After almost a year of work I am now the proud owner of a West Greenland kayak, a West Greenland paddle, custom-made fore and aft flotation bags (made with heat-sealable nylon), and a tuilik, or paddling jacket; now, the remarkable thing is I made all these things myself! Rarely do I write an Amazon book review where I give a book a 5 star rating without any reservations; this, however, is one of those books. Now, let's get down to business. The most pressing questions you ought to be asking if you're considering building this baby are 1) Can I really build a kayak using this book? 2)Do I need any other kayak-building literature? and 3)How long will this take me? Yes, you really can build a West Greenland kayak using this book and no--although additional sources may be helpful, they aren't required. The answer to the third question is a bit trickier. I spent 400-500 hours (maybe more), but keep in mind that I had no previous woodworking experience. If you're somewhat handy with wood/crafts, I can see the potential for a shorter time period. I have a complaint, however with the back cover of this book which talks about "a few weekends and a few evenings of work." Well, this estimate is not only overly optimistic, it's just plain false. Okay, let's get back to the book...
Cunningham writes in a fluid style rather than a clearly itemized manner. Those who are used to following numbered instructions which accompany diagrams may find this confusing, but I found it to work great. The perfect balance of detail and conciseness is given, and the photos which accompany the text have been carefully selected to highlight critical steps in the process (the photos are in black and white, which sacrifices clarity a little). Although the book can be confusing in certain areas, building a Greenland kayak can be pretty confusing too--not, in my opinion, because it is "anthropometric", but because a kayak is a 3 dimensional object! Also, I never fully understood the text until I started building, and Cunningham talks about this in his introduction. Another remarkable thing about this book is its scope--it doesn't stop after teaching you how to build the kayak, but continues to teach you how to make the accessories (paddling jacket, spray skirt, hunting float, etc.), and all this is topped off with instruction for how to use the kayak! It talks about entering the kayak, the two main paddling strokes, 5 or 6 different types of Eskimo rolls, and more. Amazing book.
My only complaints are minor. The section on how to make the tuiik was very confusing; I think it was intended for people who have some prior sewing experience. Second, the book can be a little detail-oriented, which makes it easy to lose track of the big picture. I would have found it helpful if a summarizing overview was given at the beginning of each chapter before the details commenced. Bottom line: beautiful boat, beautiful book. Well done Mr. Cunningham.
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Top reviews from the United States
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Fivestars do yourself a favour and read it before paying for those expensive kayak building classes.
Reviewed in the United States on January 20, 2017Reviewed in the United States on September 19, 2011
Top reviews from other countries
Gillies DP
For History or for Construction, I recommend this resource.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 10, 2017
Daniel Lamb
Terrific book - worth the money!
Reviewed in Canada on December 4, 2014