Build a better kayak than you can buy
On our 8-day course you can build your own kayak. It’s easier than it might sound. The course includes materials, access to the tools you need, supervision and food and refreshments. The only thing you need to add yourself is time, somewhere to sleep and painting your finished kayak.
Our course week looks like this
The course begins on Saturday morning at 9:00 a.m. with coffee and a review of the construction manual. On the first day, frame templates are set up and by the evening you can see that it will be a kayak!
Then you work on assembling the parts and laminating with fiberglass and epoxy. The days are of different lengths and this is because you have to get to certain points in the manual in order to finish the construction during the course week.
If you choose to stay in our B&B, breakfast is served at 8.30. We eat coffee, dinner and supper together in our fine workshop kitchen.
After the end of the course, the kayak must harden for a week before being sanded and varnished.
The Kayaks we build
We build kayaks according to the stitch-and-glue concept, which means that finished plywood panels are “stitched” together to form the hull and deck, after which the inside and outside are laminated with fiberglass and epoxy. The result is a light and strong kayak in roughly half the time compared to a strip build.
The kayaks we build are designed by Björn Thomasson – a living legend in boat building and paddling.
If you have difficulty knowing which model would suit you, we will be happy to help you, so please get in touch!
Said about our courses
We came back and built a third Black Pearl!
2010 we had been married for 10 years and celebrated this by going to Tranås and building each our own Black Pearl, size small. We hoped that eventually they would become manageable for our daughters, then 11, 8, and 6 years old. Our hopes were met with flying colors and since we have three daughters, one pearl was missing. There was another Easter break in Tranås in 2011 when we built a pearl in size X-small. By taking an 8-day course with Petrus, the construction becomes very manageable in time! Petrus know-how, the availability of tools and all materials make the whole thing unbeatable.
It is a holistic experience
Thanks for another great week of building classes! A year ago I built my first kayak with you, and I couldn’t resist building another one with you! Being with you on a building course is so much more than “getting” a kayak home. It is a holistic experience. With family warmth, humor, craftsmanship, good food! Positivity that is contagious, security and credibility. Thanks!
Do you want to build a kayak on a course with us?
The kayak building courses are a winter activity that runs between September and May.
Kayak building courses, autumn 2024
- 19/10-27/10 one place left on this course
- 2/11-10/11 the course is full
- 16/11-24/11 the course is full
- 30/11-8/12 four places left on this course
- 14/12-22/12 four places left on this course
- 28/12-5/1 the course is full
If you have requests for other dates, it can often be arranged. Just get in touch with us.
Material for you who build your own kayak at home
For those of you who build a kayak in your own workshop, there is a lot of material to buy from us. We manufacture cockpit skirts, seats, hatch recesses, “tub” for dayhatch and bucket systems. For price information call +46 70 227 11 71
Questions and answers
This is a question we often get asked, and believe it or not, it’s easier than many people imagine! As a rule, there are two qualities that are essential to building your own kayak: good patience, and a certain accuracy. Otherwise, it is actually enough to be able to follow instructions.
Our ambition is to ensure that as many people as possible can have the experience of paddling their self-made kayak! To take a course with us, you don’t really need any previous experience or knowledge in carpentry, we provide tools and guidance for everyone, even those who may never have been in a workshop before. We have been course leaders for 15 years and so far ALL course participants have taken home a kayak that maintains a high quality.
Building a kayak involves many different stages and everyone has different skills, experience and knowledge from before. Some are basically very handy, others have good experience in handling machines and tools and some are pure natural talents at laminating. But we are all children at the beginning, therefore we are there as course leaders for you and we help you with what is needed.
It obviously makes the building process easier if you have previously used screwdrivers, rollers, grinders, knives of various kinds, chisels, sickles, etc., but it is absolutely not a requirement.
The price depends partly on the choice of model, and whether you choose to do things like final painting yourself or not. You will find prices under each kayak model in the section The kayaks we build.