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Qivitoq Plans

Dude!

Qivitoq (Copyright) 1992 Doug Garmon

View (and print) the Qivitoq main plans

View (and print) the Qivitoq stem plans

The Qivitoq is an Inuit-style Sea Kayak, and was heavily based on native design. The original inspiration came from 'Wooden Boat' #104, the Chewonki Kayak. That article and others on Greenland type kayaks were the foundation.

The Qivitoq is 17'6'' in length, has a beam of 24'', clipper stems, a v-bottom with 2'' of rocker and a flat chine. She was skinned with good ol' Luaun 5.2mm plywood and bright finished. The Chewonki boats had flat (hard) chines, and when I designed her in 1992, my 3d visualization and design skills were insufficent for a curved chine. She also has a weird, almost Panzer-shaped hatch structure, which looks pretty cool, but adds a lot of weight to the boat.

With a 24'' beam, she's a little wide for a Greenlander, but I wanted a more forgiving, if poorer performing boat. Even so, 24'' is fairly narrow compaired to many commercial kayaks. I find her a stable and easy tracking boat.

Notes on Construction

Truth to tell, I would choose another construction technique next time. As she was my first boat project, I went with the style of construction as described in the Chewonki article, which was integrating the stations as bulkheads. This probably added 25-30 lbs deadweight to the design.

A better way would be to tack chine logs, sheer clamps, inner stems and a keelson to the stations, fair them in, add the plywood skin and then remove the hull from the stations. The deck would then be added. Since kayaks are decked boats, only minimal internal bracing is needed. Also, I would deep-six my hatch design in favor of a lighter version. However, if you don't mind lugging a 80 lb kayak off your cartop, then the original construction is just fine (and it would probably survive a torpedo hit).

This is not a stitch-and-tape design, but an ingenous person could convert it without great difficulty.

Misc. Notes

1) Yes, the boat has a coaming, but it is not on the drawings. You'll just have to deal with it. I'm not gonna give you every detail, 'cause if I add a coaming to the plans, I've got to show how it's braced, right? But if I do that I'll have to give you the rest of the internal bracing, and that would limit your creativity. Have fun, work it out yourselves. (and remember, I just said I wouldn't build the same hatch anyway...) See Geo Putz's book for trad coaming details.

2) The cockpit will be small for many people. It's sized for myself (5'10'', 130 lbs.), with room for a rotating backrest.

3) A comment about brightfinished boats--those who attempt such a project AND are using epoxy in their construction take note:

DO NOT USE A THICKENER SUCH AS SILICA ON THE EXTERIOR OF THE BOAT!

The silica will appear transparent from some angles, but acts as a reflector when light strikes it from other angles, and the effect is not pleasant.

Plans Notes

1) The plans are in two sizes, if your viewing software has trouble with the big one, try the smaller. I do recommend the bigger, though, as the boat's lines are rendered much finer.

2) About the stem plans--the angle of stem as it reaches the keel is too steep on it's wet edge. This is intentional--it gives the builder an extra 1/4'' or so to plane off, resulting in a smooth transition.