The okd standard is a plastic tent with lightbulbs for heating the space. Or, depending on the space, you could use a set of heatlamps, like the ones at restaurants. Joey Schott, back when he was just an award-winning kayak builder before becoming a CLC employee, used to tell us about mounting a string of heat lamps on a bar of wood and hanging it over the boat under construction. I think he said that the wood got up to 80 degrees and that it was comfy under the lights while you could see your breath in the rest of the shop.

I borrowed his idea and used something similar (only 2 lights) to help the epoxy cure on my WD12 during a build that included winter work.

Laszlo

flyrods

You will love your WD hybrid !!!  I have one and I live in Linden Michigan, ( 12 miles south of flint )    Stop by if you want any time.

Lou Farhood

810-735-4649

www.louskayakworks.blogspot.com

www.louskayakworks2.blogspot.com

Laszlo and Lou

 Thanks for the ideas and encouragement.  I think I will start on the kit as soon as it arrives and figure out a way to heat the work area.  Joey Schott did the demo last wednesday and mentioned that he had used heat lamps to heat his work area.

Lou, expect at least a call and maybe a visit to check out your wood duck and get some hints and ideas.  Did you you use plans for the Greenland paddle?  The pics on your blog are great.  Did you stain some of the dark cedar strips or did you get enough dark cedar to complete your deck?

 Thanks again

Rod

Rod,

I used the book by Brian Nystrom ( Greenland Paddles ) to make my greenland paddle. It took about 8 hours to make and I like the way it works. I am new to kayaking so I have not tried many other paddles but for now it works well.

The dark wood on the deck is Purple Heart. It is much heaver then cedar but the finished kayak still came in at 38 lbs.

I am finding out that you never have enough wood to finish your kayak.  Even though I have piles of wood strips ready to use, I find myself short of the color that I need.

I am having a blast building kayaks.  I know that you will to.

Lou

I am about 1/2 done my first greenland paddle.  I am working from the Matt Johnson video on-line, so far so good :) http://www.carvegp.com/  I decided to take a slightly more traditional route and am using a draw knife from Lee Valley, if you go that route, you will need a horse.  I based mine on Murat's design from his blog http://paddlemaking.blogspot.com/search/label/Shaving%20Horse (met him @ Paddlefest in Toronto this past summer)  Paddle carving is almost as much fun as boat making... almost ;)

Dave

Thanks for the paddle info  I checked out the blog and website and looks like a project to work on while the epoxy and varnish is drying!!  My wife is just shaking her head with my new found enthusiasm...  Her main concern is that I don't mess up her car in her half of the garage this winter!!

Rod

I built a Shearwater 14 in an unheated space last winter (in Seattle, not Michigan, but it was outside under a covered deck with just 6mil plastic sheeting to keep the wind/rain out so no insulation whatsoever).  I made a tent out of 6 mil plastic that was on pulleys so I could raise and lower it and used heat lamps and occasionally a little space heater/fan unit under the tent whenever I was going to fiberglass and it worked really well.  I also kept the epoxy inside so it was always warm (others have put a heat lamp with the epoxy in a cardboard box for the same effect). If you search the forum you'll see several things others have done with heat tents, etc. for successful winter builds. 

One tip  - make sure you heat the boat up as much as possible BEFORE you put on the first layer of epoxy and then let it cool a bit during/after epoxying.  That way the epoxy will get sucked into the wood pores as it cools. Subsequent coats it's not a big deal, just the first one (I did a light saturation coat of just resin before putting the cloth on and it worked great, but probably not necessary; I was just nervous since it was my first build and I'd read about air bubble issues)

Re:  the car - you might want to consider hanging plastic sheeting to separate the two parts of the garage, especially when sanding (or do it outside during a break in the weather).  Sanding will make a huge mess.  

Have fun!
Kathy

Thanks Kathy for all the ideas and advise.  I have been searching the forum and it looks like a great resource.  It looka like the  kit will be shipped on Nov 2nd so it is off to the garage and start setting up a plastic barrier  and a way to hang heat lamps!

Rod