Building My Very Own Kayak

Two years ago I spent two weeks in the Everglades kayaking and camping over Christmas.  To say I was apprehensive to go is an understatement.  I had no idea what to expect, only that I was going, I was excited, and I had been doing push ups for weeks in anticipation of kayaking for 8 hours a day.  Little did I expect to fall in love with many things on that trip.  I had no idea how beautiful birds were until this trip.  They were everywhere.  I spent many hours in the studio daydreaming about birds after this trip.  I also fell in love with kayaking.  I have always been relatively athletic, however, until I actually pushed myself to the limit and beyond and conquered my apprehension ~ I had no idea how capable I was.  My friend, who had both paddled this trip solo years earlier, and built the kayaks we were traveling with – had told me how amazing and self assured I would feel after the trip.  I didn’t actually believe him.  He was absolutely right.  I gained more confidence in two weeks than I had in years of  browsing self-help books in Barnes & Noble.

Fast forward two years and I am still daydreaming of my days paddling amongst the birds.  I also decided, this being my year of new challenges and adventures, I want to build my very own kayak.  So I asked my friend which kayak I used, went online, and click.  I bought my Pygmy Boat kayak kit.

I think I fell for the tag line… “Don’t Just Paddle it, Build it.”

Here is the manual… hmmm… I am not one for reading directions – this may be a problem.

Somehow, I talked my dad into building this kayak with me.  Don’t we look like we know what we are doing?

This is us reverting to the You Tube tutorial videos. (Yes, that is Gus sitting on my knee.. ready to oversee the whole operation).  I think we have a long way to go on this road of kayak building.  The website said to expect 80 hours worth of work before you have your very own kayak to actually place into the water.  I am not convinced.  But – I am committed!!!  Committed and excited and a little bit apprehensive – but if history repeats itself – I will persevere!!!

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