Strip Built

Nick builds a commemorative kayak, demonstrating that craftsmanship is about balancing beauty, functionality, and personal meaning. Through careful wood selection, technical skill, and creative problem-solving, he creates a meaningful memorial for a client, emphasizing that perfection lies not in flawlessness, but in purpose and connection.

A time-lapse of installing cedar strips on the Solo microBootlegger kayak. Throughout the process, Nick explains his techniques and the tools he uses, offering viewers a detailed look at the cedar strip building process.

Nick, a wooden kayak builder, prepares to stain the coaming recess components for a client’s kayak.

This video documents the design process and construction of a custom sea kayak, named "Runner," by renowned boat designer and builder Nick Schade.

About a year ago, a props director from a Netflix movie sought out a visually striking kayak for filming on Cape Cod. By chance, a previous kayak owner from Cape Cod needed a temporary solution for his boat, and Nick connected him with the production team. Although the filming location eventually moved due to a writer's strike, the kayak just turned up in the Netflix series "The Perfect Couple."

I am starting to make my boat plans available in digital form so customers can download them instead of dealing with the time and expense of shipping.

Starting a Small Manufacturing Business

One of the things about operating as a small business is, you don't know how your business will operate until you start doing it.

I'm honored to be able to offer Canoe Plans from John Winters and Martin Step