Home » Building The 24 Hour Kayak » Introduction

The 24 Hour Kayak

A Simple Plywood Kayak
Designed to be Built in 24 Hours

13.5 feet x 28 inches – 40 pounds

The 24 Hour Kayak uses simple materials and techniques. Her flat bottom is stable enough for photographers, anglers, and novices and her flowing lines please the eye. A kayak suitable for beginner boat builders and novice woodworkers.

Overview – Build Sequence

Introduction

The 24 Hour Kayak is a compact and versatile wooden kayak designed for lakes and protected bays. Her flat bottom means that she is stable enough to appeal to photographers, anglers, and nervous paddlers. She is suitable for paddlers between 50 and 100 kg. Her simple lines please the eye and her construction techniques make it easy for a novice to build a beautiful craft in as little as two weekends.

This boat was originally conceived as a simple wooden boat that could be built by local co-ops in coastal towns in Cuba and sold into the resort trade. The idea was that it could be built from plywood, screws and waterproof glues, that it would assemble easily, require few complex skills or tools, and that the design would be appeal to casual paddlers.

For any number of reasons the project never materialized and was put on the back burner. The idea was given new life in late 2018 however when the designer was asked to teach a boat building course by OficinaLab, an established school for wood-workers in Sao Paulo.

The result is a 4 meter kayak with high initial stability that easily competes with the current crop of sit-on-top kayaks in comfort, performance and looks. The kayak’s building method is suited to novices, school groups, and parent-child teams. The best part; with a bit of planning the whole boat should go together in 24 hours! And thus, the name ..

Building the 24 Hour Kayak
What Makes It Unique

Building the 24 Hour Kayak requires four plywood panels screwed and glued to a frame of lateral “stations” and longitudinal “chine-logs”. This method does away with much of the complexity that comes with most wooden boat building techniques. There is no need for expensive fiberglass or resins, specialized knowledge, complex joinery or precise cuts.

In a nutshell, here’s how the kayak is built …

Bottom chine-logs are screwed and glued to the bottom plywood panel before which is then trimmed to shape.
Stations and stems forms are glued and screwed into place on the trimmed bottom panel.
Upper chine-logs are attached to the stations, providing the sheer line and completing the basic frame.
Over-sized side panels are glued and screwed to the lower and upper chine-logs, and then trimmed.
A rough cut deck panel is glued and screwed to the upper chine-logs and then trimmed to shape.
Coaming risers and rim are laminated to the deck panel, following which the cockpit opening is trimmed.

Unlike with stitch-and-glue construction, the plywood panels are shaped AFTER they’ve been attached to the basic frame. This eliminates the need to cut precise shapes and helps to ensure fair lines and an accurate final shape. Whilst builders WILL have to accurately cut 5 station panels and two stem panels (don’t worry, there are full-size templates), this is none-the-less the most forgiving form of boat building we can think of. While prospective builders may wish to review the Skills page if in doubt of their abilities, keep in mind that Ashes designed this boat to make construction easy. We believe will all our heart that anyone can build it.

Building the 24 Hour Kayak
A Quick Step by Step Overview

Build Sequence

Before You Get Started
Some Things You Might Wish to Know

Before making a decision to build a 24 Hour Kayak (or two, or three) we encourage potential builders to review the information on the following pages. You’ll find everything you need to know about materials, tool and space requirements, and the basic skills acquired (or required).

Ordering Plans

Builders who wish to go proceed will need to order a set of plans (either digital or print). The plans include full size templates for the stems, frames, and coaming parts along with the dimensions necessary to loft the plywood panels. For those who have questions about availability, cost, shipping, and what’s included, we’ve created a page which should answer most questions.

What You Get

Ordering Plans – learn more

Hour by Hour Instructions

Making a boat for the first time is rarely intuitive. Our hope is that the kayak’s instructional pages will help reduces the number of challenges novices often struggle with. A good place to start is with a preview of how it goes together.

Overview – The Build Sequence

We’re in the process of writing an hour by hour account of what to expect, the challenges and solutions, along with hints that will make building easier. The pages are organized as below and will be made available when the plans are published in the Spring of 2019.

Hour 1 – The Strong Back
Hour 2 – Cutting the Chines and a Batten
Hour 3 – Lofting the Panel Shapes
Hour 4 – Lofting the Stations and Stems
Hours 5 & 6 – Cutting out the Pieces
Hour 7 – Attaching the Bottom Chines
Hour 8 – Trimming the Bottom Panel
Hour 9 – Attaching the Stations & Deck Chine-Logs
Hour 10 – Shaping the Deck-Chines
Hour 11 – Attaching the Sides
Hour 12 – Trimming the Sides
Hour 13 – Attaching the Deck
Hour 14 – Trimming the Deck
Hour 15 – Quick Sanding & Filling Holes
Hour 16 – Cutting the Coaming Risers and Rim
Hour 17 – Laminating the Coaming
Hour 18 – Sanding & Prepping for Finish
Hour 19 – Applying a Primer Coat
Hours 20 & 21 – Making Fittings
Hour 22 and 23 – Sanding and Applying the Finish Coats
Hour 24 – Attaching the Fittings

Statistics

Everything you need to know!

THE 24 HOUR KAYAK	IMPERIAL	METRIC
Length
Length Over All	13’6″	4.05 m
Length on the Waterline	12’8″	3.72 m
Beam
Beam Over All	28″	68 cm
Beam on the Waterline	26.5″	64 cm
Rocker
Rocker – Aft	2″	5 cm
Rocker – Fore	3″	7.5 cm
Height
Height – Stern	15″	27.5 cm
Height – Midships Sheer	11″	18 cm
Height – Cockpit Front	13″	32.5 cm
Height – Bow	17″	37.5 cm
Displacement
Displacement at 2.0″	115 lbs	52 kg
Displacement at 2.5″	150 lbs	68 kg
Displacement at 3.0″	180 lbs	82 kg
Displacement at 3.5″	230 lbs	104 kg
Displacement at 4.0″	261 lbs	118 kg
Maximum Load (at 5″)	310 lbs	140 kg
Surface Areas
Total Wetted Surface	19.2 sq ft	1.78 sq m
Lateral Wind Surface Area	14.5 sq ft	1.35 sq m
Hydrostatics
Meta-Centric Height	1′ 4″	39 cm
Prismatic Coefficient	.5421
Block Coefficient	.5149

Getting Help, Asking Questions

In a perfect world, everything would be perfectly clear. And even though we’ve worked hard to anticipate all the issues our builders will encounter, we know perfectly well how frustrating it can be when faced with a challenge and the directions just don’t make sense. If you come up against difficulties, send an email (don’t use the phone, even though Ashes is registered in Canada, we travel, speak, and teach in far flung places!). We’ll do our best to get back to you with an answer in a timely fashion.