Over the past few years, I’ve been experimenting with different ways of finishing wood kayaks. Most homemade kayaks are finished bright to show off the wood grain and color, but other techniques can be used to make a kayak unique and expressive. On the most recent boats I’ve built, I’ve painted the whole kayak one color, and on another I stained the wood and added touches of paint. I’ve used high-tech fabric blends for their aesthetic appeal and I’ve added colorful designs by laminating patterned fabric under fiberglass or using specialty fiberglass that has been custom printed.None of these techniques is difficult for anyone who can put down a layer of fiberglass and epoxy clean enough to be finished bright. I’ll start with the simplest and work through the materials I’ve tried on these kayaks.
Paint
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They look great. What plans were used to build them
The white boat is a Shrike R from CNCKayaks. The stripper is a Great Auk from Guillemot kayaks. Caroline’s boat is a Petrel Play from Guillemot. And the fourth one is a Shearwater 14 by Eric Schade, plans from Chesapeake Light Craft.
This is super creative and the boats look great. Thanks for writing these techniques up and noting the suppliers.
I am building a cedar-strip sea kayak. After reading your interesting article, I am wondering what your thoughts would be on staining with red wine. I tried a few strips and testing it seems to be giving a fairly nice pinkish color. This will only be be for a few decorative strips as the majority of my strips are the same light color. The question really boils around fiberglass, and resin after the wood is dry. Will this lead to delamination? I can certainly try Mohawk Ultra Penetrating Stain, but it is not cost-effective for only a few strips.
Thank you for the ideas. I have an ancient Chesapeake 17 from CLC that needs a new deck. When I bought it, somebody had already patched the ply, but another rot spot was making its appearance. While I glassed over the rot to keep it at bay, I knew it was a bandaid till I could properly replace the deck.
As I hate plywood seams, I have been plying with strip-building a new deck, but the idea of using fabric is an intriguing one.