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Building the Greenland Kayak: A Manual for Its Contruction and Use: A Manual for Its Construction and Use
 
 
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Building the Greenland Kayak: A Manual for Its Contruction and Use: A Manual for Its Construction and Use [Paperback]

Christopher Cunningham (Author)
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Building the Greenland Kayak: A Manual for Its Contruction and Use: A Manual for Its Construction and Use + The Strip-Built Sea Kayak: Three Rugged, Beautiful Boats You Can Build + The New Kayak Shop: More Elegant Wooden Kayaks Anyone Can Build
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Product details

  • Paperback: 240 pages
  • Publisher: McGraw-Hill Contemporary (1 Jan 2003)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0071392378
  • ISBN-13: 978-0071392372
  • Product Dimensions: 23.3 x 18.7 x 1 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 110,969 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Christopher Cunningham
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Product Description

Product Description

Take to the water in style for less than $300 and a few weekends and evenings of work. Simplicity, elegance, performance, and speed: these are the hallmarks of the Greenland kayak. Its low profile minimizes windage, and its narrow beam makes it well behaved in rough water and fast. Despite its ancient origins, the Greenland kayak is lively, versatile, and responsive even by modern standards. "Building the Greenland Kayak" leads you step-by-step through the process of crafting your own lashed-frame, fabric-covered, custom-fitted Greenland kayak, using inexpensive, easy-to-find materials and common woodworking tools.Master boatbuilder Christopher Cunningham provides plenty of tips and pointers to help you build a kayak that is strong, flexible, and perfectly scaled to your dimensions. Great for the accomplished boatbuilder and the novice alike, this easy-to-use manual includes: easy-to-follow building instructions accompanied by hundreds of photos; complete lists of all the tools and materials you'll need; detailed primers in lumber milling, fastening, rib bending, and measuring; additional instructions for making a Greenland paddle, paddling clothing, float bags, skegs, and more; and pointers on paddling skills, kayak rolling, and children's kayaks.

From the Back Cover

Take to the water in style for less than $300 and a few weekends and evenings of work

Simplicity, elegance, performance, and speed: these are the hallmarks of the Greenland kayak. Its low profile minimizes windage, and its narrow beam makes it well behaved in rough water and fast. Despite its ancient origins, the Greenland kayak is lively, versatile, and responsive even by modern standards.

Building the Greenland Kayak leads you step-by-step through the process of crafting your own lashed-frame, fabric-covered, custom-fitted Greenland kayak, using inexpensive, easy-to-find materials and common woodworking tools. Master boatbuilder Christopher Cunningham provides plenty of tips and pointers to help you build a kayak that is strong, flexible, and perfectly scaled to your dimensions. Great for the accomplished boatbuilder and the novice alike, this easy-to-use manual includes

  • Easy-to-follow building instructions accompanied by hundreds of photos
  • Complete lists of all the tools and materials you'll need
  • Detailed primers in lumber milling, fastening, rib bending, and measuring
  • Additional instructions for making a Greenland paddle, paddling clothing, float bags, skegs, and more
  • Pointers on paddling skills, kayak rolling, and children's kayaks
See all Product Description
Inside This Book (Learn More)
First Sentence
The form and structure of the Greenland kayak are products of an evolution that has spanned hundreds if not thousands of years. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is a very well written book. It seems to be based on the now almost legendary "Qaanniornermut ilitsersuut: Instruction in kayak building" by H.C.Petersen. This book is hard to come by these days, and is nowhere near as helpful as Cunninghams book. The kayak Peterson described in "Qaanniornermut ilitsersuut..." was made by mixing features from kayaks found all over Greenland, and was as such not an authentic replica of any classical Greenland kayak. Neither is the kayak described by Cunningham in this book. Some might not like Cunninghams modifications to the "original" Greenland kayak (or rather mix of kayaks), but as far as I can see, all Cunningham has done is to make the building process easier, without compromising the seaworthiness and feel of the finished craft itself. The instructions are detailed, and if you follow them, you will succeed in building a kayak you can be proud of and one that will draw envious looks from hardcore Greenland style paddlers. The book is full of tips on how to choose, use and maintain the tools needed. There are also brilliantly inspired tips on tools and jigs you can make yourself. You'll also find tips on the materials you can use, and where to look for them. In addition to this, there are instructions on how to build Greenland style paddles, how to make the bladders that hunters used as flotation devices as well as internal flotation devices (don't paddle without them!), how to make a traditional Greenland paddling jacket, kayaks for children with extra flotation support and how to build a balancing stool for dry land practice. I've built the balancing stool, and it feels eerily close to the real thing. Alternative reading would be "Building a Greenland Kayak" by Mark Starr, and "Qaanniornermut ilitsersuut: Instruction in kayak building" by H.C. Petersen. I own all three, but I prefer Cunninghams book because of the ingeniousness of his jigs and tools, the detailed instructions, helpful tips and all the extra projects he's included. I'll gladly recommend this book to any would-be kayak builder!
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Amazon.com:  22 reviews
19 of 19 people found the following review helpful
Excellent - the one guide you need 31 July 2004
By Ryan McNabb - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
If you are interested in building a traditional, relatively authentic West Greenland ocean kayak, one of the most gorgeous watercraft ever built, this is your book. Cunningham lays out the task from beginning to end with clarity and wit, and the process is topped off with explanations and plans for traditional paddling gear such as floats and tuiliks, the one piece "dry suits" that fit over the coaming. The book can be confusing in places, but this rests in large part on the fact that the measurements are anthropometric in nature. There can't be measured drawings for something that is going to be different for every person. The kayak you build will be completely custom made to fit you, and noone else, so he can't get too energetic with the tape measure. What you do get are step by step explanations for HOW you arrive at those measurements, so that you can make boats for yourself and anyone else. The frame is pretty authentic, other than that dimensioned lumber is used - you would have trouble telling a drawing of this frame from a drawing of an original Inuit frame. Of course the big departure is the skin, which in our case is not seal skin but rather ballistic nylon and two part polyurethane dope. Not traditional, but gorgeous, waterproof and long lasting. You can expect to get 10 years out of a well cared for boat - not bad for a boat you built yourself in a few weekends, for about the cost of a good touring paddle. If you're looking for a quicky project, or one that you can knock together out of plywood with the Scout Troop, look elsewhere. But if you're looking for the real deal, you've found it. Highly recommended.
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Needs more diagrams 12 July 2004
By Hyok Lee - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Overall, I enjoyed the book. Cunningham has a lot of knowledge about traditional building techniques. However, I found several areas where I was confused, while building the kayak. I found myself hi-liting certain, critical areas, and reading some phrases over and over to make sure that I was interpreting it correctly. More drawings with dimensions would have eliminated the vagaries of prepositions and interpretations.

The instruction on determining rib lengths using a hand-drawn graph was confusing. I read it over and over, then after figuring out what was being done, I simply put the data in a spreadsheet to calculate the lengths.

The directions on making the spray skirt was especially confusing. For example, on sewing the webbing on, it says to sew the webbing such that the legs of the v-shape of the webbing is even with the edge of the fabric. That would mean that the webbing would point in the opposite direction of the finished product. The book never did explain how the the webbing ends up in the correct direction. I strained to interpret from the photo of the person wearing the spray skirt. I finally did end up with a usable spray skirt, but not without some cursing and frustration.

Having built flying model airplanes for many years, I find visual plans much easier to deal with. If I need the dimension for something, I can just glance at the plan to find it, instead of trying to remember which paragraph contained the data.

I wish I could give it more than three stars. There were parts of the book that I enjoyed very much. However, there were times when I was extremely frustrated.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Another exceelent addition to the literature 30 Jun 2003
By Michael J Edelman - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Chris Cunningham has been publishing construction articles for years in Sea Kayaker magazine, so it's not surprising that he's decided to write a full length book on the topic. And an excellent book it is, too. There are hundreds of excellent photos and drawings, extensive detailed instructions and plenty of discussion an alternate methods of construciton.

This is certainly one of the best books on the topic of Greenland kayak construciton yet, and an absolute must-own for anyone interested in building their own traditional kayak. This volume, along with Robert Morris' book (Building Skin on Frame Kayaks) and perhaps H. C. Peterson's "Instruction in Kayak Building" would make as complete a library on kayak construciton as one might imagine.

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