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Building a Cedar Strip Kayak In reverant jubilee, and simply casual good memory of Julie Lorberblatt, my mother:  Well, here I am, the webmaster/developer for a paddlesport company. I'm certainly someone who enjoys a bit of personal/one-on-one time with the computer in a dark hole avoiding the daystar, but I've always been an outdoorsman (in the pro-slacker sense of the term: often 2-5 days at a time down a river or car camping kinda thing, not the 6 months on a trail wearing boxers made of birch bark and pine tar). My short life, why I'm with Rutabaga: Programming is a funny world, it's enough of a world onto itself that you are often working in a place that hires you for your programming skills and three weeks in you might find out what the purpose of the company is. Rutabaga is a joy. The quality and sincerity of the people in this shop are what's kept me here. There's nothing better than working with people who enjoy and believe in what they're doing. Everyone here is about being on the water. I proposed to my wife on the Wisconsin river and I I've really been into woodworking over the years, as has my father Tom (hereafter referred to as Tom). I've often looked into building a strip kayak, as has my uncle, Scott (hereafter referred to as, well, Scott). Really, they make a hell of a lot of sense, $1200 gets you a far more beautiful craft than poly or even fiberglass, it weighs in at or less than fiberglass and there's room for personal changes. Only two problems: 200+ hours of work and the chance to make a piece of driftwood. So what do you do? Sic the project on a loved one. Dad, Merry Christmas. Actually, the story is a bit deeper, though. My mother passed away unexpectedly at the age of 54 this past October (10/25/03). She was without a doubt one of the least judgmental, most generous, feel good people around. The world would be a kinder place were there more women like her. My father is deeply in love with her, and the blow has been a hard one. Over 1000 people showed up for her wake, and at least 20 people told me she was his/her best friend, as she was mine. She's as easy going as they come, the picture at the top is her showing up 15 minutes late for my wedding. We all thought it was damned hilarious she would be late to her first son's wedding, just glad we had her there for it, she left us only 4 months later. Anyway, Christmas was rolling around, my parents' anniversary was December 26, and my mother's birthday was in January. I knew tough times were ahead for my father. I wanted to give him a gift for Christmas to remember my mother, I also wanted to do what I could to keep him a little busy over the next few months (years?). Scott and I decided he needed a project, and what better than a kayak for a man who loves the water as he does. So, I collected contributions from over 40 generous people and we got him a cedar strip kayak. The journey begins. We build the Julie Ann, in loving memory of my mother, Julie Ann Lorberblatt. the kayak kit we Purchased (14' version)
More Reading: should you build a kayak? 
Joel O'Neill Webmaster, Chief Web Programmer, Wonk ©2010, Rutabaga LLC
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