In the beginning...

,After deciding a few weeks ago to buy a kit and build my own kayak, I found there were only a few online sites showing the whole process so now that I've decided to go ahead, I'll document it here with some juicy photos and a bit of a timeline.

As a background, I live in Canberra, Australia and have been kayaking on and off since I was at school 10 years ago. They had a pretty good outdoors program and I guess it stuck with me from there. Also, they compete in an annual event held outside Sydney called the Hawkesbury Canoe Classic - a 111km overnight marathon from Windsor to Brooklyn down the Hawkesbury river to raise funds for cancer research.

Last year in preparation for the race, I bought my first kayak at late notice and was quickly restricted by what I could get my hands on, a K1 flatwater kayak (Elliott Extreme) built by Elliott Kayaks north of Sydney. This was initially to do the race in but I quickly found myself in a boat too unstable to do the race and with a seat that sent my legs to sleep after 30 mins in the boat. It was ok to train in but I was able to get my hands on my Dad's Pygmy Coho to compete in.

Fast forward 12 months and I'm back in training for this year's race and the kayak bug has bitten again as the weather warms up. I'm doing the race this year in a double Mirage 730 sea kayak with my Dad but having to train again in the Elliott has made me yearn for a more comfortable boat more suited to open waters. And hence the search begins!

My initial criteria above (ie. comfortable and capable in choppy water) I found quickly limited by the price I could pay. Most fibreglass sea kayaks were in excess of AUD$2,500 and I couldn't justify spending this much coin on a new toy. My mind then quickly went back to the kayak my Dad built 3 years ago and a build-your-own kit quickly became an option for me. This, combined with an Australian Dollar/US Dollar exchange rate at all time highs and my project was beginning.