Plans: West Greenland Kayak 2.0

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You MUST access your Student Dashboard to download the plans. A PDF will not be emailed to you.

>> Click here for full details and sample plans

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About the course:

NOTE: Plans are designed to be used in conjunction with our Skin-on-Frame Kayak Building Course. Important details in the design cannot be replicated using the plans alone. To comply with our licensing agreement you MUST purchase the kayak building videos before purchasing plans. See license details below, and check out the FAQ below if you're curious why we don't offer standalone plans.

After 15 years of building exact copies of historic Greenland hunting kayaks, I decided to take a different approach in 2021 and redesigned our West Greenland Kayak, pulling design elements from many different collected examples from the same area and time period. This new approach massively improved performance when compared to our earlier replica kayaks, without departing from historically accurate Greenland kayak shaping. The new boat is faster, more stable, more maneuverable, more comfortable, rolls better, and — most importantly — it is now available in 10 different sizes, so almost any size paddler can experience what this kayak would have felt like for the original Arctic paddlers, who were about 145lbs.

Keep in mind, even with all these improvements, this is still very much a traditional Greenland kayak, which means that it is less stable than most modern sea kayaks (but much more stable than racing kayaks), the sitting position takes more strength and flexibility to get used to, there is no room for camping gear, and it cannot be self rescued (although it can be rolled or rescued in a group of paddlers). For these reasons I rarely recommend a Greenland kayak as a general use sea kayak, but if you already own a sea kayak, Greenland kayaking is a fascinating and rewarding side branch of the sport!

Sizing

We currently offer the West Greenland in 10 scaled sizes to fit paddlers 110–230 lbs (see sizing chart). Don’t see the size you need? We can make you a custom scaled plan.

Learn more

• More about this design »
• Check out West Greenland kayak builds
  on our Student Builds Blog »
• Preview Sample Plans »

LICENSING AGREEMENT, PLEASE READ:

These plans are designed to be used in conjunction with our kayak building video course. There are important details in the video that you need to accurately reproduce the kayak. Purchase of a plan set allows you to build one kayak for yourself, and another as a gift for a friend who is not building a kayak. Two builders must buy two videos and two plan sets. Children under age 18 may build for free in an at-home setting. Commercial use is allowed with written permission and a plan set purchase for each boat built, contact for details.