Beautiful, easy to use recreational kayaks - Here we have two beautiful little kayaks designed for just about everyone to enjoy on the water.

With big cockpits and ample stability, the emphasis is on comfort. But these boats really paddle well! Speed is excellent: you can really cover the miles in a day, while tracking is solid in stiff crosswinds. Compact, easy-to-launch boats just seem to get used the most. In a tenth of the time it takes to launch a heavy boat on a trailer or drag the big canoe down the lawn, you can slide one of these little kayaks into the water and be on your way. Keep your Wood Duck on top of the car, ready to toss into all the interesting creeks in your county.

The Wood Ducks are among our easiest-to-build kits. Panels are precision-cut on our computerized equipment, with puzzle-joints and pre-drilled stitching holes for fast and accurate assembly. Sheathed in fiberglass inside and out, the Wood Duck will withstand real-world abuse on gravel or shell beaches, and will bounce over submerged stumps without harm.

Capacity is ample and meant to accommodate a broad range of paddlers. Cockpits are 38 inches long, for easy in and out, and your legs and knees will not be confined. The Wood Duck 10 will carry paddlers up to 200 pounds, and the Wood Duck 12 will easily handle a 275-pounder, plus gear. A flush hatch for the rear compartment is standard in all kits; an airtight oval VCP hatch is an option. In either case, both boats can carry a heavy payload in the fore and aft compartments, enough for picnicking, camping or a whole lot of fishing gear.

The standard kit includes BS-1088 grade okoume plywood throughout. This is a beautiful tropical wood, prized for its grain, light weight, and workability, and it’s the standard for stitch-and-glue kayak construction at Chesapeake Light Craft. An option is a sapele deck, which CLC followers will recall is standard in the Shearwater performance kayak line. Sapele is a dense, strong west African species with a wild reddish grain figure.

Construction begins by joining the plywood hull panels with “puzzle joints” to reach the 10- or 12-foot overall length. Then the panels are brought together along their edges with stitches of copper wire, with four bulkheads helping to give the hull shape. The seams are reinforced with thickened epoxy, then fiberglass fabric. The deck is assembled separately from the hull, then stitched and epoxied in place. All of the copper wire stitches are removed prior to the final sheathing of fiberglass fabric. Finally, the cockpit is laminated in place and the rear hatch assembled. A comfortable seat and footbraces, included in the kit, are mounted after the hull has been varnished.

CLC commissioned designer Eric Schade to draw and prototype the Wood Duck 10 and 12 to our specifications. Eric had a huge hit with his Shearwater kayak designs, also designed for CLC as fast sea kayaks. We think he has another huge hit on his hands with these fun, good-looking recreational kayaks that anyone from age 8 to age 80 can enjoy on the water.