| Here's the early version of a Greenlandic style boat
The information that the qajaq community has put up on the internet was invaluable. I owe all a vote of thanks. I couldn't find my copy of "Skin Boats and Bark Canoes". I last saw it about 25 years ago, but it wasn't where I think I left it. And a visit to Greenland a few years did get me into a Plastic kayerayak and was the inspiration to build this. But I didn't spend any real time looking inside some of the wonderful specimens in museums over there. So I just wung it. |
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| Anthropometric measurements were used. It's twice my span in length. Two handspans in width. A fist and extended thumb in depth.To find the balance point for the masik placement I wrapped the frame in polyethelene sheet, put it in the water and got in. It was very round-bottomed. It did not feel terribly tender. It did not feel very tender - At First. Even the polyethelene skinned trials were stable enough that I launched, had some side-on videos made for waterline and masik location and I paddled off for an hour or so to check out the wildlife along the shores and swamps. I had a Yellow Rail pop out of the tulies next to me; an omen. |
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| The qajaq seemed to be deeper than neccessary. I decide that I'd consider cutting down the frame sometime in the future. | |
| I stitched up a light muslin cover, painted it and was playing in a tiny nearby pond when I found that if I relaxed, put my hands on the paq and looked down, that is, took my eyes off the horizon, I was upside down with water running up my nose in less time than it took to think about it! I had no foot rests, only the framework and my brace wasn't very good. I also had the distinct impression that any extra displacement in the boat was working to accelerate the inversion.
I found that if I kept a paddle in the water the boat was fairly stable. To my consterrnation I also found that if I kept my hands in the water it didn't matter much where I was looking, but that things felt quite stable. I haven't figured that one out! (And every kayaker who tries it seems equally puzzled.) |
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| A little background - My wife and I are in the travel business. Mostly sending people on horse back treks, exclusively in Iceland. We have one outfittter with a very popular week's multi-activity trip that includes an hour or so in a sea kayak and a bit of rafting (if you can be comfortable in a floppy rubber boat). We're trying to free up the time to work into some kayak tours with outfitters we know in Iceland and Greenland next year. Custom stuff in Greenland would be a possibility but we haven't pushed that either since we seem to be busier than ever with our base tours.
My deepest experience with kayaks was at our Jersey country place in 1949 (not a typo). I had part interest in a wood/canvas kayak. The part interest also involved an .045" model airplane, various bike parts and an Ivers Johnson .22 revolver that gave you powder burns flecked with nickel plating with each round fired. I had near forgot about the fun in the kayak, but it's all coming back. I have been building things for most of my livelihood, in a lot of different materials and technologies. It was a revelation to realize that I could crudely replicate a seagoing vessel with a few lengths of spruce and ash and some maple sticks tied together with string and sewn into a canvas sack. |
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