Welcome to my newest blog!
I'm building a Pygmy Borealis XL kayak from Pygmy Boats in Port Townsend, WA, USA.
This will be my fourth Pygmy kayak and I'm very excited for the build. Hopefully this will be the best of the ones I've done. Much was learned by building the previous ones that I think I have tips to share.
Most of the posts will be where I deviate from the manual in some way. The largest and most visually significant change from the manual will be that I will be taping the panels together instead of sewing them with wire. Two of my previous boats were done that way and they turned out great. The boat looks much cleaner without all of those tiny little holes!
Other steps will be included as well. Most will give your boat a more custom look than what you would get simply following the manual. Most are pretty easy to do too. You might need a few tools.
A bit about me... I built my first Pygmy Coho back in 2000. This was before they incorporated the deck recessed plate behind the cockpit cowling. I sewed that boat together. It was a fantastic boat but the itch to build another one came in 2009 when a friend bought my original boat.
I then bought the new-at-the-time Coho Hi (high volume) kayak. This was the first boat I taped instead of sewed. Looked great!
Then a friend asked me to build an Arctic Tern 14 for her. We had a great time building it and it still gets lots of use on Puget Sound. We taped this boat too.
While I love my Coho Hi, it just isn't stable enough for my freakishly tall body. I'm 6' 5" and 245 lbs. with size 13/14 feet. The Coho Hi is very fast but the cockpit is too small for my long legs and the beam is only 23". My buddies and I kayak in the Gulf Islands, the Broken Islands, and all around Puget Sound and we occasionally get very large, breaking waves. While I've not yet been knocked over I've come close enough several times and have become very nervous about long crossings. I've been considering the Borealis for some time and this week I test paddled one. It was SO stable! Sold. I packed one up and brought it home.
First I am refinishing my Pygmy Coho Hi and will sell it shortly.
Stay tuned for more posts, but it may be a few weeks until I can actually start on it.
Aloha!
I'm building a Pygmy Borealis XL kayak from Pygmy Boats in Port Townsend, WA, USA.
This will be my fourth Pygmy kayak and I'm very excited for the build. Hopefully this will be the best of the ones I've done. Much was learned by building the previous ones that I think I have tips to share.
Most of the posts will be where I deviate from the manual in some way. The largest and most visually significant change from the manual will be that I will be taping the panels together instead of sewing them with wire. Two of my previous boats were done that way and they turned out great. The boat looks much cleaner without all of those tiny little holes!
Other steps will be included as well. Most will give your boat a more custom look than what you would get simply following the manual. Most are pretty easy to do too. You might need a few tools.
A bit about me... I built my first Pygmy Coho back in 2000. This was before they incorporated the deck recessed plate behind the cockpit cowling. I sewed that boat together. It was a fantastic boat but the itch to build another one came in 2009 when a friend bought my original boat.
I then bought the new-at-the-time Coho Hi (high volume) kayak. This was the first boat I taped instead of sewed. Looked great!
Then a friend asked me to build an Arctic Tern 14 for her. We had a great time building it and it still gets lots of use on Puget Sound. We taped this boat too.
While I love my Coho Hi, it just isn't stable enough for my freakishly tall body. I'm 6' 5" and 245 lbs. with size 13/14 feet. The Coho Hi is very fast but the cockpit is too small for my long legs and the beam is only 23". My buddies and I kayak in the Gulf Islands, the Broken Islands, and all around Puget Sound and we occasionally get very large, breaking waves. While I've not yet been knocked over I've come close enough several times and have become very nervous about long crossings. I've been considering the Borealis for some time and this week I test paddled one. It was SO stable! Sold. I packed one up and brought it home.
First I am refinishing my Pygmy Coho Hi and will sell it shortly.
Stay tuned for more posts, but it may be a few weeks until I can actually start on it.
Aloha!
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