Building an F1, hour by hour
Kayak 6 years ago 168,699 views
The F1 is my flagship design, just a darn good sea kayak for a surprisingly wide range of uses. I've been doing this for 17 years, your first build will probably take about twice as long, plus time to buy materials and build any jigs. Plans and videos available at http://www.capefalconkayaks.com
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Why no rudder? One thinks of a sea kayak as requiring a rudder.... Shows what I know!!
10. comment for Building an F1, hour by hour
What kind of wood is that to bend so easily?
20. comment for Building an F1, hour by hour
30. comment for Building an F1, hour by hour
I'm so glad to see you're doing well. You inspired me to build my first kayak years ago, and then my canoe, and maybe a cabin one day. I remain hopeful that I'll eventually be able to attend one of your classes.
Lovely boat, as always, and a great video.
50. comment for Building an F1, hour by hour
You might enjoy reading "Building Skin on Frame Boats" by Robert Morris. Lots of discussion of proportioning kayaks to fit your own body by traditional methods.
What did you use for sealing the Nylon? Epóxi?
Good Job!
Hah, sounds like you're channeling Phil Bolger a bit. I always (grudgingly) admired his ability to let go of the aesthetic-ego and just accept that functional concerns were going to make the design ugly...
One day I was shooting the shit with a big name kayak designer and looking at his very popular new boat and I commented "hey _____ you know if you whacked of those ends and bumped up the width by an inch it would be just as fast, but be more compact, less effected by wind and pick up a noticeable edge in maneuverability." He replied "Yeah, but we're not gonna sell very many boats that way are we?" The painful truth is that so much of kayak design is driven by aesthetics. Some people like the look of the F1, I personally don't, but it's addictive to paddle, so I just live with it.
That F1 looks like it paddles so well. That is the first time I think I've ever seen one in action, on the glide. You should show a bit more about their capabilities....