Greenland night heron

Interested in building Greenland night heron. In Pittsfield Mass area. Would like to see a complete boat prior to committing. Willing to travel. Thanks


7 replies:

« Previous Post       List of Posts       Next Post »

RE: Greenland night heron

Hi David, 

you might try reaching out to Nick Schade with your question at his site:

https://guillemot-kayaks.com/feedback

he also tracks people who build his boats.  i have a lot of experience with Night Heron's, but while i have studied the plans and am aware of the greenland version, i never have actually met anybody who has built one.

that said, i do have a version that is pretty close.....its pretty much a low deck version night heron with a tweak for a bit more knee room for myself (i am not that flexible).  

i find it pretty easy to role but have the following thoughts (re opinions) re the greenland version...which i studied extensively...but then passed on

  • its the core night heron with a very low back deck....but the regular night heron (which comes in a high deck and a regular) already has a pretty low back deck.  
  • if i wanted an exclusive rolling boat, i would probably shoot for something in the 17 foot range and a bit less of a committment.   its a lot of work to build a night heron and i wanted a bit more diversity in what i could do with it.  18 feet can come into conflict with some smaller garages.
  • there are a couple other designs (not here on CLC site) that i would also, at least, look at which are pure rolling boats....like the shrike R https://cnckayaks.com/project/shrike-r/   and the black pearl https://www.thomassondesign.com/en/catalog/my-kayaks/black-pearl

again, not trying to talk you out of it....the night heron's are great....i just think there has not been a lot of uptake on the greenland night heron becuase it is so specialized.

h

RE: Greenland night heron

aghh...wish there was an edit feature.

  • the proposed coaming/cockpit style for the greenland version of the night-heron is a small 'classic' opening.  this is pretty typical of specialty rolling boats....but is a pain-in-butt for most people.  to get into the boat requires you to slide in and typically brace the paddle against the rear deck for entry.  i don't find strip builds to be particularly strong to hold up on impact resistance (e.g., the paddle pushing into the rear deck) because cedar strips are relatively soft...so i would be more comfortable with the cockpit style like this in a plywood which is very hard compared to cedar soi would likely go with a  (stitch and glue) boat.  or if i did it with strip, i would think about substantial reinforcement in this area.

h

RE: Greenland night heron

   Thanks much for your response. Everything you mentioned is the reason for trying to see a finished boat before committing to the project.spoke to nick, no one in close proximity with complete boat. Your boat is beautiful, thanks for encluding the pix.

RE: Greenland night heron

   I have run out of options for seeing a completed Greenland night heron at this point. At this point it seems the petrel maybe the next best option for a rolling boat and one with considerable examples, for a novice boat builder/woodworker. Any thoughts or suggestions appreciated. Thanks

RE: Greenland night heron

I could certainly endorse the Petrel as a great rolling boat too. 

quite low in the back, 17 feet, so lighter and a bit easier to manage.  its a bit less roomy than a night heron and has a lot more rocker and spring to the shear....so inverted she wants to tip to one side or the other. 

so if by rolling you mean around and around and around in the same direction, probably more work than a special purpose rolling boat that tends to be stable upside down. but if by rolling, you simply mean to recover from going over, very easy to roll.

when you are not rolling, a real heat turner,  very nice and equisitely smooth to paddle. 

so sublime that joey schott of Turning Point Boatworks will turn one out for you in carbon fibre for north of 5K if you don't want to build it yourself.

the only issue i see is that if you are a novice boatbuilder, which you mentioned in your last post, this could be a tough project (as is the night heron as well).   it's just hard to figure out what a 'novice' is capable of. 

i consider myself fairly competent in building things...built models and stuff growing up....but the picture above was not my first boat and would not have been possible as my first boat even if i was careful.   just too many things i learned from the school of hard knocks.  that said, i have seen novices who seemed to have inate talen turn out exceptional work.   my two cents is if you were very detailed, techincally oriented, used resources and built relationships with experienced builder who could come for a visit and provide some hands on coaching...it is possible to get a very good result.

the boat in the picture below was built by my nephew who never built a boat before with coaching/supervision.  its a night heron hybrid.   the coaching just prevented all the errors he would have made without a coach....it came out just fine.

h

RE: Greenland night heron

David,

I'm one of those rare people who have built a Greenlander Night Heron.  I'm in Virginia, so I don't think you'd want to drive here to inspect it.

The Greenlander is the only stripper I've built.  It's a tough first build, but with Nick Schade's help I got through it OK.  Not only is it easy to roll (I'm not that much of a roller) but it's also very fast and highly maneuverable (a rare combination), as is the regular Night Heron.

Drop me an email at lthunbergatmacdotcom and I'll be happy to anwer any questions you might have.  

  https://www.clcboats.com/shop/boats/kayak-kits/performance-kayaks/greenland-night-heron-strip-planked-sea-kayak-kit.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

RE: Greenland night heron

 David,

I forgot to add that my Greenlander is the one in the side-by-side image shown in the link.  I was fortunate enough to get the runner-up prize for best kayak in Okoumefest 2018.

 

« Previous Post     List of Posts     Next Post »


Please login or register to post a reply.