Runner

Product Description

The Runner is a fast expedition sea kayak designed for comfort and speed in rough water. It has a lot of capacity for carrying gear, making it an efficient expedition boat, but it can also be used as a quick and fun day boat.

This kayak will excel at downwind runs. Its full-length waterline maximizes its hull speed and its shallow-V stern with hard chines provides planing and control surfaces while surfing. The hull has substantial rocker, making it a responsive and manoeuvrable sea kayak despite the long waterline.

The Runner is designed to be used with a foot-controlled rudder, which will add considerable efficiency when paddling long distances, riding waves downwind and playing in tide races and surf. However, the boat can still be paddled without a rudder.

Nick Schade, the designer, built his prototype with the standard rubber kayak hatches found on production boats, recessed into the deck. The plans also include drawings for flush wooden hatches, more typical for strip-built kayaks – these are what we supply with the kit. Another option included in the plans is a recessed, deck-mounted compass.

A system to mount a surfski-style footboard is also included in the plans. This provides excellent ergonomics for powerful paddling, if using a rudder.

The Runner kayak kit includes:

• Pre-cut forms and strongback
• Paulownia strips with bead-and-cove joints
• Three flush wooden hatches with gaskets (forward, aft and day hatch)
• Waterproof glue for the planking strips
• Epoxy resin and activator
• Epoxy fillers
• Woven glass fabric
• Fabric covered foam seat and backband
• Adjustable footbraces
• Foam knee pads
• Deck hold-down lines (bolt-on)
• Plans and building notes
• Building Strip Planked Boats (book) by Nick Schade
• Free technical support from a competent builder

The planking in this boat kit is all Paulownia, to make the hull as light as possible. We can also supply contrasting accent strips of western red cedar. Please contact us before ordering to discuss your requirements.

Please note that the footbraces included with this kit are not suitable for rudder control. If you decide to install a rudder, you can either use the control footbraces that come with the rudder or install a surfski footboard using the mounting option shown in the plans.

What else do I need?

Plans (not required by kit purchasers)

The plans contain sufficient information to build the boat from scratch rather than a kit. They include full size drawings for all the forms. We recommend Nick Schade's book, The Strip-Built Sea Kayak, which covers the techniques that are used to build strip-planked kayaks.

Forms and strongback

For those wanting to obtain the other materials needed to build the boat from other sources, this option contains the pre-cut forms and strongback and the necessary plans to build the boat. The planking strips are not included (see below).

Bead-and-cove strips

As well as the plans, forms and strongback, 390 m of bead-and-cove strips will be needed to build the Runner.

Compare this kayak with others.