As I live really close to Martin Nissen at greenlandpaddle.com, I decided to pay him a visit and purchase a paddle blank from him.
A bit more expensive than the spruce but a nice block of wood ready to take some beating.
Martin is a really nice chap with a passion for kayaking. We had a nice talk, I admired his paddles and he offered me a bunch of advice.
I feel the midsection is a bit too long but as I expect to do a take-apart I hope this will not be an issue.
Yesterday I picked up some Sitka Spruce at a chap from my local qajaq club.
Today I noticed a very large knot in the middle of the piece going halfway through it and a large crack right next to it.
As it is in the middle of the piece I cannot work around it and my best option therefore will be to either do some lamination or just return it :(
The video is available as a 70MB and a 211MB download, I only watched the 211MB.
It is based on the excellent guide by Chuck Holst and even if I thought his guide made everything reasonably clear, it was very beneficial to actually see it done.
I highly recommend this video to anyone doing there first GP based on the Holst guide.
Speaking of expensive I found an interesting new folder from TRAK Kayaks that offers adjustable shape !
The boat looks beautiful and the design are facinating but at a price of $5575 it is placed at the absolute top of the price range, add to that a company and a product that are totally unknown and unproven and I believe it will take a decent amount of favorable reviews and good marketing to sell that boat in any significant numbers.
Making a West Greenland Paddle is short and precise but still gets all the way around including the benefits of a GP, various paddle styles, paddling technique, a bit of history and of cause how to actually build one.
The part describing the build process are very clear, the illustrations are good and it was reasonably easy even to a ten-thumbs-no-good-hobby-carpenter like me to understand.
The only part a bit vaque was the last part describing the Greenland paddling technique, a part I found had too little depth and detail to do any real difference.
I received this reply to my technical request on the CLC carbon fiber ferrule:
- The ferrule are 14" long
- Inside diameter are 1-3/16"
- Outside diameter are 1-1/4"
- It is delivered without any instructions or adhesives
- Shipping fee for DK will be $25 which should be added to the cost of the ferrule
Once Danish taxes has been added the price tag will end up at around $80 which I find is too high, instead I might do the homebrewn yost ferrule or maybe something completely different.
As the spring got closer I realized I was probably not going to get my planned Greenland Qajaq built. Considering the alternatives I found that my savings actually allowed me to realize an old dream of mine, purchasing a Feathercraft kayak.
What I wanted was a boat with excelent handling and performance, rollable but most importantly of all, lightweight and reasonably fast to assemble as well as disassemble.
