Alexandra - Wavelength Paddling Magazine

Designing in Cedar Strip Mike Walker
I
started building kayaks about 4 years
ago. Mostly it was through my frustration
of not finding something on the market
that I liked.
One day I noticed my neighbour building
a cedar strip canoe in his back yard. I
was fascinated because I had never seen
one being built before. As Howard carefully
added strip after strip, he told me
that he had built several boats in his lifetime,
60-foot fishing vessels to 50-foot
schooners, and one that was a scaled
down version of the Bluenose. Howard
was from Newfoundland and from three
generations of boat builders.
I asked him if he had ever built a kayak.
He responded by saying that canoes were
his passion, not kayaks. I asked if he
would ever consider building one. He responded
with a big fat ‘No’ and reaffirmed
that canoes were really his passion. Then
I asked if he would change his mind if I
paid him to build me one. His face lit right
up and asked if I would like another beer.
The advantage of having Howard build
my boat was I could have it built to my
specifications. After many visits to the local
pub and listening to Howard’s incredible
tales of life on the shores of Newfoundland,
I finally got the design I
liked—a sloop-rigged sailing sea kayak
with a drop center daggerboard and flush
hatches. The deal was that I was to pay
Howard for most of the building but I
could also participate and act as his apprentice.
To help pay for the cost of designing a
new boat we thought that we could use
the first one as a plug for a mold, then
make several more and sell them. I started
advertising right away, even before we
had our cedar strips cut. Howard thought
I was crazy since we didn’t even have an
actual boat to show anyone. I told Howard
at the time that if Bill Gates could do it
with Windows 98 then I could do it with
our new boat design.
It wasn’t long before I had eight people
interested in our boat. I told them I would
contact them as soon as the prototype was
finished. We started the project in January
1996 and by March we had the prototype
ready to show people. Three of the
eight people showed up to view the prototype
and all three deposited $500 toward
purchasing a finished product. By May
24th we had completed the three orders
and also had several more lined up. The
only thing we didn’t have was a name for
the kayak. Our buyers asked what we
2001 FEBRUARY • MARCH WaveLength
John sanding the cedar strip hull
called our new design. I was stumped. I
looked at my dog Teeka and blurted out
to them that they were called ‘Teeka Kayaks’.
After a while Howard moved on to
other things and it came time for me to
Photo by Mike Walker
build a new kayak design. I was entirely
on my own this time so I hoped that I had
absorbed enough knowledge from
Howard from the first boat. I wanted it to
be narrower, and have more keel than the
first boat so that it would track better. I
also wanted to increase the hatch size so
that you could get long objects like tent
poles in easier. And a locking back hatch
would be nice to store your lifejacket and
paddle so that you didn’t always have to
take it with you whenever you tied up in
busy populated areas.
I used our original plans and modified
the station templates to get my desired
effect. Once I was satisfied, I glued the new
templates onto three quarter inch plywood
and began cutting them out with a
jig saw. I slid them on a very straight 16
foot two by four, slapped on the end pieces
and voilà—I had a kayak mold and was
ready to start nailing on the cedar strips.
Then it was off to Sunbury Cedar to pick
out my light and dark cedar strips, always
remembering what Howard once told me
in his broad, Newfoundland accent: “You
gots to have lots of light and dark wood, Bye.
It’s like candy for the eyes.”
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