Free Kayak Plans For Backyard Builders – Siskiwit Bay
Cedar Strip Siskiwit Bay designed by Bryan Hansel is an excellent all-around British-style kayak.
The Siskiwit Bay is all-around, fast, mid-sized, British-style, touring kayak. This solid boat suits a medium to heavy paddler looking for good initial stability and lots of secondary stability. As the water gets rougher, this kayak feels more stable. It’s a fast design slightly more efficient than most British kayaks in its class. When built with a Layback Lounge, it’s an easy roller. Designed by Bryan Hansel.
- Length: 17 feet
- Width: 21 inches
- Volume: 12.325 cubic feet
Displacement and Sizing
This kayak was designed with a five inch waterline to carry: a boat built to 50 pounds, a 200 pound paddler, and 50-pound load. It accommodates paddlers ranging in weight from 140lbs (4.25″ waterline) to 240lbs (just under 6″ waterline). It can carry more than 50 pounds of gear, but why would you? See the Nessmuking articles.
The deck height 48″ forward the back of the cockpit is 11″ high, which will handle U.S. size 11+ feet vertically. The rear coaming height is 8.5″ with a recess and the front height is 12.75″.
Efficiency
These are the John Winter/KAPER numbers using Sea Kayaker Magazines stipulations.
- Knots – Pounds of Resistance
- 2 – 0 .921
- 3 – 1.915
- 4 – 3.554
- 4.5 – 4.976
- 5 – 7.381
Drawings
The drawings are provided free of charge for personal non-commercial use. By clicking on the links below, you agree to use these drawings for personal non-commercial use to build one kayak for yourself and you agree you will not redistribute these drawings in any form electronic, paper, or otherwise. Any additional kayaks built must be approved. Any commercial use of these drawings is prohibited without permission from Bryan Hansel.
Donate
If you build this canoe, consider donating $30 for my time and effort. Donate other amounts by pressing the Buy Me a Beer button located at the end of the article. Any donations are appreciated.
Whether or not you donate, please, send me a picture of your build–I’ll add it to the builder’s gallery.
Free Kayak Plan Downloads
It is your responsibility to determine the seaworthiness of this craft. These drawings come with no guarantees of safety or otherwise. You build at your own risk and when you paddle, you paddle at your own risk.
By clicking or saving these links, you agree to the above. Drawings (1-foot intervals) are provided as a:
- PDF of Station and Stems A1 Size Paper (702kb)
- PDF of Station and Stems 11″x17″ Size Paper – 4 Pages (3.29MB)
- Set of Offsets (92kb)
- .dxf file (154kb)
- Cockpit 31″x16″ (250kb)
- A mastercam file (mcx format) & 2 g-code files
Please, help me save bandwidth and thus money and only download the plans that you actually need.
Other Builder’s Photos
Some builder’s have been providing photos of their builds. Please, consider doing the same.
Recommended Books to Buy Before Building
- Building Strip-Planked Boats
: The newest book by kayak building authority, Nick Schade. A must have.
- The Strip-Built Sea Kayak: Three Rugged, Beautiful Boats You Can Build
: The gold standard of kayak building books. Clearly explains all the sets of boat building from tools to epoxy work. There are so many tricks and tips in this book that you’ll be able to save time.
- Kayakcraft: Fine Woodstrip Kayak Construction
: Presents a slightly different way to build cedar strip kayaks. Lots of great ideas.
- The New Kayak Shop: More Elegant Wooden Kayaks Anyone Can Build: If stitch and glue is your thing, then this is the book to get.
Notes
The .dxf file can be printed over multiple sheets with QCad, an inexpensive CAD program with a free trial period. It’s free for Mac and Linux users.
Note on sheerline: This kayak is designed so the deck and hull seamlessly join in one smooth curve. The offset file lists the height of the sheerline on each station. Build the deck above this point and the hull below.
Suggested Features:
- Recessed KajakSport hatches. (Two Oval 44/26 – 17 1/2″ x 10 1/4″. Or Front Round 24 – 9 1/2″ and Back Oval 44/26.)
- Recessed KajakSport Day hatch. (Round 20 – 8″)
- Layback Lounge.
- Full Perimeter Deck Lines.
- Compass Recess.
- Bungee upfront to accommodate a spare paddle.
- KajakSport End Toggles.
- Recessed Deck Fittings (Seakayak UK, KajakSport or homemade).
- Happy Bottom Seat.
- Keyhole Cockpit with Thigh Braces (15 1/4″ x 32″ or 16″ x 31″ opening(This wider opening will help with some Greenland style rolls.).
- Foam Pillar Back Support.
- Yakima Foot Braces.
- Three Bulkheads. (Rear fitting right up to the back of the cockpit. Front as close in as possible.)
Optional Features
- Adjustable Skeg (although this kayak shows minimal weathercocking, in some situations (strong winds and limited or no waves) a skeg may be desirable). I will build my next one with a skeg. The old stern profile does not need a skeg.
Distances to Features
The following distances are from the stern. You may vary them to suit your needs.
- 49″ to the center of the rear hatch.
- 67″ to the day hatch bulkhead.
- 73 1/2″ to the center of the day hatch. (In the Layback Lounge.)
- 73 1/2″ to the back of the Layback Lounge.
- 80 3/4″ to the back of the cockpit and rear bulkhead.
- 85″ to the back of Happy Bottom Seat (4.25″ foam back pillar glued to floor and bulkhead between coaming back and seat.)
- 132″ to the front bulkhead (assuming my recommendations for foot brace placement – vary to suit height of paddler).
- 150 1/2″ to center of front hatch. Compass in front of front hatch.
- Footbrace Recommendations for 5’10″ paddlers: Back screw at 115″ and feet will be at the 125″ mark.
- Placement of deck fittings, one on each side (port and starboard): 35″, 60 1/2″, 71″, 115 1/2″, 122 1/2″, 129 1/2″, 136 1/2″, 164″
- Placement of deck fittings, one on the centerline: 12″, 32″, 139″, 167″, 192″
Designing and Building the Siskiwit Bay Prototype
This website contains an extensive building log of the Siskiwit Bay prototype. The kayak itself was tested over almost two years, over 650 miles, in up to six-foot waves and three-foot surf, in small craft advisories, on calm days, into small rock gardens, and on several fully loaded trips. I found it to be a great kayak and pretty close to the ideal touring boat for me. A sportier version is in the works, and the plans are available to anyone who would like to build a new prototype. Contact me.
Design Changes:
After testing the prototype, I changed the design to address the following items:
- The stem and stern profiles have been changed from the pictures. The stern can still be built with a more steggy look. This makes tracking rock solid, but it makes turning difficult. The stern profile in the plans is better for turning at a slight expense of weathercocking (In some situations: Mainly in Force 5 winds with no waves).
- The stem profile has been modified to ease building.
- The deck in the plans is different than that in the pictures; it is slightly higher from the cockpit towards the bow and has more volume in the knee/feet area than the prototype.
- The bow has been narrowed slightly at the sheerline to give the sheer more grace.
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- Cedar Strip Siskiwit Bay designed by Bryan Hansel is an excellent all-around British-style kayak.
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- Siskiwit Bay unloaded in Georgian Bay.
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- Bryan Hansel testing out the new stern shape in the cold Lake Superior spring. Snow still on the rocks and one foot waves to paddle in.
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- This picture clearly shows the old more skeggy stern. The new stern is shown in the third picture from the top of the page.
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- Dave McKinney having fun. Dave said about this yak,”I can give it a ringing endorsement,it is an awesome boat, I had the chance to paddle it at Meet at the Beach two weeks ago, comfortable, rolls easily, tracks in wind and loads of room for trips. Probably my next boat after my Outer Island is finished.”
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- The sheerline makes the whole process worth it.
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- Shown it the prototype’s cockpit. Note the Happy Bottom Seat and the foam pillar, and the knee braces fully padded out to make the boat fit like a tight glove.
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- Shown here is the Siskiwit Bay with the deck I built (red) and the Siskiwit Sport, not built yet, with a better deck almost the same as the deck included in these plans.
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- The new stern shape vs. the old shape. The new shape is included with the plans, but you could build the old way if you value a super hard tracking kayak over one that turns.
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- The skin Greenland style boat was the inspiration for the Siskiwit Bay, which is the third craft descending from this Greenland boat.
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- The Siskiwit Bay next to a Tahe Reval. New stern.
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- It paddles fine in the winter too.
Buy me a beer if you liked this article.
June 4th, 2009 at 1:48 am
Hey, I found your site a few hours ago and have been through all the posts and comments steadily. I decided should post my firstpost. Unsure of what to comment but here goes. Cool blog. Will come back in a while to hear more of what youve got to offer.
August 4th, 2009 at 9:45 am
Can not find the distance between each section
am i missing something ??
August 6th, 2009 at 10:59 am
Yes and no. It’s not noted, but it uses the standard 1′ between sections. If you follow the instructions in Nick’s book (link in the article), you end up with a kayak that works.
December 21st, 2009 at 10:09 am
Hello,
I am probably going to build this yak but havent seen anyone on here using it in a river. Will this design work well for that? Its not whitewater just the missouri and the yellowstone here in montana. Thanks for your help and nice site.
Dan
December 22nd, 2009 at 3:01 pm
Hey Dan, it will work fine for rivers without whitewater. Are you planning on using it for day tripping or multi-day trips or both? If you want, I have the drawings of the sporty LVish version which will turn quicker and be more responsive. It might be better for river use. The prototype hasn’t been finished yet, so I’m not 100% on how the Sport/LV version will perform, but it should be a nice kayak. Someone in Britain is building the LV version in carbonfiber, so he’s confident enough in the design. It has slightly less volume, so it’d carry a little less for multi-day trips. If you’re interested, email me and I’ll hook you up with the drawings.
Cheers,
Bryan
January 16th, 2010 at 2:20 am
I am getting a little cabin fever, even though I am living in an apartment in China, but within sight of the Pearl River Delta, and the winter weather is in the 50′s. Very different from my life in MT… but
I am thinking I will try to use your general lines and try to build a skin on frame boat. It will take a bunch of design changes, I can’t get everything I want as far as parts and such, and I have only built one S-O-F or any other kind of boat, and that was a King Canvasback with my dad and brothers in the late 1960′s. I will probably end up using a canvas skin because I can find canvas and an usable (enamel house paint) coating here.
It may end with me giving up in frustration, but at least it will be doing something I can see that I have done, or not done.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Wish me luck.
R.
January 16th, 2010 at 8:51 am
Hi Rob,
The multi-chined version of these kayak plans may work as a starting point for you.
If you’re going to build a skin-on-frame Yost-style, outputting the frames at intervals would be easy enough. If you’re interested, just let me know the positions relative to the stern you’d like to have frames and I’ll output them and post it in the multi-chined page.
January 17th, 2010 at 9:09 am
I have to laugh, you are way over my understanding at initial thought, after running it through my translator, I am guessing the frames are what holds the shape of the kayak. I am guessing about 8 or 9 frames. Chines must be the longitudinal stringers. Frankly I do not know the advantage of multi- chines over a single chine other than strength. I think I am perhaps a bit more like the native builders…. Hmm, that looks good, lets try that. I know I am building by the seat of my pants. It is hard to get books here, they have to get by the censors, and that can take months, so I am literally just taking a leap into thin air, or maybe water. I don’t speak much Chinese, so I have spent about 2 months just trying to find stainless steel staples here, since I am going to play in the ocean, I know the steel ones will not survive long. Most Chinese don’t know or understand the terms. I had to get a Chinese friend to find an engineer to find out the words for stainless. I don’t have a table saw, or access to one, so I will be using what ever Chinese standard stock I can find, or maybe I will buy a hand held electric planer to reduce my stock. I will have to leave the planer, (and the boat) if I leave China, since they use 220 volts here, so I am going to have to buy some tools, and I will get pnuematic, since I can take them back to the states and use them with out problems. I don’t have much hope for buying clear stock, it will be pine, and I hope for small knots, or to cut up the bad pieces for frames, etc. I hope I can find a little 1/4″ marine ply to use as gussets, etc, 3/8″ or 1/2″ if I can’t, ell the metric equivalent. I guess I really don’t know how to answer your question, though I know you are trying to be helpful. Sorry. I am just looking at an approximately 17 foot boat with a beam of about 24-27 inches. I am 55, 6′ tall, and about 210lbs. I am not as athletic as I used to be, but I am not ready to head for the rocking chair, (and they are WAY complicated to build). Who knows where I might end up. :-)
January 17th, 2010 at 10:08 am
@Rob, check out this instructable. If you’re not trying to duplicate the performance of the Siskiwit Bay, it will allow you to build a single-chined Greenland style kayak without using any plans.
January 22nd, 2010 at 1:01 am
Thanks for all your help Bryan, I have been up late nights for over a week researching kayaks, and to be honest, repairing my computer a bit too. My wife is getting a little frustrated that I haven’t made it to bed before 2 am in that time, but…
I spent a few hours yesterday hunting through the local wood shops, and I was only able to find some clear pine moulding, but I think it will work admirably, even though it will take more work. I have enough to make 130′ of 3/4″ x 1 1/2″ stock.
The moulding is (metric but about) 3/8″ X 1 1/2″. I think it will bend well, I have the option of laminating it before, or after I set the stringers to the frame, and I have thought about one piece inside on the gunwhales, and the second on the outside, sort of a rub-rail assembly that could also serve to help hold the deck cover, and I could do the same on the keelson to give a bit (3/8″) of a keel, and some rub protection. I haven’t decided if I will have to use a scarf, the pieces are 7.25′ and 8.5′, respectively, just starting them from opposite ends gives me a minimal 16″ overlap on the glue joint. I think it would be strong enough.
I have spent a lot of time on the instructables site, and got some ideas there, and also on the Yost site, which I really like by the way, but I like the looks of the SB better, and since I have not paddled either, that is all I have to judge it on. The material that I have indicates I will have a boat about 15 1/2′ in length (8.5′ + 7.25′ moulding, with a little trimming), and I am thinking of a widest frame of 22 1/2″, since I never plan to roll this thing (given my own choice).
I am unsure of just where to put the cockpit to make a “balanced” boat. Perhaps you can offer a suggestion? My stations/frames are currently planned to be balanced/mirrored from stem or stern at 0, 18, 42, 66, 120, 144, 168, 186. I hope to set the cockpit, and use a frame for and aft that will finish it off, at your suggestion, if I may be so bold as to ask.
I am pretty excited about starting this since I haven’t built anything with my hands in about 4 years, (since I came to China), but on Monday I fly off to Guizhou province to Caotai Lake to see if the black cranes have arrived, and then on to Kunming and from there to just above Myanmar to Xishuanbana, to see the wild elephants (mating season I am told), then down the Mekong (in a motor boat) to someplace in Laos for a few days hiking, and then off to Bangkok until the middle of Feb. I admit I will enjoy the vacation, but I won’t get to start for 3 weeks… I guess I am excited about all the aspects of what is coming. Thanks again for your help.
January 22nd, 2010 at 9:20 am
@Rob- Sounds like an exciting vacation. Are you still planning on a single chine or are you going the multi-chine approach?
January 22nd, 2010 at 10:34 am
Hi Bryan, At this stage I could go either way, but I am thinking the single chine approach at this moment, but that could change tomorrow. I am influenced by the ease and the speed of the build, and as I said, I am not interested in rolling the kayak, and I think the multi chine version would be a smoother roller. I think both designs have more stability as they are loaded, and that is a good thing, as Martha used to say.
I have about 5 days after my trip, and before I have to go back to work… lots of details to figure out. These aren’t exactly a kit boat, and I think that is good.
I have a few other travel pics at http://www.zorpia.com/mtmyrock if you are curious. I haven’t added any new pics lately, but I plan for some boat building pics to end up there some day before too long.
January 28th, 2010 at 4:17 pm
Rob, I’m working up a 15′ multi-chined 23-24″ wide design based on the Siskiwit Bay. If interested drop me a direct email and I’ll send you some more info.
July 18th, 2010 at 12:12 am
Hi! I love this site, reading how everyone loves working on boats. Pretty much a self taught woodworker. Built us a 16′ canoe. Plywood cut into 3/4″ strips. Then the wife said she wanted to kayak, got some plans out of an old handymans encyclopedia, they were tiny and fuzzy, and for a canvas, but I made them work and built us 2 9’2″ kayaks. Plan on more as we have lots of nephews that we taught to kayak. The kayaks are Poplar about 30 lbs, and very flat bottomed, we use them in lakes. Glad I found this site:)
July 18th, 2010 at 11:42 am
I’m glad you like the site and glad you found it too. I hope that you continue to follow along when new articles are posted. Please, pass along the website to others. Good luck with future boats.