A Behind-the-Scenes Look at How a Kayak Is Made

  Hi, Guideposts! I’m Walt Vosicka. Good to have you with us today. We’re at Makerspace in Omaha, Nebraska. Today we’re going to be working on a kayak that I designed and built. I’ve had it on the water once already, but it needs to be cleaned up. We’re going to be varnishing the bottom of this boat. Resistance is the biggest issue when a boat goes through the water. Water is an interesting combination that God has put together. It’s both forgiving and unforgiving. As we go through the water, it is unforgiving. But also, it is forgiving because it holds the boat up. So as we continue on, just kind of moving down the boat a little bit with some varnish. Kind of interesting, because as I build these strip boats, I find out that they’re not as perfect as I’d like them to be. And that would be just slick and smooth. They have little divots, little hiccups. The boat is a combination of wood strips that are hooked together with glue. You can use all kinds of wood. If you take a look at the strips on this boat, each individual strip is important. And as they hook together, each strip together becomes stronger and stronger. We shape it, we bend it around over a form, and also, we start to sand it and shape it. I use a plane, I use a rasp to get the shape, then I come back and sand and sand and sand. From this to that. Flimsy sticks coming together and becoming a boat is pretty amazing. It isn’t perfect, but it works. And it may at times, if we’re not careful, it can leak. But yet, on the other hand, the plan is to go fast, to finish a race, to have enjoyment in God’s creation. We don’t get there very fast, maybe 2 or 3 miles an hour at the very most, but we get there and have fun, enjoy the trip, and continue on. And we all get more healthy at the same time.