten the halves of the plywood sheet with bolts in free places, then joint sawing and gouging of the edges (silencing).
I decided to make the joining of plywood into a lock, it seems to me that it fixes better from the mutual angular rotation of the parts, but I have no stock. The lock template is made of thick cardboard. We apply a template, prick the center, draw a contour, drill holes D20, then manual jigsaw, file, sandpaper. We put sheets of plywood on top of each other according to the pattern, draw a contour, insert a template between the sheets, then similarly.
Drilling should be done by pressing the plywood tightly against the lining to avoid chipping the veneer at the exit. We connect the sheets with a file. We impose a sheet pattern and refine the contour, cut it off. The sheets are ready for gluing with epoxy, there is nothing tricky in it.
About the benefits of a home library: there is always something to squeeze. The blanks are brought to heat for gluing. Epoxy glue EDP with wood flour. It takes an excruciatingly long time to get up.
These preparatory operations took two days off, four hours each. Continued next weekend.
A few words about rats, but about the most common ones. A friend of the old Soviet school tells me that he fights them in the garage with epoxy, they say they can’t stand the smell. I'm in shock, why are you pouring tar, do you have a barrel or something? Well, no, only a canister, and now I confiscated it, not full, but it pulls 6-7 kg. So we lived both at work and at home.
A little about glue. This one was bought at the suggestion of Oleg Alexandrovich. I did a test bonding, soaked it for a day, I am satisfied with the result, although it is 2D in terms of water resistance, and not 4, as we would like. Yacht glossy polyurethane varnish is waiting for its turn.
During gluing, the first jamb arose - the EAF glue did not stand up when kneading 10: 1, re-pasted 5: 1, it seems to be normal. In general, glue and resin are two different things.
Well, Saturday came, it's time to continue. The blanks are again in the garage, trimmed and drilled.
Assembly took almost all day. It fit pretty well in my opinion.
Bracket pads for alignment
Ready to continue gluing work
First trip to warmer climes
There she is. Battery central heating. This is where the bulk of the work will take place.
The sizing will go slowly and tediously, but this is in my service, you can do it in the evenings.
I glued all the joints in order to remove the wire before greasing with "flour" epoxy.
I did it in turn, tilting to the side so that liquid resin did not come out of the joint.
In principle, everything is prepared for the main sizing.
The beginning of gluing the joints with glass tape.
Pasting from the inside: started. The office is very convenient.
middle of the process. Impregnation comes with heating with a hair dryer.
Finish for today. The entire underside is covered. Masking tape is laid along the sides. On it, the fiberglass will be cut off and pure plywood will remain for gluing the deck.
Today is the fourth day off. Engaged in material and technological preparation for the deck. Son recently brought slats from the country. To bring them, I had to cut them.
I made a fixture for slats. Two pieces of chipboard old furniture, in one I drank it under a grinder, fastened it with self-tapping screws. Bar at any angle. Removing the emphasis, it is convenient to grind the ends on the table. I tried, okay. You can even not fix the machine, just support it with your left hand.
First, I put a cutter for metal on the machine so that the cut was cleaner. I didn’t like it, a lot of effort and burns, I went and bought a 140x2.2 disc. Sawed almost all the rails. Pine and redwood.
This week I will install patterns for the deck.
In principle, I can already report on the budget.
Plywood "good" - 800 r, plywood 6 mm plain - 320 r, glue Joiner and varnish - 240 r, fiberglass 10 m - 250 r. Total - 1610 rubles.
From the stocks of his own and friends: epoxy resin - 4 kg, pine and mahogany rail, 3 m of fiberglass.
The deck is pasted over from the inside, the hatch is cut out.
Here is the contraction of the deck with the hull before gluing.
He wanted to outwit himself and sand the deck, but filled the entire tape with glue. I cut it a little with a planer, well, with a scraper. Started gluing the coaming.
Let the resin still rise, well, sand it.
And now like this. There are bugs, of course. Still, the work is not in the studio, then I didn’t capture one, then I hurried, but, in general, tolerable. I'm thinking about impregnation, something like walnut.
I will answer questions.
This is how the deck is drawn to the hull. How skates were fastened to felt boots.
Adhesive from the inside. Dark color because mahogany wood flour. Nose view. The brush and spatula were screwed to a meter-long stick and screwed.
I got tired of sanding, I began to remove what I needed, all the same, the layers in plywood are thin. The advantage of the rail in the finish. Stopped and pasted over the deck. The hull was washed out, it turned out, as expected, sand camouflage. Actually stain under oak, water.
Duckling in place.
Here in the photo the coaming and the hatch have not yet been pasted over, but everything has already been done.
There was varnishing, as protection from ultraviolet radiation. Partially in time before departure.
This concludes the report and stay in touch online until the end of April. It is necessary to manufacture the seat, backrest and seal the hatch. Then a test, drinking champagne and other amusements. It's in a different story.
Today I bought a modem and a small SIM card, maybe I will take it in the country. According to their card, the reception is uncertain. I'll be in touch if I can.
