$1 Bushcraft Kayak

hello friends this video is about how to build a transparent kayak using fir tree branches and packing plastic wrap the idea is simple you can build a fully functional kayak in the wilderness if you have a knife plastic wrap and scotch tape it weighs less than 10 pounds (4 kilos) is absolutely waterproof and will cost you only a few dollars in materials takes about a day to make it with the vessel being transparent your kayaking experience will be even more exciting and fun you can actually see the bottom as well as fish that swim and a young fishing in my transparent kayak is an experience in itself my kayak is so light that I can easily hold it with my arm extended out yet the frame and plastic skin are still strong enough against blunt force i’ve tried both a one and two-person kayak modification of the same frame by installing an extra cockpit I came to the conclusion that the two-person model should be made longer than what you see in this video you might have seen a video published earlier in this channel about my tarp kayak made of fir branches and a green tarp I was very happy with its design and quality however it has a few weak points compared to my plastic wrap kayak it is more expensive and harder to fix a leak if you hit an underwater rock my transparent kayak is virtually free and you can easily fix its skin with regular scotch tape it adheres to plastic wrap and creates a waterproof barrier much better than the tarp this kayak was my first experience in designing a branch frame kayak and my following designs were noticeably better my first kayak that you’re looking at now is too tall and it has higher windage than I would prefer high windage of a vessel can be an issue under high winds that are coming here at Ladoga Lake the next frame will be lower you can see that the plastic wrap squashed the frame a bit and the kayaks ribs and stringers somewhat protrude adding two ribs into this design will fix the problem the frame will be more streamlined and the kayak will have less drag the most time-consuming part in building a transparent kayak is making its frame it only takes a few minutes to put on the plastic wrap skin I’ve already showed how to make the branch frame in the previous kayak making video and we’ll leave a link to it in this video’s description I will only briefly go over the process here my kayaks frame is made of bent fir tree branches and wooden planks it consists of two oval frame ribs a number of round ribs and eight stringers I experimented with different types of wood and found fir branches to be ideal for making bent ribs such ribs a lightweight and durable the debarked branch will dry out and hold its shape in just one day the next step is to find a good material for the hulls stringers I found a naturally fallen and splintered fir tree and used its planks such nature created planks are extremely strong because the grain of the wood follows the plank as opposed to being partially severed by a saw cut these planks are almost as strong and light as carbon fiber to make a cockpit rib I wrapped it around my fire carved stools that you might have seen in my previous video and left the branch to dry for one day as you can see I have a lifelong supply of planks for making stringers I left my kayak without the skin hanging on a tree when I come back here and need my kayak it will only take ten minutes to put new plastic wrap onto the frame I was able to wrap three kayaks using only a quarter of the roll of plastic wrap the remaining three-quarters of the roll was used to wrap my plastic dome I want to make note this plastic wrap is used industrially which means it is wider and thicker than standard household plastic wrap the main idea of this project is that you could build your kayak in one day if you’re hiking in the wilderness and come upon a body of water you wish to travel this homemade kayak will be comparable to the capabilities of a commercial kayak I found it comfortable to suspend the frame up to chest height while wrapping the kayak each time you wrap the plastic around apply a mild tug to tighten the skin around the frame when the layers are tightly wound they will have here and seal to each other without the need for any glue during this task with a partner would greatly simplify this process from my experience I have only needed to apply three layers of plastic wrap to make it waterproof I then reinforced the protruding stringers with scotch tape to add durability and a waterproof seal I built my first branch framed kayaks back in 2015 and here are my first designs since then I have designed and built over 10 kayaks using this approach and each one has been better than the last if you want to learn more about my kayaks designs you can find additional information such as articles pictures and detailed plans of the kayaks on my Instagram page the link to it is in the description below I can tell you this type of kayak only requires one day to build and the experience is very gratifying I keep my kayaks fully assembled inside my log cabin during the winter if you don’t have a reliable storage I recommend to take the kayak skin off and hang the frame on the tree so that it doesn’t rot in 2017 I build a catamaran from two kayaks one made from tarp and one made from plastic wrap on this catamaran you could both paddle and sail I’m planning to publish a video about my sailing cat made of two fuselage kayaks and about my transformer-catamaran that is made of four waterproof inflatable carrying bags please write it down in the comment section if this topic is in fact interesting for you this year I made a composite kayak that has a plastic wrap skin reinforced with fabric and epoxy resin not only does it look aesthetically pleasing but it is also much stronger against battering and tearing note this frame is one of my later designs it is lower so the windage is lower and it has more elements to make the kayak’s shape more streamlined after you apply the classic wrap skin on it upon further experimentation I added a layer of fiberglass on top of the fabric which made the kayak even stronger unfortunately this came at the expense of adding significant weight to the kayak with the dense foliage along the lake’s bank it would be hard to navigate around with the kayak on my shoulder without banging it around and piercing the plastic skin however the composite kayak reinforced with fabric and fiberglass was resilient enough to endure all banging and scratching on my walks along rough terrain I even tried to pedal it over rocks to test its composite skin and was quite happy with the test results the good news is that he can try the plastic wrap model first and upgraded to the polymer modification later if needed it can be done right over the old skin adding the fiberglass layer made the kayak’s skin rigid and even more durable if there is an interest in my audience I will make a separate video about how to make a kayak with composite skin I will share my mistakes and experience in it the best way to thank the creator is to click the share button I appreciate your support! Let good people watch good videos! this is Max Egorov, st. Petersburg, Russia p.s. if you haven’t seen my other videos about my log cabin plastic wrap dome fire-carved furniture or other bushcraft projects I invite you to watch them I think there would be interesting for you p.p.s. in this drones footage you are looking at the Russian forest about 200 miles north of st. Petersburg you can see a lot of trees that were down by a severe storm a few years back