John's Night Heron
These pages contain photos taken during the construction of my Night Heron sea kayak. I wanted a kayak that would be fast, easy to roll and fun to play in. I also like the Greenland style of the Night Heron. I built his boat from plans by Guillemot Kayaks.
Page 1: Stripping (you're here!)
Page 2: Fiberglassing
Page 3: Cockpit and Hatches
Page 4: Varnishing and Deck Rigging
Page 5: Launching!Click any photo to view a larger image.
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The internal stems were made from laminated cedar strips. I find it easier to use laminated strips than to carve a single piece of wood. The laminations make a nice, fair curve without a lot of planing. |
 This design has a fairly hard chine for a strip boat. I'm using bead and cove strips that are about 0.23 inches thick and 3/4" wide. On the chine area, I'm using 1/2" wide strips. The strips were cut from decking lumber purchased at Home Depot. |
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The Night Heron has a relatively flat bottom, with a lot of volume towards the ends. A block plane and a piece of 60 grit sandpaper glued to a scrap strip made quick work of fitting the ends of the strips. |
The bow and stern will have external stems made of mahogany.
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 The Night Heron is only 20" wide. |
 Another view. |
 I'm building without staples, except in some temporary strips. |
The strips near the shear on the deck take some radical twists, and it took a combination of clamps, screws, tape and hot melt glue to hold them in position until the wood glue dried. |
Sometimes I just have to stand back and admire the boat.
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The Night Heron plans. |
 The deck is covered! This striped deck pattern is similar to a boat I saw in an R2K2 photo.
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 The entire boat is Western Red Cedar, except for the mahogany stems. The light colored wood on the deck is from a single board of sapwood. The dark accent strips are 1/8" wide strips from a chocolate-colored board. The hull is from light tan boards. |
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Created November 23, 2003