Wood Duck

Product Description

These beautiful little boats are designed for just about everyone to enjoy on the water.

Wood duck has been out on Windermere several times and is brilliant – tracks beautifully, forgivingly stable, and covers the miles fairly effortlessly given its novice paddler owner.

Claire M.

Although the Wood Ducks are kayaks the large cockpit gives the open boat feeling. With big cockpits and ample stability, the emphasis is on comfort. However, these boats really paddle well. Speed is excellent: you can cover the miles in a day, while tracking is solid in stiff crosswinds.

Compact, easy-to-launch boats seem to get used the most. In a tenth of the time it takes to launch a heavy boat on a trailer or drag the big canoe down the beach, you can slide one of these little kayaks into the water and be on your way. Keep your Wood Duck on top of the car ready to use.

The Wood Ducks are amongst the easiest to build kits: the joints are pre-cut and the holes are pre-drilled. Sheathed inside and out in glass fabric, the Wood Duck will withstand real-world abuse on gravel or shell beaches, and will bounce over submerged stumps without harm.

Capacity is ample and meant to accommodate a broad range of paddlers. The cockpits are long to make it easy to get in and out without confining legs and knees. A flush hatch for the rear compartment is standard. The boats can carry a heavy payload in the fore and aft compartments, enough for picnicking, camping or a whole lot of fishing gear.

Unlike our other boats, the Wood Duck has no forward bulkhead, therefore use of buoyancy bags is strongly recommended.

A wood-strip decked Wood Duck kayak is also available, combining the simple hull assembly of stitch-and-glue with the beauty of wood-strip construction. There is also a child's version of the Wood Duck, called the Wood Duckling and a tandem kayak called the Wood Duck Double.

A couple of build logs on our forum show a Wood Duck 12 being built and even a pair of Wood Ducks built simultaneously.

Wood Duck 10

The Wood Duck 10 will carry paddlers who weigh up to 200 pounds and still have a good turn of speed.

Wood Duck 12

The Wood Duck 12 will carry more load.

Wood Duck 14

The 14 is for those who need the space in the cockpit for a toddler. It is also an amazing platform for serious fishing.

The kits contain:

• Pre-cut wooden panels with pre-cut joints and pre-drilled tie holes
• Epoxy resin and activator
• Epoxy fillers
• Copper ties
• Woven glass fabric
• Fabric covered foam seat and backband
• Adjustable footbraces
• Construction manual
• Free technical support from a competent builder

A Wood Duck is an ideal first boat building project.

What else do I need?

Study manual

This is intended for pre-build study or to help with the decision to purchase. This is the comprehensive manual that accompanies the kit; reading it will help you decide whether or not you can build the boat. It describes all of the techniques that will be used during the build and also a step by step guide to construction. It contains a photograph or diagram of every step.

If, later, you decide to purchase the kit the cost of this will be deducted from the kit price.

The manual does not contain the cutting instructions so it is not possible to build the boat from scratch using only this.

Plans and manual (not required by kit purchasers)

These plans and manual contain sufficient information on the cutting of the panels to make it possible to build the boat from scratch rather than a kit. The plans include full size drawings.

PDF study plans

These study plans are intended to give you an overview of the construction of the boat. They are in PDF format that can be viewed using Adobe Reader. There are two pages and they measure 279 × 216 mm (11″ × 8½″). They can be printed for carrying around.

After credit card authorisation the plans will be sent to the email address put on the order form.

When you have studied the plans, your next step might be to order the printed instruction manual, which will walk you through the project step-by-step.

Wood

This option contains the solid wood and plywood components pre-cut to the correct size with pre-cut joints, plus the construction manual. It does not contain the plans (these are not required because the wood is pre-cut), any of the epoxy to glue and coat the boat, the fabric or tape nor any of the hardware or rigging.

Compare this kayak with others.