Waterlust Construction

Waterlust Construction

After a two year hiatus. I need to update my posts.  I will later post two trip reports (Ontario's French River and Texas' Big Bend) that were published earlier in Small Craft Advisor.  But, first, a new boat construction project.

I have loved my Kruger Canoes (I have both a Sea Wind and a Dream Catcher).  They are excellent paddle craft and camping platforms.  Though the Dream Catcher is a better sailboat (All boat design is a compromise!), I was looking for a little more of a sailboat, but one that was still able to be paddled.


I have been in 11 WaterTribe Everglades Challenges and in several other WaterTribe events.  I have tried all sorts of boats in an attempt to find the ideal coastal sailing and camping craft (Though I have been married to the same woman for 49 years, I have been very promiscuous with boats!).

I have gone in solo and tandem Kruger Canoes (I won with Michael Collins in 2004 in a Kruger Cruiser tandem canoe with a schooner rig.), Graham Byrnes' Core Sound 20, Core Sound 20 Mark III, and a Gig Harbor Melonseed.

I have found that I don't like rowing (it is efficient and uses big muscle groups, but I like to see where I am going.).  I did pedal a Hobie Adventure Island in one Okoumefest (won the short course) and one North Carolina Challenge (4th and 1st in class).  I liked the drive but didn't like sitting down in the water and staying wet all the time.

This constant search led me to a new Chesapeake Lightcraft design by Dillon Majoros, the Waterlust sailing canoe.  It would be a better sailor than the Kruger and would be propelled by a Hobie pedal drive as well as a paddle.  When I got back from camp at the end of the summer, I began construction.  Here is that tale:

Unpacking the parts kit.  Letting the company use its CNC machine to cut the kit saves several months' work.  My goal was to have plenty of time to shake out all of the idiosyncracies of the boat before the 2018 Everglades Challenge, not the least of which is deciding whether I would need to build amas.  Having CLC cut the kit was a great help.

The first task is to scarf together the Planks and the deck to create the 18 foot canoe from 8 foot boards.  The puzzle joints cut by the CNC machine make this task easier.  Notice the rabit in the strakes for attaching them together and the pre-drilled holes for the copper wire stitches.

 Fixing a piece of the puzzle joint that was broken in shipment (CLC offered to replace this, but we agreed that I could fix it with epoxy.).

While we're at it, coating the underside of the deck with 6 oz fiberglass and scarfing stringers, tiller, and rub strakes.

 Next comes stitching together the bottom and strakes with bulkheads using copper wire.

Then using thickened epoxy to tab between the stitches.  Notice that the opening for the Hobie pedal drive has been cut in the bottom.

And the slot for the daggerboard is cut.

The bottom and the first strake get a layer of 6 oz. glass.

The edges of the glass are trimmed, then the masking tape can be removed.

 The halves of the daggerboard and rudder are glued up.  The edges have rabits that will be filled with thickened epoxy to make them tougher when impacted.

The four parts of the rudder head are glued up

Bulkheads are tabbed in after a layer of glass is added to the floor and first strake.

 Furniture (daggerboard trunk, mast steps, and pedal drive well), bow and stern partners, and stringers are added, along with stiffeners on the sides that will double as storage for loose stuff.

As an experiment, the bottom gets several coats of epoxy mixed with graphite to serve as UV protectant and bottom toughener.  (This caused one debate on the Ductworks Facebook page).