"Basically it started out with just me being a poor college student and wanting a boat," Nick Schade says, referring to a humble first attempt at building a kayak in 1986. Nearly 30 years later, Schade is a bona fide aquatic artist, constructing customized kayaks from his home in Groton, Connecticut. A bespoke piece can range from $9,000 to $37,000.
But flashback to the 1980s--in addition to being unable to afford a kayak, Schade also could not find one that suited his modest needs. The kayak market geared toward expeditions that required days to complete and loads of gear, like rowing from California to Alaska or around Iceland. Schade merely wanted to settle on a salt marsh and watch birds. "I wasn’t looking for long-distance efficiency," he explains. "I wanted to go out and play. I was looking for something lighter and more responsive."
Gradually, Schade learned to craft his own kayaks, observed their reactions to various bodies of water and honed his sophisticated designs. He wasn't even that good of a kayaker. "I was developing these building skills in parallel with the kayaking skills....I'm not sure I necessarily had the skills when I started. I just had the courage to go ahead and do it. I couldn’t afford it. So I just went ahead and did it."
Resourcing large cuts of high quality wood, like the mahogany Schade uses for his highest-priced kayak, requires connecting with a company in Pennsylvania that imports the best stuff. After he has acquired the board, Schade strips it into thin strips to make the building form of the kayak. He goes to great lengths to place the strips back together in the order they came off so that the pattern and grain of the wood remains consistent. "That takes a lot of time and then once I have a whole set of forms covered with those thin strips of wood, I sand it smooth and cover it with fiberglass cloth and epoxy resin," he says. He reinforces the interior with fiber plastic, puts in the seats and finishes the vessel with a final sanding and automated color coating.
For other budding builders, Shade makes instructional videos on YouTube and offers blueprints for constructing different types of kayaks on his website.
Ordering a custom-build kayak through Schade takes four to six months, but the final product is geared specifically to a customer's liking. "Since each boat is custom-built, I don’t have a price list on my website," he says, only offering estimates of the prices. "I prefer to have people call me. We can find out what people want, how are they going to use the boat and then I can give them a proposal. "Are the waters they're going to be using the boat for going to be appropriate? Are they just going to be casual paddlers? Do they want a more stable, more comfortable boat? We try to tailor exactly what they get to what they need."
That said, if a customer wishes, Schade will build a boat at the price listed here, where Shade's 13 kayak models are displayed. Their prices are determined by the materials, size, complexity and level of finish. For instance, the MicroBootlegger ($37,250) is more expensive than the Night Heron ($16,650) because the MicroBootlegger is made from mahogany and carbon fiber, the mahogany is book matched, and it also includes two mahogany seats.
"I worked as an electrical engineer for years and this is better," says of his livelihood. "I feel really privileged to have found a way to do this. since I have this range of things from do-it-yourself customers to high-end boats, I meet interesting people, I go teach classes. It’s everything from long-distance truck drivers to former Air Force generals in my classes. It’s a lot of fun. I love the boats and I get a lot of satisfaction out of creating something from scratch."
