About the Craftsman

All boats are constructed by master woodworker Christopher Nelson of Nelson Wooden Boats. Most designs are his own, but he will build to yours, too.

Christopher has decades of woodworking experience; his superior craftsmanship and modern construction techniques guarantee durability, comfort, performance, and elegance in a wooden boat as unique as you.

History

Except for design, I’m really doing only what countless others have done before me. We must credit the Inuit peoples of North America with having invented the kayak. We still use their word for it. An Inuit of 500 years ago would recognize a modern kayak immediately. But today we have better materials for creating these elegant watercraft: sustainably harvested woods, modern epoxy adhesives, and protective fiberglass sheathing. Our materials today enable us to build boats that are lighter, stronger, more durable, and, I think, more beautiful than the skin and bone craft of their Inuit predecessors.

How It's Built

I build my kayaks from the best materials available today: 3 and 4 mm thick ocoumé, a fast growing member of the mahogany family that is sustainably managed and bears Lloyd’s 1088 certification. Coupled with modern epoxy adhesives and fiberglass sheathing, these boats are exceptionally stiff and strong. They are also very lightweight. A 17’ boat will weigh in at around 43-45 pounds, much lighter than plastic or fiberglass boats and about as light as most carbon or kevlar fiber boats. And they are without doubt unsurpassed because they are made from wood.

A Message from Christopher

I've been working with wood for about as long as I can remember. It was my grandfather who got me started. After years of pursuing the perfectly straight lines and right angles demanded by furniture making, I became interested in wooden boats. You might have noticed that there’s not a single straight line or right angle in a boat. Curves flow into other curves creating a hull as complicated and adaptable as the water in which it floats. It was about 20 years ago that my interest in boats emerged, and now I can’t stop building them. There’s an inexplicable beauty to a wooden boat, an aesthetic that merges with utility to produce an object that seems to take on a life of its own. Wood lives on in these boats. They can take you wherever you want to go and teach you to enjoy the peace and beauty of nature along the way. You’ll never see more than when you’re paddling a kayak.