Night Heron Stitch-and-Glue

Product Description

The stitch-and-glue Night Heron is a thoroughly modern plywood sea kayak that will appeal to athletic paddlers. It is based on the original strip-planked Night Heron but uses stitch-and-glue construction with distinctive puzzle-joints that fit together easily.

This stitch-and-glue version of the Night Heron tends to track a little more stiffly than the original, due to a slightly sharper v-shape at the stem and stern. Due to the plywood construction this version has a more defined hard chine than the strip version. This makes the boat a little more responsive to edged turns. Otherwise, the performance of the different kayaks in designer Nick Schade's Night Heron range are all quite similar.

The chine on the foredeck provides clearance to keep your paddle stroke entry close to the boat while paddling with a high or low paddle angle. It also provides room where you need it for your knees and feet.

The stitch-and-glue Night Heron has proven extremely popular with builders, thanks to the high performance, aggressive styling and great looks. Many builders adopt Nick's multi-colour staining approach, with each of the jigsaw-puzzled parts a different hue.

You can read about the build process in a stitch-and-glue Night Heron build log (with photos) on our forum.

There is also a Hybrid Night Heron, which combines the plywood hull of the stitch-and-glue Night Heron with the strip-planked deck of the original. It puts the beauty of wood-strip construction where you will see it, on the deck.

Kit contents

The kit includes:

• Pre-cut wooden panels with pre-cut joints and pre-drilled tie holes
• Copper ties
• Epoxy resin and activator
• Epoxy fillers
• Woven glass fabric
• Fabric covered foam seat and backband
• Adjustable footbraces
• Foam knee pads
• Deck rigging
• Comprehensive building manual
• Free technical support from a competent builder

What else do I need?

Plans and manual (not required by kit purchasers)

The plans contain sufficient information to build the boat from scratch rather than a kit. They include full size drawings.

Please note that when building from plans you will need to use traditional scarf joints to join the panels instead of the puzzle joints that are used in the kit.

Wood

This option contains only the building manual and pre-cut wooden parts for the boat. This option is for those wanting to obtain the other materials needed to build the boat from other sources.

Compare this kayak with others.