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Shearwater 17 · new build

Launched

Shearwater 17 in a one-car garage

by Example Logs · boatbuildlog.com

An example log following a first-time builder through a stitch-and-glue kayak over seven months of weekends. Shows how much detail is worth recording.

This is an example log, not a real project. It exists to show what a useful build log looks like — dated entries, tagged to a step, with hours recorded and mistakes written down. The technique in it is illustrative; don’t follow it as instruction, and check anything structural against your designer’s drawings. Its hours are excluded from the site’s median figures.
10
Entries
86
Hours
217
Days elapsed
10
Photos
Jan 2025
Started
All steps Planning & Research Shop & Tooling Hull Panels Stitch & Assembly Fillets & Taping Glassing & Epoxy Deck & Coamings Fairing & Sanding Paint & Finish Launch Day
Oldest first
Shop & Tooling 5.5 h

Cleared the garage, built a strongback

Two sawhorses and a ladder frame from construction lumber, levelled with shims and a long spirit level.

The thing nobody mentions: you need to walk all the way round the boat. I lost a weekend to rearranging before I accepted that.

Illustration — example log, not a photograph.
Illustration — example log, not a photograph.