instructables
Making a Modern Skin on Frame Kayak
by Guillemot
I found I had a little time between finishing one project
and starting my next significant build. I thought I
would be able to knock out a quick project in
between. The idea I had was to make a skin on frame
version of my microBootlegger Sport.
I was hoping to strip-build one of these last spring, or
maybe this fall, but the last video project just took up
too much time. With this build, I hope to accomplish
two things: make a cool boat for my own use, and try
to find a quicker way to produce an informative video.
The boat I’m looking to build is one I designed in
2015 for a customer. I built it for him in 2016 and
added the design to my Fine Strip-Planked boat
classes and my catalog later that year.
The design really excites me. It is a cross between
my microBootlegger Tandem, which is a fairly sedate
two-person kayak, and my Petrel, which is a high
performance sea kayak. It has elegant lines
reminiscent of a 1920 rum runner, with a
sophisticated transitional chined bottom shape of my
favorite sea kayak. It is shorter overall than the Petrel,
but has a similar waterline length, with a little more
beam and more room in the cockpit.
As such it should it falls somewhere between my
Petrel Play and the Petrel design. A fairly stable
design with the ability to move quickly when needed.
The microBootlegger is comfortable cruising on a
quiet lake or ripping down a wave in a tide race.
I have the strip built design developed and 3D
modeled in MaxSurf. This model represents the
desired surface shape of the kayak. Since I can build
Making a Modern Skin on Frame Kayak: Page 1
almost any shape with strip planking, I didn’t model in
too much construction detail.
The skin-on-frame building style I plan on using is
called fuselage frame, where long strips, or stringers,
of wood are bent around cross-sectional frames. This
is actually very similar to strip-building, except, the
frames are part of the finished boat, and there are big
gaps between the strips. These gaps are covered
with cloth as the skin.
To adapt the strip-built model to skin on frame
construction, I need to figure out where the stringers
will be and then create the frames to hold them in
shape.
I want to keep the stringer shape as simple as
possible. One way to simplify the shape is to be sure
they only bend in one direction, or on one plane.
To accomplish this I create reference lines in the
model. These references can be horizontal
waterlines, or possibly diagonals running from the
centerline out towards the side.
When seen from the end or body plan view they
appear as straight lines, but when viewed from the
side, you can see they cut the outer surface in
curves. I can then retrace these curves to create
stringer locations.
I switch between the different views to see that the
stringer curves follow the guides in top and profiles
views while staying flat and straight on the reference
lines in the body plan.
This design does not have a traditional gunwale or
sheer line. It is more of a continuously rounded cross
section from the keel to the deck center. As the
primary structural component, I am creating an inch
and half wide stringer approximately mid-way up the
side.
Below that I add a stringer following a diagonal that
intersects the waterline.
To recreate the transitional chine I follow a diagonal
that runs along the hard chine at the stern of the boat,
then towards the bow where that chine softens, I add
two separate diagonals intersecting the first at the
widest point. I can use these to essentially split the
stringer, creating two chines dividing off from the one.
I use a similar technique to create stringers on the
deck.
Once I have a series of stringers defined, I can then
skin those stringers with a surface. I need to be sure
the stringers all run the same direction for the
software to handle them correctly, but now I have
basic shape for the boat. With a little refining I get a
form that is quite similar to my original strip-built
design.
The original cockpit is recessed front and back and
curved upwards at the end. I want to simplify it to
eliminate the front recess and flatten it out while
keeping the rake.
This involves sliding the surface controls up or down
until the bottom points all lay on a straight line.
With the shapes defined I need to decide where the
frames will go. I start by determining the center of
buoyancy, place that in the design and adjust the seat
location accordingly.
The frames all draw their location off the seat location
so I am not sitting directly on a frame, and the
footpegs are between frames. And then filling in any
gaps as needed.
I then pull the basic frame shapes into Vectorworks
where I start placing stringers. The main stringer is
oriented vertically along each frame.
Making a Modern Skin on Frame Kayak: Page 2
I just place a representation of each stringer where it
should cross the frame. The orientation of the cross
section is determined by the angle of the diagonal
and how the stringer will touch the skin.
The stringer sections are then clipped or subtracted
from the frame shapes.
The fabric that will make the skin can stretch a bit
when the kayak is sitting in the water. I don’t want the
skin to rub and abrade on the frames so, I curve in
the edge between the stringers by subtracting
sections of circles.
The centers of each frame gets cut out to save weight
and so your legs have some place to go. I thought I
would just offset the frame perimeter by a uniform
amount, but this created funny shapes. I decide to
instead base the shape of the hole on the outer skin
shape and offset from there.
My plan is to stitch the skin to a flat plywood section
around the coaming. To facilitate that I thought it
would be a good idea to punch a bunch of stitch
holes. Since I’ll be cutting all these parts with my
CNC machine, the vast number of holes shouldn’t be
too onerous.
Once I have got all the parts defined, I need to lay
them out on plywood for the ShopBot to cut. I can do
a bit of nesting and in setting to try to be efficient with
the material.
https://youtu.be/4PkWS3zRH_U

Making a Modern Skin on Frame Kayak: Page 3

Step 1: Cutting the Forms and Milling the Stringers
After arranging the parts in Vectorworks, I exported a
DXFand brought it into VCarve, the CAM program for
my ShopBot. Here I generated tool paths and added
tabs to secure the bits in place as the parts were cut.
On the ShopBot, I start by zeroing everything. First
the X and Y axes by letting the tool find its limit
switches, and then with a zeroing plate on the table.
The tool senses when it touches the plate.
I then load up my plywood. My ShopBot has a 24 x
48” work surface, so I cut my plywood into quarters. A
few screws in each corner secure the material in
place.
I use a quarter inch down-cut carbide router bit to cut
the parts. The down-cut action helps press the
material in place. The router takes 2 passes to cut
through the 9 mm plywood.
Cutting the tabs that hold the parts gives me
something to do while the machine works.
Digging a quarter inch wide slot into plywood makes
a lot of dust very quickly. In this slow motion view you
can see the tool pump out the chips and fling them
around. I generally keep my dust collection boot in
place to contain the mess.
to bring them down to the correct dimension.
The CNC machine left a 1/8” radius on the inner
corners of the frame stringer slots. Rounding over the
https://youtu.be/NXT-2Ue1DRo
Making a Modern Skin on Frame Kayak: Page 4
The short, thin tabs are easily cut to remove the parts.
The coaming lip is cut from 4mm okoume.
My plan is to mount the coaming on a sill that will
serve as the coaming recess. The perimeter gets
punched full of holes for sewing on the skin.
After the frames have all been cut out, I round over all
the edges that won’t be touching a stringer. This will
make the frames smoother to touch and help protect
the edges.
Last spring I rough cut a bunch of cypress. I’ll be
using this material for the stringers. First I clean up
one face.
I haven’t got a big enough shop to keep all my tools in
a place where I can deal with full length strips, so I
need to move the required tools in and out for each
task.
The side stringers are 1-1/2” wide by 3/8” so I rip one
blank to width then split it in half.
I’m making all the other stringers 3/4" wide, so I just
rip the rest of the stringers in half.
All the stringers are run through my thickness plane
corners of the stringers lets them fit easily in the slots,
and eliminates the sharp edge inside the kayak.
Step 2: Assemble the Coaming
My idea for the coaming is stacked plywood pieces
including
a bottom sill to transition from the skin to the
coaming, then thin plywood spacers topped with a lip
to hold a spray skirt.
I let the ShopBot drill a bunch of stitch holes around
the perimeter of the sill. I now want to ease the edges
of those holes so the thread doesn’t get cut when I
sew on the seam. I use a countersink on the drill
press to chamfer the holes.
There are a bunch of holes, especially when I’m
doing both sides, but thanks to the wonders of fast
forward, it doesn’t take too long.
The CNC cut coaming parts all get assembled with
epoxy. I add a little fumed silica to it to thicken it up
so I can apply a fairly heavy coating to the sill and
underside of the lip.
I then add more silica and some wood flour to make
an even thick glue. The wood flour just turns it brown
so it matches the plywood better.
Each spacer gets smeared with the epoxy schmutz
before being situated in place on the sill. I had divided
the spacers into quarters to be more efficient with the
plywood. There are two layers of spacers here, then
the top is the lip.
With the parts roughly in place I start clamping the
https://youtu.be/avwuMBVz1Ic
Step 3: Test Fitting the Frame
Making a Modern Skin on Frame Kayak: Page 5
stack together. The parts need a little adjusting to
make sure they are all lined up with the interior edge
of the hole.
One inviolate rule of boat building is there is no such
thing as too many clamps. Lots of clamps assure the
seam is tight without waves between pressure points.
There was a little gap where the CNC ate a part. I
filled it with the schmutz.
After the epoxy cures all the clamps come off.
The oscillating drum sander makes pretty quick work
of cleaning up the glue squeeze out. I’m careful not to
pause in one spot. Stopping can create a low spot
which may catch the drum again, digging the spot
even deeper. By keeping the part moving on the sand
I get a nice fair interior surface.
The drum sander can not reach the coaming side
next to the knee hooks. Instead I have to come in with
a rasp to clean off the epoxy blobs.
I want to eliminate most of the sharp edges on around
the cockpit. First I use an 1/8” radius round over to
ease the outer perimeter of the sill and the edges of
the knee hooks.
Then I switch over to a half inch diameter to round off
the top and bottom edges of the coaming.
I made up a quick drawing showing the locations of
each
frame. I’m marking those locations on the strongback
I use for my strip built kayaks. Because the kayak
tapers towards the ends, the reference location of a
frame is the face closest to nearest end.
Risers screwed to cleats will be used to hold the
frames at the correct location along the length. I’m
only using the risers to establish the lengthwise
position. I’ll let the stringers define the frame height
and centering.
A couple clamps loosely hold the frames to the risers.
The first stringers are what substitute for my sheer or
gunwales. These are 1-1/2 inch tall by 3/8 inch thick.
They run perfectly parallel to the waterline. As such
they serve to establish the height of each frame.
In the cockpit area I have spacers between some
frames. They are connected together with a mortice
and tenon. I did not dog-bone the mortices with the
shopbot, so I use a rasp to quickly round over the
corners of the tenons so they will fit correctly.
This is really just a test fit, so I am using zip-ties to
hold the stringers instead of lashing. I wanted to see
how things went together before I finalized some to
the fits.
The stem frames include a little birds mouth to accept
the ends of the keel. Holding the keel in place next to
the frame, I mark and cut it to fit.
With the sheer and keel stringers installed, the frame
positions are now defined and I can start adding the
rest of the stringers to create the shape of the hull.
The microBootlegger Sport design features the same
kind of transitioning chine of my Petrel Play. At the
stern the chine is quite hard, but in front of the cockpit
I’m not a fan of being poke in the stomach with sharp
sticks, so I trimmed off the end of the stringer
appropriately.
The coaming and the deck side stringer want to
occupy the same volume of space. So, I marked
Making a Modern Skin on Frame Kayak: Page 6
it becomes more rounded. I will accomplish this by
blending one stringer into another midway along the
length.
This first chine stringer extends from the stern to a
point along the keel line where it blends into the keel
stringer.
At the point where the chine stringer meets the keel
stringer I create a tapered cut to match the
intersection of the two pieces.
This fit will need some refining but I first install the
matching chine stringer on the other side.
Once both chines are installed, I can make a better
cut and touch it up with a block plane.
Beginning roughly at the cockpit a second stringer
splits off from the chine stringer. This is gradually
tapered to blend smoothly into the chine and then
spreads away as it approaches the bow.
I started by clamping the cockpit end to the existing
chine stringer. Then I traced the edge of the chine on
to the stringer.
I brought this to the band saw to cut off the excess
and cleaned it up with a block plane.
Using the plane, I rounded over the new edge.
Now all the bottom stringers are installed. I checked
the alignment looking for wonky shapes, but it looks
pretty good without any adjustment.
I started installing some of the top stringers while the
frame was still upside down. When it became hard to
reach things I flipped the whole deal over.
The center fore-deck stringer ends at the front of the
coaming. I transferred the slope of the coaming to the
stringer and planed it to match.
found that the oil can dissolve the wax coating on the
lashing sinew a bit. This can loosen up the knots.
where they hit including the slope of the coaming. I
then whittled out the bits of stringer causing the
problems.

The upper fore-deck stringer also intersects the

coaming recess, so I marked the angle and cut off the
ends.

The other end of the stringer needs to be planed to lie

flat against the stem frame.

Now I went back and trimmed the ends of all the

remaining stringers.

The next day I disassembled everything.

This project is really an experiment. I have some

ideas on how to do a skin-on-frame that is a little
different and I just want to check them out. I’ve
already made some new frames and added a couple
parts.

Although zip-tying it all together, then taking it all

apart again adds some un-necessary steps, it allowed
me to check how things were working and think about
how to proceed.

For example, should I add holes for lashing, and if so,

where should they go. Looking at it put together
helped figure this all out.

I decided to add lashing holes, at least in some

places. So I used an 1/8” drill to punch the holes.

These holes were also countersunk slightly to protect

the lashing.

I added some more holes to the coaming piece to

help lash it down.

While I had the frame disassembled I took the

opportunity to give all the parts a protective coat of
oil. I could do it after the frames done, but I have

https://youtu.be/3ojtAO_pQ7E

Making a Modern Skin on Frame Kayak: Page 7

Step 4: Lashing the Frame
A few of the frame pieces need to be assembled.
Here the stem frame is fitted to the last sectional
frame.
I use a waxed nylon floss called artificial sinew which
is an untwisted thread that has a thin cross section
and holds a knot well.
The sinew is tied to the part and then threaded at
least 3 times through each of the holes and pulled
tight after every pass. The wax helps hold it tight after
pulling.
I tie a couple knots around the bundled sinew to
secure the ends.
The assembled frames are clamped back to the risers
to hold them in their approximate location.
At this point I don’t sweat the height, it is enough to
just get their lengthwise spacing established.
The frames include some longitudinals for mounting
the foot braces. I’m inserting some stainless steel t-
knots so the foot braces can be bolted in place. I
whack them in with a hammer to set the spikes.
It is easier to mount the braces now while the bolt
holes are easily accessible.
These rails are assembled to adjacent frames in the
same way I lashed together the stems.
The final assembly are the frames around the seat
which include rails to eventually secure a backrest.
The wide main stringers can now be placed. These
run perfectly horizontal and serve to define the height
of all the forms. I hold them in place with a few
Making a Modern Skin on Frame Kayak: Page 8
temporary zip ties.
The ends of the main stringers will be lashed into a
hole in the end frame.
A figure eight knot in the end of the sinew serves as a
stopper. I thread the sinew through a couple hole and
then tie the knotted end around long end with an over
hand knot.
When I pull this loop tight, the overhand knot works
its way up the sinew until it snugs up against the
stopper knot.
The goal is to lace the sinew through the holes
enough times that the parts are securely held
together. Just one loop is usually not enough, but as
you pull more loops through the holes, it acts like a
block and tackle, providing more and more
mechanical advantage until the parts are tight.
I like to get at least three passes between each hole.
This lashing was doing a fine job of pulling the
stringer in from either side, but pulling the sinew
tighter had the tendency to push the end form to the
right. I needed some lashing to pull the stem back in.
The addition of a small hole through both stringers
allowed me to get tension to keep the stem snug
against the ends of the stringers.
After lashing both ends, I brought in the keel stringer.
Using holes through the keel avoids creating lumps
along the bottom which may cause abrasion. I
situated these holes so the lashing pulls the keel
tightly into the hook on the stem.
After securing the bow, I lashed in a few of the frames
along the length before moving to the stern.
Learning from the bow, I started with some lashings
to hold the stringers together, then went directly to a
pattern that pulled the frame tightly against the ends
of the stringers.
Shooting holes in on either side of each frame did a
good job of pulling the keel tightly into the slot. While
the sinew is quite thin it would leave a bump if it
passed over the keel. Because the bottom is the
mostly likely point for the kayak to hit stuff, avoiding
the bump should reduce abrasion.
Getting all the frames lashed to the main stringers
and the keel starts to lock the shape in place. Later
bending in of the additional stringers will add some
force that may try to curve the frame. Hogging, where
the ends of a boat droop down is common with skin
on frame kayaks. Lashing these frames now should
avoid hogging later.
But once these three stringers are secured, I could
start right in with the rest.
I didn’t bother lacing the sinew through holes in any
stringer beyond the keel because I figured any bumps
in the finished surface elsewhere were not a big deal.
There are a lot of lashings needed, but once you get
into the flow of it, they don’t take long.
With these side stringers, I’m just trying to get the end
tucked in tight to the stem frame.
The chine stringer runs from the stern up to the keel
just short of the bow, then a secondary stringer
extends from the bow frame to about half way back
where it blends in with the chine.
I need to lash the forward end of the chine stringer
into the keel stringer. The gradual taper makes it
tricky as the lashing wants to slip forward. Since the
spacing is closer up forward, this loosens up the
lashings.
I originally just tried wrapping the sinew tightly around
the stringers from the narrower end back. But the
Making a Modern Skin on Frame Kayak: Page 9
wraps just slid down the taper. I solved this problem
by drilling a hole through all the stringers and starting
my wraps there. This prevented slippage and
eliminated the bumps along the keel.
With the bottom stringers all installed, I flipped the
frame over, and started with the foredeck stringer.
Like the keel, I positioned the holes so the lashing
pulls the stringer in tightly against the stem notch.
I then thread some sinew through the hole and tie a
figure eight knot as a stopper.
A figure eight has the end wrap over the sinew then
circle around behind then the end goes down through
the loop.
The overhand knot loops around other leg, down
under the sinew and down through the loop.
When you pull it all tight the overhand knot slides up
to the stopper knot and then pulls the loop snug
against the stopper.
By forming a V shape with the lashing I create the
ability to pull it even tighter when I’m done.
The last pass before the knot comes out at the top of
the V. I thread the sinew under the lashing and make
a couple wraps around the needle.
When I pull this snug, it closes up the bottom of the
V, cinching all the threads even tighter.
Another pass under the lashing and wraps around the
needles lock this knot in place.
As added insurance, I add a figure eight stopper knot
on the end. I use the tip of the needle to pull it as
close to the lashing as possible.
These lashings are really robust. Since the
lightweight frame is bound to flex a little bit any stiffly
glued connection between the stringers and the frame
would likely crack and break. The sinew lashing is
flexible and resilient allowing movement without
breaking.
Gluing the low surface area joint would be
problematic. Most waterproof adheasives, such as
epoxy are stiff and relatively brittle. The edge grain of
the plywood frames forms weak joints. As a result this
lashing will be substantially more durable than glue.

The aft end of the fore deck stringer gets lashed to

the forward cockpit frame and then the coaming ring
will be lashed to it.

I ended up shooting a few extra holes in the coaming

ring to provide lashing point between the ring and the
frames. The ring lies on top of the frames and gets
lashed down directly to the frames.

The front of the coaming ring is lashed directly to the

ends of the stringers, tying the whole system together
as one unit.

This whole process of lashing together the frame is

kind of fun. While there are quite a few lashing point,
it is nothing compared to wiring together a stitch and
glue kayak or fitting strips on a strip built design.

It is quiet and relaxing and provides quick, satisfying

results.

https://youtu.be/I27pngMOCqI

Step 5: Sewing the Skin

My friend Dave came by to see how I’m doing it and helped pull it down under the para-cord. I moved the
give me a spring clamp after each stitch to hold the tension.

hand. Dave is one of my frequent paddling This method of sewing the seam is quite quick. I like
companions. He is also very skilled with a surfski in how the parachute cord reinforces the edge providing
rough conditions as well as a experienced boat a secure point for pull the cloth tight. There is no fear
builder. of over pulling and ripping the fabric.

The cloth I’m using for the skin is a polyester filter The results are very clean and neat, especially where
fabric. This is left over material I purchased years ago Dave was following the deck stringer.
for an earlier project from Dyson Baidarka &
Company. Looking back at my records, it is a 14 At the stern where there was no stringer, I found I got
the best results when I pulled the para-cord very tight
Making a Modern Skin on Frame Kayak: Page 10

ounce cloth.
I had just enough to cover the frame.
We unrolled it and centered it on the frame then
pinned one side in place. I slipped a lath under the
skin as a cutting surface.
In the past I used a soldering iron with a modified tip
to cut the cloth. I now have a nice hot knife that glides
through the material. A melted edge like this is really
nice as it binds the edge a bit to keep it from
unravelling.
After trimming one side, I fold it back and cut the
other side. The trim line is about one inch from the
centerline. This should give me enough material to
sew the seam.
The seam stitching method I use I learned from
Robert Morris’ book “Building Skin on Frame Boats”. I
start by running two lengths of parachute cord down
the length of the seam. Here I looped the cord around
the coaming and tied it tightly back to the stem form.
Here is Dave working on sewing the bow seam. The
twine is threaded through the cloth, under the
parachute cord then through the cloth again before
going through the other side in a similar manner.
Then another needle runs another length of twine
back approximately through the same holes from the
other side.
The bow has a stringer running directly down the
centerline. This helped keep the seam straight. Dave
stuck push pins through the para-cord into the
stringer to keep the cord tight and centered.
With this cloth, a stitch every centimeter or half inch
seems to do a good job. We are trying to get the cloth
as tight as we can at this point, but it doesn’t need to
be drum tight.
While Dave worked on the bow, I got started on the
stern. I did not have a stringer running down the
center line so it was a little hard to keep the seam
straight. In the future I will probably insert a temporary
batten as a guide.
Making a Modern Skin on Frame Kayak: Page 11
the best results when I pulled the para-cord very tight
and secured it with some push pins. By working my
way down, pulling the thread tight, I eventually started
getting straighter results.
I also eventually started running out of thread. So I
finished off the ends by pushing the needles through
just one side of the fabric and tying a knot between
the threads.
When I started the new length of thread I step back a
few stitches and overlapped for a while to insure a
secure junction.
We kept with this seam technique until we got to the
stem. I did not want the large raise seam cutting into
the water. I trimmed off the para cord even with the
end of the stem and trimmed the fabric a bit over size.
Working down the stem, I stitched one side to the
other just using the thread to gather together the
excess cloth. I was still using two needles but I would
do a few stitches with one, going one direction and
then follow with the other going the other direction.
I kept this up all the way down to the bottom of the
stem, gathering together the last little pucker with a
few more stitches.
I wasn’t completely satisfied with this seam so on the
bow, I left a little more excess when I trimmed the
fabric.
This extra let me fold the ends over and stitch through
the fold, tucking the excess inside the seam.
I then proceeded like before, stitching around the
edges with two needles. I finished off the bottom by
returning part way back up the stem.
I think this system of folding in the edges before
sewing made a cleaner looking seam.
I made a mistake when I first cut the fabric to size.
There was a little corner next to the cockpit that the
cloth did not cover. To fix this I needed to cut a patch.
I wanted it to look symmetrical so I cut a matching
corner out of the other side.
I then cut a triangular patch to fit.
I found that pulling the thread taught along the seam

The parachute cord was not part of the patch, so I cut
it off.
I used a similar stitch to the bow, folding the edges
down and sewing between the two sides.
A very hot iron pressed firmly against the cloth makes
it shrink. While polyester is not the strongest fabric
choice, this ability to heat shrink is awesome. Once
shrunk tight the fabric will not loosen and sag.

While I would rather I didn’t have to patch it. The fix

was quick and easy to do.

I added a para-cord edge to attach the skin to the

coaming perimeter.

I’m sorry I didn’t get any close ups, but I just sewed
up through the holes and doubled up fabric, then
around the para-cord and back down through the
same hole. This process was just repeated all the
way around the perimeter.

The fabric is rolled around the cord and then sewn

down through the holes in the coaming apron.

I thread up through a hole, through the doubled up

fabric, around the para-cord and back down through
the same hole, then move to the next hole.

Over, up, around and down, over, up, around, and

down. If I needed an extra hole, I shot one in. I
trimmed as I went to be sure I didn’t cut too much off.

It’s a little awkward reaching in under the coaming to

thread the needle up through the hole. I found a pair
of forceps handy to hold the thread tight in the prior
hole while I was threading into the next hole.

The thread I’m using a braided polyester fishing line.

It was nice stuff to work with. It didn’t have much
tendency to tangle, and was relatively easy on the
hands to pull tight.

I am really pleased with this technique for sewing the

skin to the coaming. It is very straightforward, not
requiring anything fancy. As long as I kept the skin
rolled tightly around the parachute cord, it made a
very clean edge.

Now for the magic of polyester fabric. I want the skin

drum tight. While it is possible to do this with sewing
techniques, it takes some work. At this point the

Making a Modern Skin on Frame Kayak: Page 12

fabric is finger tight, with most of the slack removed.

https://youtu.be/5U0-PoDuoVA

Step 6: Painting and Outfitting

Making a Modern Skin on Frame Kayak: Page 13

I decided on a two tone paint job. I thought it would
look
nice to have the topsides a cream color and the
bottom a pale green. I want to make the transitions
right at the waterline.
I’m using the main stringer as a reference as it should
be parallel with the waterline. According to my
calculations, if I make the transition between colors
about 2-inches below the bottom of the main stringer,
it should be about perfect.
Taping a pencil to a scrap piece of the main stringer
creates a gauge that is just about 2-inches. Running
the top of the gauge along the bottom edge of the
main string I make a series of marks.
My plan was to run masking tape along the marks to
define the bottom edge. But I tried everything and
nothing would stick to the raw fabric.
I ended up just masking off the coaming area to keep
paint off the wood and only on the cloth.
Without the masking tape at the waterline, I instead
used my marks as a guide to brush paint along the
bottom edge. I wanted to go a little beyond so I could
overlap with the bottom color.
Once I had the edge defined, I used a roller to cover
the long wide surfaces.
Up around the coaming I used a brush to work paint
into the fabric and the stitches.
This 14-ounce cloth is fairly thick and has quite a bit
of texture. While I am not trying to fill the weave or
make a smooth surface, I do want the paint to soak
deeply into the cloth.
before installing the skin, and in the future I will likely
incorporate some mortices in the frame to accept the
tabs, but that is the whole reason for making a
prototype, figuring out how to do it better next time.
The seat wedges tightly between the frames and
stringers. I may glue it in eventually, but it seems fine
like it is.
Making a Modern Skin on Frame Kayak: Page 14
This stuff absorbs a lot of paint. I bought a quart of
each color of the best exterior latex the home center
had and ended up using all of it to apply two coats
over everything.
After the topside dried, I flipped the boat over. Now
with the paint on the surface, masking tape did stick,
so I re-marked the waterline and taped it off. The
green tape stuck better, the blue gave me a wider
tape line.
I kept coming back over the same area while the
paint was wet. This gave the fabric a chance to soak
up some paint. I don’t think the paint, or anything truly
bonds well to the polyester material, but after soaking
into the weave the paint created a good mechanical
bond with the cloth.
Again, Latex house paint isn’t necessarily the most
durable option. There are some two-part urethanes
that are wicked solid, but Latex is very affordable, and
easy to get in any colors to suite your taste, and they
are probably tough enough for most uses, and should
you scratch it up touch-ups are easy.
I modified my standard seat so I could adapt it to the
skin on frame. The CNC machine chews through
minicel foam like nobody’s business. I start with a
roughing pass using a 1/2-inch endmill and then
come back over with a ball nose on the finishing
pass. I made the step-over wide because its foam, It’s
not like I’m going to sanding it later.
After thinking about it for a while, I decided I wanted
some slats under the seats. A pair of butt bumps
sticking out of the bottom when you paddle isn’t too
big a deal, but who needs the bruises if you paddle
over a log.
This lashing would have been easier to accomplish
The backrest has elastic straps behind to help hold it
up. I loop these elastics up and around the next frame
back.

I decided to go with fairly minimal decklines. I

measured out three spots 6-inches apart into the
center of the main stringer. I used an awl to open up a
hole in the fabric. A screw through a finish washer
and a loop of webbing should make a reasonably
secure attachment point for shock cord.

Notice that somewhere off camera I added some

automotive vinyl striping tape along the waterline.

I had envisioned the forward straps on the backrest

being bolted into the solid section of the side frames,
unfortunately, I didn’t put the solid part in the right
place. Instead I just ran a loop of webbing up and
around the next frame forward.

The shock cord is threaded through these loops, back

and forth to either side. It requires a bunch of sliding
and pulling to get enough cord through all the loops.

My standard system for linking the shock cord back

together is a couple hog rings. These stainless steel
bits of wire are crimped around the cord and then
hidden under a length of heat shrink tubing.

With the heat shrink shrunk, the kayak is done. As of

this point I have not yet put it in the water, but I will
say that it was a fun project. I gave myself 3 weeks
between the time I started designing it and finishing it
up. I was able to do that easily, with plenty of time for
other stuff.

https://youtu.be/Z_6uuxjsNvc

Making a Modern Skin on Frame Kayak: Page 15

Step 7: Launching
No kayak is truly complete until it has been put in the
water and used. Since it is winter and there is ice on
my river I have not had a chance for a full sea trial,
but some open water appeared for a few days so I
was able to get the kayak wet.
A lot of people have been asking if I will be offering
plans or kits. That is a goal, but this build was just a
proof of concept. The largest task in offering plans
and kits is not building the boat, but writing the
instructions.
I need to test the design, modify it as needed, build
https://youtu.be/TFnEbMXRH-s
https://youtu.be/QWe24oSYdzQ
Making a Modern Skin on Frame Kayak: Page 16
another and document it with photos and more in-
depth video, and then write a comprehensive manual.
Writing takes longer than building. Unfortunately, I
cannot estimate when I will have that project done. I’ll
post a notice here when its ready.
If you are interested, do let me know in the
comments. Obviously, a lot of interest would be
motivation for me to work faster. I think it’s a great
project, fun and easy, and a cool boat when you’re
done.