Danes Build Baidarkas

Danish kayak builder and teacher Svend Ulstrup,  sent me some photos of the work he is doing in Denmark. Apparently, his students just finished building 48 baidarkas or iqyan.

One of Svends innovations is to put hatches like miniature cockpit coamings on his boats.  He also has his students add sea socks which keep sand out of the boats and can double as backpacks.
Unlike most builders in the US, Svend uses all plant derived products products for building his kayaks, lashings are hemp or jute, sewing twine is cotton, boat skins are linen and sealant is linseed oil.  Although he seems to be adding some synthetic colorings these days.
For more info on Svend, see his website

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Why Build Your Own Kayak

A friend of mine recently posted a picture of a customized car from circa 1970 Houston, Texas.  What struck me about the photo was that the owner of the car clearly wasnt satisfied with the amount of chrome that designers back in Detroit were putting on cars at the time, so he took matters into his own hands and added chrome to a level that he felt was appropriate.

And this same sort of urge, not the urge for more chrome, but the urge for more cool is what led me to start building my own kayaks. It was not about money, it was simply the desire for a superior esthetic over what commercial manufacturers were capable of delivering. Others may disagree.  Many prefer the look of shiny plastic.  I prefer the cool of skin on frame.

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