Unalaskan Kayak Built

I received your blog post about the Unalaskan kayak. In 2000, I looked for a kayak design, which was possible to build with strips and suitable for a tour on the coast of Brittany (France). I knew there were sometimes rough conditions from day tours before. I wanted a kayak design that could handle those conditions.

I found the kayak I wanted drawn as figure 178 in Bark Canoes and Skin Boats of North America, and I decided to draw it the old fashion way on paper. But the bow and stern seemed to be difficult to build with strips, therefore I changed it a little. I built the stern with a transom. But the forms and the profile were as true as possible. In original, the forms have a little V in the keel, therefore I rounded them. I drew the new ideas on paper, stretched it to 5.8 meters long and 54 cm broad. After drawing the lines and forms I calculated it and found out that the curve of displacement was identical, and that means for me, the characteristics of the kayak is also identical.

To paddle on the coast of France it is necessary to have bulkheads, a fast-mounted compass and a built-in pump. It was a challenge to build the kayak, but I succeeded.  The kayak is fast and in rough conditions good to handle. Without a rudder it weathercocks, therefore I build a stern rudder.

For my next project, I turned to another kayak. Nick Schade published the offsets of a kayak from Akun. With his offsets I draw the forms. A kayak in that dimension seems to be too small for me, so I changed it from inches to mm instead with 2.54x with factor 2.8x. With that I drew a Kayak 5.9 meter long and 49cm broad.

In 2014, I found a trunk of a Thuja-tree that was 3.4 m long with a diameter 40 centimeter. I bought it and milled strips. For the full length I joined each strip.

The stern is built nearly like the original but I did not build the bifid bow.

I use this kayak only for day tours on the Lake of Constance where I live. I do not know how fast it is;  I’m now 84 years and am not able to paddle full speed.

With warm regards,

Max Watzke