Making Petrel Play - Launch - E20

Transcript

Hi I'm Nick Schade at Guillemot Kayaks, welcome the final episode of my 20 part series on making the Petrel Play a strip built kayak.

No boat of any kind is truly complete until it has been put in the water. Before that it's just a boat-like object. While I built this kayak for a customer, I did have a chance to get it out on the water a couple times before delivery. This video is a compilation of those two trips.

I'll keep quiet while I take you out the Poquonnock River, onto Fishers Island Sound, to a tide race we call "The Cans" and then back home again.

This kayak is fun.

I am really pleased with how the boat came out. At 31 pounds or about 14 kilograms the light weight is easy to carry down to the shore.  On the water its sprightly and responsive. On flatwater the kayak was comfortable and easy to paddle. In rougher conditions, it accelerated quickly, surfed smoothly and worked upwind easily. 

I was happy and so was the customer.

As I finish off this series, I hope I've inspired some of you to take on a boatbuilding project. Maybe its less intimidating now that you have seen it all done. I enjoy every aspect, from choosing a design, through making the kayak and finally getting out on the water in a beautiful vessel that I made myself.

Thank you for watching this series. If you would like to see more like it, please let me know, either through liking, posting a comment or sharing, or better yet support my future efforts with a small contribution on my Patreon site.

I am currently figuring out my winter build schedule, and will let you know what I'll be working on soon.

Until the then, thanks for watching and happy paddling.