In this episode I finish the build. Yay!!! The final sanding is done, finish applied, and all of the final parts are fastened on. The entire build took 200 hours of work over 6 months (in my spare time). The finished weight of the 16-1/2 foot kayak is 44 pounds.
This was the first cedar strip kayak I have ever built, but it will not be the last. I really enjoyed the entire process (although the finish work is a bit tedious). Next time I will probably start with raw materials instead of a kit, but the kit was a great way to learn. My favorite part was the turtle hatch that I added with a wood-burner. I also inlaid a 2020 (COVID) penny into the deck so I will always remember what allowed me the time to finish in a relatively short period of time.
Thanks to Joe at Redfish Kayaks for providing a great product and excellent support along the way. Thanks to my neighbor, Dan Umlauf, for doing the drone video shots at the end of this episode. Thanks to my patient wife, Carole, for helping with the introductions and letting me take so much time to do this build.