Building Short Shot – part 1

Recently I had a discussion with a client in the forum about the cost of building a boat. His values seemed high to me and I realized he was counting some things other than just his materials. In the course of the discussion I realized that prices have raised enough that my low end figure of $300 was probably not realist for most people. Thinking about costs I started wondered what a ‘well equipped’ kayak, like I typical build for myself costs?

I just started a building a redesigned Short Shot, for my wife, so I have decided to keep track of the time and costs of building this boat and document the building process too. I have a lot of spares and scraps lying around I can use that cost nothing. So, I decided to keep track of two costs, actual costs and what it would have cost me if I had to buy it.

For example I managed to cut all the frames from scraps lying around the shop I have been saving. If you have to go buy it, a sheet of plywood is about $50 in most places so I will use that figure. Stringers, I had the wood in the shop and just pulled it from the rack. It is hard to find so I whenever I see good wood, I buy it. I will have to call the lumber yard and get a price for what the wood costs is.

As you can see from the photos, I have the frames made, the stringers cut and scarfed and glued. At this point I have 11 hours (rounded) in it. I didn’t keep track of my time cutting the frames since I did those a couple of weeks ago but because I cut so many I have gotten really quick at it. To be realistic I used 8 hours for the frames. That is about what it took me when I started. Then 2 ¾ hours to cut the stringers, cut the scarfs, glue them and set up the strong back.
Once the glue dries I can start actually building the frame.