I'm interested in the idea of skin on frame kayaks, where can I have one made as inexpensively as possible?

I'm in eastern Canada, so try to be as close to here as possible with your choices, I want it done right but with no cost to quality.|||An excellent resource to start with on these is skin boat designer Brian Schulz's blog site:



http://www.capefalconkayak.com



Brian runs classes -- for $1200 and a week of your time he will teach and supervise you in building a custom SOF for yourself (the kayak is included in the price). He teaches the classes at his farm in Oregon and on the road for groups by arrangement.



Another excellent resource is the Greenland kayak group QajaqUSA (http://www.qajaqUSA.org). There are dozens of builders of skin boats who participate in the user forums (you do need to register to participate, using your own name, not an alias, but I believe it is still free.) If you join the group ($30 a year I think) you can get their magazine, "The Masik" which has information about builders worldwide.



Tidewater Small Craft in Virginia has very reasonably priced SOF's like their $850 Ravenswood:



http://www.tidewatersmallcraft.com/pages鈥?/a>



There are other builders like Sea Wolf Kayaks and Dreamcatcher Boats (most far from you, I'm afraid, the Pacific west of the US and Canada are the center of SOF trade):



Frontenac Outfitters near Kingston has a beautiful Aleut for sale at the moment. They may be able to direct you to local builders. I've been to their shop -- nice folks:



http://www.frontenac-outfitters.com/kaya鈥?/a>



I have a West Greenland hunting kayak SOF myself, an 18' x 21" double chined 32 pound boat that is a replica of one surveyed in Sisimuit Greenland in 1926 (except, of course, for being urethane varnished ballistic nylon rather than sealskin,) The builder of mine has retired from the business but Brian S. still makes the model.



Of course, you can always try making your own for a few hundred dollars or less, either with the book "Building the Greenland Kayak" or through the free design patterns for rigid and folding models by Tom Yost on his site:



http://www.yostwerks.com



The gallery photos are great, showing what materials people have used to create their boats, from wood with clear plastic skin to one that a nurse built using discarded aluminum crutches for the frame,



Source for materials:



http://shop.skinboats.com/



There are a few SOF fans on the paddlers site http://www.paddling.net. I sometimes see SOF's offered for sale in their classifieds. Of course, the odds of finding one built to your body metrics can be a problem.



Great list of ALL kayak and canoe sources here. Includes the Berkshire Boat Building School in Western Massachusetts that specializes in SOF building:



http://www.boat-links.com/linklists/boat鈥?/a>



Even very well crafted skin on frames tend to be favroably comparable to a good production composite fiberglass or kevlar boat. Expect to pay from $1200 to $2000 for an expert custom fitted one. You can sometimes buy used ones for less (i bought mine used for $800 and had to drive across 4 states to pick it up, but it was well worth the effort.) You might find a builder who would just do the frame and you could finish the skin and coating yourself.|||Inquire at Foldboats (?). They make a kayak using wood members that are covered in a fitted covering. Search the internet for more information. I suspect that you will have to build your own. Museums often have eskimo kayaks on view. The frames are of bone. Don't neglect your library.