Siskiwit Bay Skin-on-Frame Drawings Updated

Recently, I got good feedback from a builder of the Siskiwit Bay SOF. I decided to dive into the kayak plans again and do a quick update. I don’t know how many of these have been built, but over 950 of the drawings have been downloaded. It’s mostly the free version that people grab, but the free kayak plans version doesn’t offer all the nice things that the drawing package offers.

The drawing package now comes with three different placements for the station that goes behind the seat and two different placement for the station forward the paddler’s feet. This will allow builders to vary where the seat goes and offers a way to trim the boat out. I make a recommendation in the drawings, but my recommendation will accommodate the most paddlers. The new placements allow one to refine the kayak to their needs.

Generally, in a SOF people use the rear deck beam with a little padding as a back rest. The original placement was perfect for those people 5’10” and under. The new placements allow a variation of 3 inches. For those that want a better tracking kayak building the rear station closer to the stern will also make the kayak track better. The rear-most placement also offers the most flexibility in post-build seat placement. It’s my recommendation.

The forward station is for foot placement. The new option allows you to move the forward station 6 inches towards the stern to either increase space in the bow for storage to to get the station closer, so you don’t have to use so much padding to turn it into a foot rest (I’d use foot pegs in mine). I’d personally build the station closest to the stern, but that might not work for taller people depending on where they place the seatback station.

As always the drawing packages show each station separately, have separate bow and stern drawings, and are made for printing full size. This package also shows where to cut for the keel, stringers, deck beams and gunwales. You can see a screenshot of the drawings below. I’m still debating on adding one more station which would be a location for an ocean cockpit vs. a whitewater-style cockpit. I’m also torn on the pointy bows. I think those need rounding off. If I revise the drawings again, I’ll offer that as an option. It may shorten the above waterline by 2 inches, but I think it would be worthwhile to not have a pointy bow.