Are you a SOFtie

The best thing since sliced bread got an upgrade?

…Yeah, no. Maybe (but apparently you're still reading, so welcome, fellow over-thinker).

What is a Skin On Frame kayak? It is what the Inuit hunters built to catch sea animals for sustenance in the harsh environment after the last global icecap receeded. History books tells us they have been living in the area for 1000 years or so but logically, seal hunting and fishing has gone on at the edge of the inland ice for as long as humanity has needed food to survive. I digress.

The SOF construction is simply put a wooden frame, covered with seal skin. The hows and whys we leave for another article.

I for one mostly paddle low-volume roll kayaks, so yeah… it gets noticeably wetter. Your ass might not thank you during the winter season. On the other hand: a skin'yak is super easy to carry around by yourself, reliable in winter conditions (no moving parts, like hatches or skeg can freeze up), you can drop it, stack it, or yeet it off the car roof without having a heart attack.   

It’s stupidly fun in wind and waves – catches a plane or surfs small ripples like it’s on a mission.  I’m on my 9th SOF build now and the last two have actually turned out pretty damn decent at both paddling and rolling. Building a modern skeg boat or a pure roll-specialist kayak? Way easier, honestly. But trying to make something truly neutral — one that turns sweetly, handles well in wind, and just does everything decently without sucking at any one thing? That's the real bastard of a challenge and you have to f-in practice to get good at it.

Or... you can go the mad-scientist route like I did: experiment a ton, build a bunch of kayaks, rebuild, then rebuild again and slowly figure it out the hard way. Inbetween any build you need various conditions to know, not guess about properties. That path takes serious patience, time, dedication, and probably at least a couple books on Greenland kayaks and hydrodynamics (or aero, depending on how windy your life is).

The materials themselves aren't that expensive, but buying decent tools will hit your wallet harder than the first few boats ever will. Then there's all the time spent testing them in every condition imaginable — flat calm, big waves, side winds, moving water, you name it. And yeah, all that time is money too. So pick your poison: follow a proven recipe and get something good fast, or chase the perfect all-rounder and enjoy (or suffer) the long, glorious learning curve. Either way, it's addictive.

I started with museum replica drawings (thanks to Harvey Golden and Brian Schultz), then slowly drifted away from the lines while keeping the good bones.  Still – I’m just a good padawan around here, not The Master 😏. However, if you get the chance, come try mine, seriously! 

Downsides  

The SOF kayak really doesn’t like getting ground down in the same spot bow & stern when you do beach landings all the time. Keel tape? Won’t stick. Easy fix though – slap on a simple, cheap, replaceable keel strip you screw on from the outside.

My roll boats mostly want to carry nothing but a tiny thermos or water bottle… but you can fix that with a removable “Iserfik” bulkhead behind the seat. Boom – suddenly there’s room for your sandwich too! If you’re dreaming of a touring kayak? Meh, not much advantage here except maybe weight. Fully loaded it’ll probably end up about the same weight as a glassfibre equivalent anyway. But that's compared to the empty glassfibre touring kayak. Then there's the bulkheads. Or the lack of them. If you don't bring 2 cast iron frying pans, like I did for pancakes once, your kayak will float. Btw, that story ended with good pancakes and no swimming.

Quick reality check: every kayak is a compromise. Dead simple to build something that turns on a dime… but then it sucks without a skeg and you constantly have to adjust it, instead of enjoying the scenery (or trying to survive). I don't hate many things but needing to adjust the skeg between 30 and 35% to get it right is not relaxed kayaking or a well tuned boat, if you ask me.

You can actually tune a boat to be neutral in wind when you're building – even decide how much wind it likes before it starts weathercocking or running away downwind. But then trying to also get nice edge release behind the cockpit, decent carving turns (not just skidding), good rolling, comfy seat, doesn’t broach in every tiny surf, stable enough, lively enough… yeah, that’s the hard part.  And that’s exactly why you’ve gotta build and try as many as you can, right? 

Oh, and the thing people obsess over, how “fast” it is, you will feel better by just forgetting. Too much yapping about hull speed on the internet. Way more important that your sea kayak feels responsive and easily driven at the speed you actually enjoy paddling. Surf ski kayaks are excepted and excused, and competition boats, made to push above their hull speed, for a short while.

And who the hell am I to have all these opinions anyway? One of those guys who’s loved whitewater, surfski, fitness canoes… and has probably paddled 30+ sea kayaks more than once. About 10 years ago I decided I wanted to be able to roll whatever heavily loaded sea kayak I get into – preferrably without a paddle. Had horrible tennis elbow + wrist pain for ages… switched to Greenland paddle and poof, pain gone. Started more rolling practice than usual. Obsessed about outfitting my club's kayaks to fit everyone. Then finally gave up and started building tailored bespoke Greenland style Skin On Frame kayaks and have been hooked ever since.

I’m (almost) not selling any religion here – no “this is the only way” bullshit. The road to understanding a little more about kayaking has taken me to a halt at actually building them. You might navigate on a different route. Just paddle what’s fun for you. And please – don’t listen to know-it-alls (yes, including me).

So, are you, or will you be a SOFtie? One who doesn't fight the water but embraces it? One who's mind is not set, but flexible?

Well, go try shit yourself and figure out what YOU like! Roast us in the comments if you don't agree (not just about the subtitle of this article), we just might enjoy helping you to join the dark side!