Building the Greenland Kayak : A Manual for Its Contruction and Use [Paperback]

Christopher Cunningham (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 26, 2002

This step-by-step guide to building a lashed-frame, fabriccovered sea kayak is both a means to a sleek, fast, universally admired boat and an excellent introduction to woodworking and boatbuilding for hobbyists. The Inuit design scales up or down to fit the paddler and can be built using $150 worth of hardware-store materials, a few basic tools, and a minimal investment of time. Also included: plans for a low-volume version designed for Eskimo rolling; an especially stable version for children; and discussions of kayaking equipment, paddling, and rolling techniques.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Take to the water in style for less than $300 and a few weekends and evenings of work

Simplicity, elegance, performance, and speed: these are the hallmarks of the Greenland kayak. Its low profile minimizes windage, and its narrow beam makes it well behaved in rough water and fast. Despite its ancient origins, the Greenland kayak is lively, versatile, and responsive even by modern standards.

Building the Greenland Kayak leads you step-by-step through the process of crafting your own lashed-frame, fabric-covered, custom-fitted Greenland kayak, using inexpensive, easy-to-find materials and common woodworking tools. Master boatbuilder Christopher Cunningham provides plenty of tips and pointers to help you build a kayak that is strong, flexible, and perfectly scaled to your dimensions. Great for the accomplished boatbuilder and the novice alike, this easy-to-use manual includes

• Easy-to-follow building instructions accompanied by hundreds of photos
• Complete lists of all the tools and materials you'll need
• Detailed primers in lumber milling, fastening, rib bending, and measuring
• Additional instructions for making a Greenland paddle, paddling clothing, float bags, skegs, and more
• Pointers on paddling skills, kayak rolling, and children's kayaks

About the Author

Christopher Cunningham has been the editor of Sea Kayaker magazine since 1989 and has been building kayaks since 1979. He has taught Greenland kayak construction at the WoodenBoat School and has built scale models of traditional kayaks for the Alaska State Museum. His Greenland kayak construction and paddling skills have been documented in several videos, and he has lectured on and demonstrated those skills in North America and Europe.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: International Marine/Ragged Mountain Press; 1 edition (November 26, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0071392378
• ISBN-13: 978-0071392372
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.4 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #218,959 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #44 in Books > Sports & Outdoors > Outdoor Recreation > Kayaking

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent - the one guide you need, July 31, 2004

By 

Ryan McNabb (Ooltewah, TN USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Building the Greenland Kayak : A Manual for Its Contruction and Use (Paperback)

If you are interested in building a traditional, relatively authentic West Greenland ocean kayak, one of the most gorgeous watercraft ever built, this is your book. Cunningham lays out the task from beginning to end with clarity and wit, and the process is topped off with explanations and plans for traditional paddling gear such as floats and tuiliks, the one piece "dry suits" that fit over the coaming. The book can be confusing in places, but this rests in large part on the fact that the measurements are anthropometric in nature. There can't be measured drawings for something that is going to be different for every person. The kayak you build will be completely custom made to fit you, and noone else, so he can't get too energetic with the tape measure. What you do get are step by step explanations for HOW you arrive at those measurements, so that you can make boats for yourself and anyone else. The frame is pretty authentic, other than that dimensioned lumber is used - you would have trouble telling a drawing of this frame from a drawing of an original Inuit frame. Of course the big departure is the skin, which in our case is not seal skin but rather ballistic nylon and two part polyurethane dope. Not traditional, but gorgeous, waterproof and long lasting. You can expect to get 10 years out of a well cared for boat - not bad for a boat you built yourself in a few weekends, for about the cost of a good touring paddle. If you're looking for a quicky project, or one that you can knock together out of plywood with the Scout Troop, look elsewhere. But if you're looking for the real deal, you've found it. Highly recommended.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Needs more diagrams, July 12, 2004

By 

Hyok Lee (Corona, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Building the Greenland Kayak : A Manual for Its Contruction and Use (Paperback)

Overall, I enjoyed the book. Cunningham has a lot of knowledge about traditional building techniques. However, I found several areas where I was confused, while building the kayak. I found myself hi-liting certain, critical areas, and reading some phrases over and over to make sure that I was interpreting it correctly. More drawings with dimensions would have eliminated the vagaries of prepositions and interpretations.

The instruction on determining rib lengths using a hand-drawn graph was confusing. I read it over and over, then after figuring out what was being done, I simply put the data in a spreadsheet to calculate the lengths.

The directions on making the spray skirt was especially confusing. For example, on sewing the webbing on, it says to sew the webbing such that the legs of the v-shape of the webbing is even with the edge of the fabric. That would mean that the webbing would point in the opposite direction of the finished product. The book never did explain how the the webbing ends up in the correct direction. I strained to interpret from the photo of the person wearing the spray skirt. I finally did end up with a usable spray skirt, but not without some cursing and frustration.

Having built flying model airplanes for many years, I find visual plans much easier to deal with. If I need the dimension for something, I can just glance at the plan to find it, instead of trying to remember which paragraph contained the data.

I wish I could give it more than three stars. There were parts of the book that I enjoyed very much. However, there were times when I was extremely frustrated.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another exceelent addition to the literature, June 30, 2003

By 

Michael J Edelman (Huntington Woods, MI USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Building the Greenland Kayak : A Manual for Its Contruction and Use (Paperback)

Chris Cunningham has been publishing construction articles for years in Sea Kayaker magazine, so it's not surprising that he's decided to write a full length book on the topic. And an excellent book it is, too. There are hundreds of excellent photos and drawings, extensive detailed instructions and plenty of discussion an alternate methods of construciton.

This is certainly one of the best books on the topic of Greenland kayak construciton yet, and an absolute must-own for anyone interested in building their own traditional kayak. This volume, along with Robert Morris' book (Building Skin on Frame Kayaks) and perhaps H. C. Peterson's "Instruction in Kayak Building" would make as complete a library on kayak construciton as one might imagine.