Hi Kircham,

i have built the Shearwater....it's a beautiful boat....so congratulations.

the nice thing about a Shearwater and the CLC kit for this boat, is that there are relatively few tools required that you would not already likely have around the house....and the list of tools, fwiw...should come in the instructions.  that said, from a 'tools' perspective, you will need the following.

- a high quality random orbital sander.  prefereably one that can have a vacume hose attached to it to go to a shop vac.  there is a lot of sanding to build a nice boat.  and you want to keep these particles out of the air and away from your lungs

- a high quality saw for cutting hatches - you can use a jig saw but a bonsai saw and doing it by hand is safer.

- a high quality saw for cutting your sections - a bonsai saw or something equivelent for this step.

- a drill - you won't need to use one much....but there are a couple steps you will drill holes. 

- clamps - c clamps and/or spring clamps that can open to an 1 1/2 inches  on a shearwater....you can proably get by with as few as 10.   20 would be great.  these don't have to be anything special

- wire cutter - to cut your copper stitched -- nothing special here.  you will use it for one day and then you are done

- box cutter/razor knife.  i use disposables.  for cutting fibreglass that has epoxy on it.

- scissors - for cutting fibreglass cloth before any epoxy is involved.

- two sawhorses to build the boat on.

- screwdriver - you will need a phillips head screw driver for some screws that the boat requires.

- protective gear - a good dust mask/vapor protector and eye protection for me is always a must when working. i use the inexpensive 3 m respirator when varnishing and doing work that kicks up dust.  i wear eye protection too whenever working.

on books - no books required.  the manual will suffice plus all the material available on this web site and others.

on video's - nothing you need to buy.  there are video's on this site that are relevent and you tube has a lot of material.  just type in the search term "building a shearwater kayak" and there is a lot of material you can start reviewing.

you will also need some consumable supplies like sandaper (buy in bulk for your random orbital sander), strapping tape etc.    but nothing exotic.

again, this kit has all the most difficult cutting has been done by clc's CNC machines.....so this building effort is much more about 'assembly' of parts that have been fabricated then about woodworking/making parts out of raw material.

i hope this helps.

h

   The list above covers nearly everything. I'd add a block plane and a wood rasp (perhaps a Shinto rasp). Lots of cheap plastic gloves. Lots of small plastic cups. Lots of chips brushes. Perhaps a set of fillet tools (or make some yourself). Plastic ground cloth. Plastic fiberglass spreaders. 

I would add a heat gun. Great for cleaning up epoxy messes (carefully). Found it to be useful around the home or shop for many other things as well.   

My fingers aren't as tough as those guys.  Add a set of pliers.    

   Thanks for your input.

Cheers, Kirk

You didn't say whether you're building from a kit or scratch.  I'm ASSuming that you're building from a kit, which is just a subset of the scratch build tool chest.  

I definitely second the Shinto rasp, a series of plastic putty knives to cut down to your desired radii, lots of plastic cups, stirring sticks and nitrile gloves, epoxy spreaders, foam roller kit, disposable liners and tray, syringes, router, router bits (round-over, rabbet, etc.).  Maybe a set of contour sanders and of course a lot of sand paper.

Oh, and a healthy stock of podcasts to listen to while you're sanding...

Thanks!

Kirk