The Sea Rover

We finally reached the point where the good old Sea Flea Version 1.0 got too small. At first it was the ever-diminishing freeboard. We quickly moved on to having greater and greater problems getting in. Finally, it was a loss of kneecap skin every time she entered. Time for a new kayak (and tuilik)!

Once again, I turned to the designs of Tom Yost. I settled on the Sea Rover 2, a low volume boat for smaller paddlers. I built it to spec, with the exception of scaling down the length overall (LOA) by 12%, for a total length of 14' 4". Width is 18 1/2" outside gunwale to outside gunwale.

It was constructed of odds and ends in my shop, with the exception of one 16' Western Red Cedar 2x4.

The volume was different enough that McKinley had to relearn all of her rolls (2 weeks before the West Coast Sea Kayak Symposium Rolling Demo). After a few pool sessions, she was able to do all of her old rolls, as well as a few new ones. The highlight was hitting both the brick roll and elbow roll at the symposium.

Beyond being a good roller, the kayak is also fun to paddle.

This kayak was a bit of a milestone, as it was number 12 to roll out of the shop. I didn't take many photos of the build, but a few of the launch, training and symposium are below..

 
First Launch
Getting the feel
First Roll in the Sea Rover

Setting up for the Butterfly Roll

Behind the head
Completing the "Behind the Head" (Siukkut tunusummillugu) at the West Coast Symposium 2008
Finishing a hand roll
In the demo with Dubside and Helen Wilson

 

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All images and text are copyright by Marcel Rodriguez unless otherwise noted and may not be used for commercial purposes without the prior written approval of the copyright holder. Noncommercial use is permitted.