| Custom
Skin Boats
These qayaq designs are ancient, yet in my opinion, they
have not been improved upon by modern production methods or high-tech
composite lay-ups. A real qayaq is a living, silent creature, not
a rigid shell. Skin boat technology is the “roots” of
recreational sea kayaking, but remains the state-of-the-art. I honestly
believe that these are the very best and highest-performance sea
kayaks available.
Your True North skin boat will be custom-made to your body size
and aesthetic preferences, while not straying far from the proven
results of over 5000 years of development and design refinement.
You will "wear" your tailor-fitted boat and it will respond
to your input like no mass-produced kayak can. It will be much lighter
than any comparably sized hard-shell kayak, even those made with
Kevlar and carbon fiber lay-ups. A typical 17’ skin boat will
weigh anywhere from 25 to 40 lbs, depending on the wishes of the
person it’s being built for.
"Lightweight", however, does not mean "fragile".
The impact-absorbing framework, tough nylon skin and 2-part urethane
coating make for a hull that is rot-proof, UV-resistant and amazingly
puncture-proof. I have a twelve-year-old Aleutian iqyax that has
been "rid hard and put away wet" all its life, and it’s
still my favorite and most often used boat.
Another great benefit of skin-over-frame kayaks that isn’t
widely known is their quietness when paddling into choppy seas.
A hard-shell kayak will thump loudly in these conditions, annoying
the paddler and scaring away wildlife that might otherwise consider
the paddler to be just another sea animal passing by.
Owing their designs to the genius of their Aleut, Eskimo, and Inuit
inventors, these boats are truly state-of-the-art, and remain unsurpassed
by factory-made boats in virtually every measurable way.
The iqyan and qayaqs on these pages represent a small portion of
the many and widely varying regional skin boats types and subtypes.
Please contact us to view other types and to duscuss their virtues."
Vital Stats
The main components of the frameworks are made from either clear
Alaska yellow cedar, Douglas fir, or spar grade Sitka spruce. The
coaming hoop and ribs are steam-bent from "green" Oregon
oak. The parts are fitted with mortise-and-tenon joinery and either
pegged together or lashed using a waxed multi-filament nylon called
"artificial sinew". Before the frame is skinned, every
part is given a heavy coat of linseed oil that penetrates the wood
grain and acts as a preservative.
The fabric "skin" comes in a wide variety of weights,
but I’ve found the 8 ounce to be the best match for the qualities
and strength of the frames. There are some lighter-weight cloths
and some that are much heavier, but keep in mind when choosing that
a thicker fabric will add substantial weight to a boat as a result
of the extra volume of coating that will fill its weave.
The fabric is hand-stitched over the frame and shrunk taut. It can
then be dyed, or personal artwork can be painted on before the translucent
two-part urethane coating is applied. The result is very tough and
visually stunning.
True North's Hana Tsuji Daniels beside
her iqyax
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fitting a rib while weight bags "hog"
the shear of a custom King Island qayaq
available in one-, two-, or three hole
versions
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