I'll start by confessing that this update is the digital equivalent of an Umiak loaded down to gunwales. I have been remiss in my update duties and thus we find ourselves in a perilous situation. In the event that certain images fail to load, patience and a quick tap of the refresh button should alleviate the problem. Not all of you will make it to the end, but for those brave souls who persist, there's a lot of cool stuff in this update.
Before we set sail a quick point of order. I'm not going to go into a lot of detail in this update about the chronic illness I've been fighting for a while now, but one of the more challenging aspects of my life right now is trying to balance honesty with decorum when choosing what to share. Propriety ends up winning out most of the time, because the truth is not only deeply depressing, it's also not helpful to focus on it. An additional filter of invisibility is added by the lens of media where I string together my most functional moments into a healthy looking YouTube/Instagram version of myself which inevitably results in a ton of emails and comments from well meaning people who say things like "It's great to see you doing so well and looking so healthy". That's harder to hear when you've been as sick as I have for as long as I've been. It's like being in a wheelchair and having people congratulate you for how well your legs are working. If you want to know more about what's going on with my health issues, I've created a separate page here called What's up with Brian's health?. In the meantime, if we could keep the "glad you're feeling better" emails to a minimum, it helps me to cope better. Thanks!
An important note on media sharing before we get started, updates like this one are getting increasingly large and difficult to keep up with, so I want to encourage you to follow me on YouTube, Instagram and Facebook where it's easier to post photos and videos as I work — sharing design ideas, building tips, and everything else that's going on in the Cape Falcon universe. We are @capefalconbuilds on Instagram, Cape Falcon Kayak on Facebook and Cape Falcon Kayak on Youtube.
Before we set sail a quick point of order. I'm not going to go into a lot of detail in this update about the chronic illness I've been fighting for a while now, but one of the more challenging aspects of my life right now is trying to balance honesty with decorum when choosing what to share. Propriety ends up winning out most of the time, because the truth is not only deeply depressing, it's also not helpful to focus on it. An additional filter of invisibility is added by the lens of media where I string together my most functional moments into a healthy looking YouTube/Instagram version of myself which inevitably results in a ton of emails and comments from well meaning people who say things like "It's great to see you doing so well and looking so healthy". That's harder to hear when you've been as sick as I have for as long as I've been. It's like being in a wheelchair and having people congratulate you for how well your legs are working. If you want to know more about what's going on with my health issues, I've created a separate page here called What's up with Brian's health?. In the meantime, if we could keep the "glad you're feeling better" emails to a minimum, it helps me to cope better. Thanks!
An important note on media sharing before we get started, updates like this one are getting increasingly large and difficult to keep up with, so I want to encourage you to follow me on YouTube, Instagram and Facebook where it's easier to post photos and videos as I work — sharing design ideas, building tips, and everything else that's going on in the Cape Falcon universe. We are @capefalconbuilds on Instagram, Cape Falcon Kayak on Facebook and Cape Falcon Kayak on Youtube.
First up, I want to congratulate Kyle and Tom who finished their epic trek to the Mount Everest Basecamp last January, carrying Cape Falcon canoes 125 miles and over 10,000 vertical feet to raise money to build a women's shelter and mental health treatment center in Kathmandu, Nepal. So far they have raised $100,000 of their $150,000 goal and construction has started on the shelter. Tom and Kyle are taking no money from this fund and paid for the trip themselves. For more info go to their website, theweightwecarry.com and consider making a donation to this incredibly important cause.
Photgrapher/artist/adventurer Claire Dibble finished her 1200 mile 112 day paddle along the entire length of the Columbia River in an F1 kayak she built herself. I recently sat down with Claire and her boat for a half hour video interview where we talk about all aspects of long distance touring in a skin-on-frame kayak. I should have that up on the Cape Falcon Kayak YouTube channel within a month. Claire also has an upcoming talk and slideshow at the Columbia River Maritime Museum on Feb. 11th at 10:30AM. You can read more about her journey on her website http://watershedmoments.art As of this writing it hasn't been updated post trip, but hopefully will be soon.
The Industrial Design program at James Madison University added a Paddlesports Design class this year led by professor Kevin Phaup, using our F1 instructional program as a foundation. Watching these kids (sorry guys, I'm old) build and learn design through the medium of skin-on-frame has been really inspiring and the University produced a series of videos as well that you can check out here: https://www.facebook.com/JMUSADAH/videos/1367000943465298/
Another build that I want to highlight that didn't make it onto my Student Builds page are the FOUR nesting pack canoes. Chris built these for his family and they took them on a multi-day camping trip. Chris documented the entire build and journey with photos and videos on his own blog: Water and Wood which I highly encourage you to check out. The only caveat is that Chris decided to go a little nuts modifying my measuring system, which worked out fine, but is way more complex than what's in the plans.
Yet another series of builds that I'm watching with keen interest is the work of Ant Mace of Shipshape Boatbuilding in Bristol, UK who has been building our kayaks under license for a few years now. Trained as a shipbuilder, Ant builds commission kayaks and teaches in-person boatbuilding classes. (Check out this great Vimeo video of his work and don't miss the Adirondack Guideboat video while you're there). Ant has been experimenting with linseed-coated natural flax cloth coverings on our canoes, and while not nearly as tough as nylon the results are beautiful and appeal to my sustainable sensibilities. I haven't tried it yet so I can't comment, but he has a detailed post explaining the materials and process up on his Facebook page.
Our Student Builds page continues to populate with interesting builds from around the world and is always worth checking out. One of my personal favorites from this year is the kayaks being build by Max, the schoolmaster in Tiilerilaaq — a tiny 70 person village in East Greenland — who is reviving the kayak building tradition with the local children. We have been facilitating the challenging process of getting supplies to this extremely remote area, and Max (and Kamilla) first completed an F1 to create a safe kayak for the kids to paddle those freezing waters, and are now working on a more challenging East Greenland Kayak. I posted a few photos below, but for complete photos and build details, check out the direct link here!
One of 2019's most challenging builds was a commission I received to create two exact copies of traditional North Alaskan hunting kayak frames for architectural display. In stark contrast to the fast, easy construction of my own designs, myself, and our lead custom kayak builder Tom spent three obsessive weeks replicating these historic kayaks. I meticulously documented the entire process with daily build reports and time-lapse videos you can check out on our Instagram page, and we also posted a 30 minute YouTube video where I talk about all the details of these fascinating and rarely built traditional kayaks, and finally a beautiful video of us building the kayak that we worked for months to create which you can find here.
Speaking of video, we've recently upgraded the studio with new lighting, audio, and editing hardware in preparation for re-shooting the entire Cape Falcon Kayak kayak building video courses. In the 4 years since we shot the very first Cape Falcon video course our video skills have evolved quite a bit, so it's time to take things to the next level. About 10% of the content has already been replaced so if you haven't checked the online courses out in a while, you can find them here. I also want to take a moment to acknowledge the person behind the camera, the Amazing Liz, who manages the back end of our four interlocking websites, their associated payment streams, our tech support, Instagram, YouTube, plans production, videography, color correcting (I'm colorblind) and everything else that makes keeps the duck of Cape Falcon Kayak gliding across the pond while our feet are paddling furiously beneath the surface. Thank you Liz.
On the kayak and canoe building front, I didn't personally build a lot of boats in 2019 for reasons that will become clear very soon. I did, however, build a few more full size canoes. Incorporating feedback from dozens of builders who signed up for the Canoe Building Beta Course, I'll be working this spring on new versions of the full size canoes while I update the course. Tom has been keeping up on our custom kayak commissions, and John has been building paddles. Both of these guys are ridiculously overqualified for the work they do here, and it really helps me sleep at night knowing they are upholding the level of craftsmanship and delivery times we built our reputation on. Thanks guys. Check out our new About Us page to read about all the Cape Falcon team members both here and overseas!
Our biggest news from 2019 has nothing to do with boatbuilding but rather the 9 months Liz and I spent building and documenting the construction of our new tiny house! Those of you who follow me from way back know that I'm as passionate about sustainable living as I am about boatbuilding. I've been building and living in small spaces for over 20 years, and in that time tiny houses on wheels have always interested me because in some ways they present the ultimate design challenge: can you build something truly livable in such a small space?
Two zillion influencer-driven posts on social media certainly lend that impression, but having actually lived like this for half my life, I'm skeptical. There are dozens of reasons why tiny houses don't make a lot of sense, but there's also a lot to be said for a home that can potentially consume much less energy and can be physically moved in a world where our lifestyles will need to be increasingly flexible to adapt to changing environmental and economic conditions.
So it was with that in mind that we created Actually Tiny, a little house that challenges logic by being even smaller that most tiny houses, but feels a lot bigger inside. An open floor plan, slightly lower counters, white walls, minimal overhead cabinetry, and an overall low aspect ratio creates a peaceful sense of space. Meticulous insulation, air sealing, carefully placed windows, advanced framing in the envelope, passive solar design features, and a high thermal mass interior all come together to create a surprisingly warm structure for how thin the walls are. I also incorporated a hybrid wood-fired/solar passive thermosiphon hot water heating system which works like a charm. We installed smart monitoring of climate control and energy usage so we can can measure variables like heat recovery and improve the design with actual data rather than opinions. A generous, translucent porch roof provides additional space but folds down to protect the French doors and windows during transport. The outdoor shower can be folded up as well. Liz, I, and Milo the cat are living in it full time and even with my background I'm amazed that it doesn't feel crowded but if it every does, we designed the interior so it can be easily dissasembled and removed to make this into an office or studio!
Two zillion influencer-driven posts on social media certainly lend that impression, but having actually lived like this for half my life, I'm skeptical. There are dozens of reasons why tiny houses don't make a lot of sense, but there's also a lot to be said for a home that can potentially consume much less energy and can be physically moved in a world where our lifestyles will need to be increasingly flexible to adapt to changing environmental and economic conditions.
So it was with that in mind that we created Actually Tiny, a little house that challenges logic by being even smaller that most tiny houses, but feels a lot bigger inside. An open floor plan, slightly lower counters, white walls, minimal overhead cabinetry, and an overall low aspect ratio creates a peaceful sense of space. Meticulous insulation, air sealing, carefully placed windows, advanced framing in the envelope, passive solar design features, and a high thermal mass interior all come together to create a surprisingly warm structure for how thin the walls are. I also incorporated a hybrid wood-fired/solar passive thermosiphon hot water heating system which works like a charm. We installed smart monitoring of climate control and energy usage so we can can measure variables like heat recovery and improve the design with actual data rather than opinions. A generous, translucent porch roof provides additional space but folds down to protect the French doors and windows during transport. The outdoor shower can be folded up as well. Liz, I, and Milo the cat are living in it full time and even with my background I'm amazed that it doesn't feel crowded but if it every does, we designed the interior so it can be easily dissasembled and removed to make this into an office or studio!
Basically, I applied the Cape Falcon philosophy to a tiny house, with a focus on simplicity, versatility, low cost, easy building, and most importantly a finished product that puts functionality first but ends up still looking nice. Think of it as the F1 kayak of tiny houses. We documented the entire build day by day with photos, building tips AND time-lapse videos on our Instagram Page @actuallytiny. We also created the Actually Tiny YouTube Channel where we have created a growing library of high quality tiny house building videos. Finally, we created the Actually Tiny website as a resource for tiny house builders that currently has galleries and blog posts covering every aspect of the build, with more on the way detailing costs, weight, our design philosophy, and a carefully curated library of the best tiny house building information we can find, so people can build smarter tiny houses, even if it's not our design.
What we have up now is just the beginning, we should have a full video walkthroughs explaining the house and its features up in a few months, and many future videos covering all aspects of small space design, including a full plan set by the end of the year that, just like my kayaks, will cover a variety of sizes and adaptations for different user and different climate zones. I personally envision this as a seed structure for my next small homestead, but I also think a lower budget version of something like this would make an excellent transitional housing, or even a backyard apartment for extended families looking for options to keep loved ones close.
What we have up now is just the beginning, we should have a full video walkthroughs explaining the house and its features up in a few months, and many future videos covering all aspects of small space design, including a full plan set by the end of the year that, just like my kayaks, will cover a variety of sizes and adaptations for different user and different climate zones. I personally envision this as a seed structure for my next small homestead, but I also think a lower budget version of something like this would make an excellent transitional housing, or even a backyard apartment for extended families looking for options to keep loved ones close.
Speaking of tiny houses on wheels, I want to end this update with a story of a very different kind of tiny house, the one that belongs to my friend Thomas who lives around the corner. Thomas is a 60 year old homeless man who suffers from intermittent episodes of mental illness. He's also one of the kindest, gentlest human beings I've ever met. He's been staying in a trailer on my neighbor's property but over the winter without heat or garbage service it became infested with rats and mold. I didn't realize what was happening until I found Thomas in a tent and he told me he was scared of the rats. We tried to clean the interior but the rot, mold and rat damage was extensive, so I'm raising money to get Thomas a used, clean trailer to live in. Ever since a GoFundMe campaign literally saved my life 6 years ago when I became too sick to work or afford medical care, I try to do something every year to help others. Last year it was women in Nepal, this year it's Thomas. Check out the GoFundMe I just posted and please consider making a donation to help him. I will post pictures of his new home when we get it.
So here we arrive at the opposite shore of this update. For those of you still with me I will carry on the tradition of sharing my favorite photos with all of the rich texture that life had to offer in the last year. Despite being forced to make this journey in a vehicle that barely runs, I still feel privileged for the views along the way. Until next time...
So here we arrive at the opposite shore of this update. For those of you still with me I will carry on the tradition of sharing my favorite photos with all of the rich texture that life had to offer in the last year. Despite being forced to make this journey in a vehicle that barely runs, I still feel privileged for the views along the way. Until next time...
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