Building the Greenland Kayak

This book offers complete plans and instructions for building a lashed-frame, fabric-covered Greenland kayak. The building method is derived from traditional Inuit methods but incorporates a number of techniques ed to ensure that a novice builder can produce a strong, properly shaped hull. Few kayaks can match the Greenland kayak for simplicity, elegance, and performance. Its low profile keeps windage to a minimum, and its narrow beam makes it fast and well behaved in rough water. The hard chines carve through turns at the tip of the paddler s hips. It is the Ferrari of kayaks lively, high-performing, and versatile, but requiring a skilled, attentive paddler. The kayak set forth in this book is scalable to fit the builder, and there is also a low-volume version that is especially suited for Eskimo rolling. Building a Greenland kayak makes an excellent introduction to woodworking and boatbuilding and is an inexpensive way to get on the water in a high-performance kayak. Building it requires an investment of time, so as the author says, the best kayak builder is one who believes the process of building a kayak is a goal in itself and not just a means to an end. Chris Cunningham first rebuilt a Greenland kayak in the early 1970s, and has built numerous Alaskan and Greenland kayaks since 1979. He taught Greenland kayak construction at the WoodenBoat school for three years, with a total of 21 students successfully building kayaks. Cunningham first wrote these instructions after finding that the only book devoted to the topic was inadequate for the do-it-yourselfer. He published the instructions in abbreviated form in 1993-94 in a two-part Sea Kayaker article that became the magazine s most requested reprint ever. The book will also include a chapter on building a child s kayak with outriggers for stability; chapters on equipment including paddles and rolling sticks; and a chapter on kayak paddling including strokes, braces, and rolling techniques.