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Siskiwit Bay: The Initial Test
Sunday, no wind, the leaves on the hills surrounding town on their last legs, but yet golden with color, hardly a cloud in the sky, the perfect temperature of fifty degrees set the scene for the first test run of the Siskiwit Bay. We loaded the kayak on my car and drove a few back roads before turning on to Highway 61 and then into the municipal campground. At our destination of the boat ramp by the old power plant, we unloaded the kayak and set it into the cold blue water of Lake Superior. The private docks sat ashore pulled for the end of the season, and only two…
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The Second Test Run of the Siskiwit Bay Design
After the deck line was completely installed, I wanted to test the comfort of using a canoe seat in a kayak, so on a beautiful November day in the Northland – we only get five beautiful sunny days in November on average – I took the kayak up to Two Island Lake, which is about 15 miles by road outside of Grand Marais. The lake was perfectly calm and clear and the sky blue and partly cloudy. There was a very light almost negligible breeze blowing. For this paddle, I spent an hour and a half on the water and paddled just under 3 miles (2.85 miles total.) The second…
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How long does it take to build a cedar kayak?
This is one of the last articles in my building log and represents the beginning of the end. Yet to come is an extend testing report, one article on the changes that I’ve made since I first built it and why I made the changes, but first a set of two articles that answer two question that a builder often asks before embarking on the adventure that is canoe and kayak building: a) How long will this take, and b) How much will this cost? When I first started this build, I made a decision; I would track my hours and expenditures on a spreadsheet in order to give myself…
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Cost of Siskiwit Bay Kayak
The table below is a breakdown of what I spent on the prototype of the Siskiwit Bay. There are a few items that stand out to me: I spent very little on wood compared to the cost of the whole project. First time builders seem to often want to cut costs in the wood, but wood is only about 5% of the overall cost. It’s the little things that add up. I spent a ton of money on the little things like sandpaper, gloves, etc… These things are often ignored when quoting how much money was sunk into a project. I spent around $250, which is around 24% of the…
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Siskiwit Bay Builder Photos
Pictures from home builders of the Siskiwit Bay. If you have pictures you’d like to share, please, contact us. Thanks. Drawings for this kayak are available. Jim Smith Project finished March 2014 Jim writes: I have completed construction of a completely 3D printed, customized Kayak. The Kayak measures 16ft 8in [5.08m] long and cost around $500 to make. It is made of ABS plastic, machine screws, brass threaded inserts and a little bit of silicone caulk. That’s it. And it floats. And I can Kayak around in it. In order to print such large, solid sections of Kayak, I had to modify my home-built, large scale 3D printer to print…
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Free Kayak Plans – Siskiwit Bay
The Siskiwit Bay is all-around fast mid-sized British-style touring kayak. This solid boat suits a medium to heavy paddler looking for good initial stability and with increased flare above the waterline lots of secondary stability. As the water gets rougher, this kayak feels more stable. It's a fast design slightly more efficient than most British kayaks in its class. When built with a Layback Lounge, it's an easy roller.
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