Hannah’s kayak was my very first strip built kayak, completed at the start of the pandemic. It includes woods primarily reclaimed for my daughter’s middle and high school gymnasiums, that of VG Fir and Hemlock. It also has VG Redwood for the deck that was gifted to me by the former manager of Copeland Lumber. That redwood had great sentimental value for both my daughters, who equated Copeland with fond memories for “Black Cat” balloons from manager Carl. He gifted me with this beautiful plank of redwood, measuring sixteen feet long, and specifically suggested I make some for my daughters with it.
The pandemic provided a wonderful opportunity to build a strip kayak, something I’ve yearned for since 2003. Back then, Lee Valley Hardware published a beautiful picture of a strip built kayak on the cover of one of their catalogs. That picture still hangs on the wall of my shop and provides constant inspiration to build something useful and beautiful. More importantly, the pandemic afforded me hours of time to research and view Nick Schade’s youtube video series on how to build the Petrel Play kayak. In general, I don’t spend a lot of time watching videos, but this series was pretty crucial and informative to launching my love and desire to build strip kayaks. Hannah’s boat is the start of my journey into kayak building.
Hannah’s boat also features my first larger inlay work too. Being a guitar builder, both electric and acoustic, I wanted to explore installing larger inlays on kayaks. I had just completed an acoustic guitar for Hannah and the rosette around the sound hole featured hearts. The compass rose for her kayaks is identical to her guitar. What I didn’t know was how this inlay stuff would work, nor how it would really take off in the kayaks that would follow.