Stitch then Glue

So, the stitch and glue technique was "an old hat" having this previous winter complete the Passagemaker Dinghy in the same fashion.

The hull of the Hybrid Night Heron is stitch and glue, so I did not think of it as a test of my skills.

For sure, it helped to have done it before, however, working with 18 foot long panels did add somewhat of new challenge.

Luckily, CLC provided external forms that greatly facilitated the process of achieving alignment and symmetry.

Making sure everything is in order - from all angles!

Glassing the inside!

Preparing the outside hull!

Glassing the outside hull!

So yes, the kayak gets a layer of fiber glass both inside and outside - thereby fully encasing both - the hull as well as the deck.

After additional coats of epoxy... filling in the weave.

In essence, this procedure (prescribed by CLC) makes these kayaks fiber glass boats with a wooden core.

Upon closer inspection - Yep! We seem to be good to go...

Now we'll have to sand inside and out to a completely mat appearance and then we'll be ready to set up the forms.


This is where things will begin to get exciting for me because the process will be new construction territory.

Before too long I'll have to talk about the Night Heron and the Blue Heron - yes, these are actual bird species...

While this design is called Night Heron, building it feels more like making a Blue Heron. Your assignment for next time: Find out why!

All of the boats designed by Nick Schade are named after birds in, on, above or by the water. I'll have to ask him at the next OkumeFest why he decided on Night Heron for this design...