Kayakbuilding at Delmarva Paddlers Retreat 2023 part I - authored by Jannie

Going to Delmarva Paddlers Retreat, the biggest Qajaq USA event in October has become a good habit of ours. It is allways a great pleasure to cross the pond and join our big kayakfamily abroad. We love to go there and for us it's like an extended summer because the weather can be really warm and nice on good days. Anders has been there seven times and Jannie five times. This year it was a kayakbuilding year. Anders has held three classes there, 2015, 2019 and 2023. The classes run smoothly now and previous years Anders and Chris Beckman has found a good way of doing things. This year Chris has retired and was replaced by Mike Hamilton, who took over coordinating with style! Delmarva is a real grown up event and has run for 33 years. This year seven people joined the build class. Three built Greenland style kayaks, two built Alaskan style baidarkas, one built a King Island kayak and one built a rolling kayak. 

As usual the event is at Camp Arrowhead, and the class was held at our favourite site - the Birdcage - with it's spectacular octogon shape. Crambed in between huge pinetrees, squealing squirrels and chirping birds we spent most of the daylight hours (12 hour workdays) at this wonderful site.

The Birdcage! 

The Birdcage at night - even more mysteroius!

The first day. Everybody gets the two pieces of wood that are to become the gunwales of the kayak.

Scott working at what will become the stern.

Lashing the frame is a part of making the wooden frame solid and fleksible at the same time. This lashing ties the gunwale and the deck beam together. Here you also see a rib mortise, made with a drill and a pocket knife.

 

Shaping the decks and getting ready for cutting and fastening the deckbeams.

The deck has taken shape, and next we start building up stern- and bow pieces that will support the keelson.

Dowels, dowels and dowels... we make hundreds of dowels by hand i different sizes. We use dowels in the stern, the bowpiece, the ribs, the masiks and deckbeams. Well in almost everything. Here dowels are used in the ribs. Yes they can be lashed also. Terry did, but unfortunateliy we did not get a photo of that.

Fastening the Masik to the deck. Dowels and lashings.

Beginning the prosess of making the bow and stern. Here is the amazing bow with "an eye" on the King Island kayak.

Normally we don't use drawings. In this case we had some visual guidelines to make a King Island kayak.

I see you! The eye...!

A baidarka - or iqyax frame, laying up the deckbeams - eyeballing as a true craftsman.

Bows getting ready. Pegged and lashed.

The baidarkas beautiful holey stern.

Bending ribs. Anders did the bending the ribs in record time! He has tacit knowledge of a lifetime bending thousands of ribs.

The ribs are soaked. These little guys needed some ekstra soaktime in the tub. But it all turned out good in the end. The oak ribs are tough, but once bent, they last a lifetime without changing their shape.

Bending ribs and others working at mounting the keel - getting the right rocker and depth. It takes a little work, but it's fun and incredible to see the kayaks taking shape.

The kayak frames are done, ready for oiling. Here is Chick from Island Spirit Kayak holding her rolling kayak. Her company is based on Marthas Vinayard. Did anyone mention JAWS!!!  

Photos: Jannie Heegaard