1. Kits & Plans
  2. Kayak Kits
  3. Performance Kayaks
Sale
Sale
Petrel Play SG
Sale
Petrel Play SG
Sale
Petrel Play SG
Sale
Petrel Play SG
Petrel Play SG Thumbnail
Petrel Play SG Thumbnail
Petrel Play SG Thumbnail
Petrel Play SG Thumbnail

Petrel Play SG

Builder Testimonials

The final word in stitch-and-glue kayak design. All the handling qualities of a $6000 carbon sea kayak in a kit you build yourself.

  • Skill Level Intermediate
  • Estimated Build Time 100 Hours

Builders will benefit from some woodworking, epoxy, and fiberglass experience. Compared to CLC's "Beginner" projects, there will be more cutting and fitting of parts, and documentation is less comprehensive.

This time estimate assumes builders have already built a couple of stitch-and-glue boats

Build this boat if...

  • You're looking for a comfortable, versatile, compact kayak that isn't a beamy tub.
  • You're looking for a sport-oriented kayak for surfing
  • You want a sleek, West Greenland-style kayak without the gawky 17- or 18-foot length
  • You prefer advanced handling qualities in all conditions, especially waves

  • Sophisticated Design

    Nothing else like it to buy or build

  • Versatile

    A design that does everything well

  • Quality Materials

    Only the best professional-grade materials

This is a design with qualities and features that are unique in the marketplace, both among DIY projects and production boats. Refined, tested, uncompromised, outstanding, and unique!

Fast but comfortable, comfortable but sleek, sophisticated but easy to build, elegant but straightforward. If you're going to have just one boat...

Quality Materials

Our kits ship with the same first-class marine plywood, timber, epoxy, and fiberglass that we use in our own boatbuilding shop. It's not cheap, but these boats are meant to last forever!

 Build Your Kit
Shipping & Returns

Builders also looked at...

Take One of our Boatbuilding Classes

We offer classes for many of the boats we sell. Teaching sites stretch from Maryland to Washington State and from Maine to California. Click here to find out more.
Petrel Play SG
Petrel Play SG
Petrel Play SG
Petrel Play SG
Petrel Play SG Thumbnail
Petrel Play SG Thumbnail
Petrel Play SG Thumbnail
Petrel Play SG Thumbnail

Specifications

Length
14'0"
Beam
23"
Cockpit Size
31" x 16"
Hull Weight
40 lbs.
Paddler Weight
100 - 220 lbs.
Max Payload
260 lbs.
Knee Height
12"
Max. Men's Shoe Size
12.5

Performance

Stability

3 out of 5
Very Tippy
Very Stable

Speed

3 out of 5
Cruiser
Racer

Cockpit Room

3 out of 5
Close Fit
Huge Cockpit

Payload

3 out of 5
Day Tripper
Freight Hauler

Ease of Construction

3 out of 5
Requires Patience
Very Easy
Petrel Play SG paddling in a tidal race during Autumn Gales in 2013.
Petrel Play SG paddling in a tidal race during Autumn Gales in 2013.

Overview

Little by little, designers like Nick Schade are squeezing huge performance out of compact dimensions. This is good news as paddlers are demanding more versatility and performance from their sea kayaks these days. 

The Petrel Play SG is just 14' long, a length once reserved for recreational kayaks. But Nick’s ingenious shaping of plywood panels has resulted in a design that offers world-class handling in the surf AND a comfortable cockpit for recreational paddling AND can be built by an intermediate woodworker.

“The Petrel Play SG is a great boat to play with in big waves and rock gardens,” Nick Schade says. With a little extra width and quite a bit of flare to the hull," he adds, “It will keep up just fine at a moderate pace cruising and has good stability in waves, with the ability to lean comfortably.” The Petrel Play will appeal to paddlers of all shapes, sizes, and skill levels.

The Petrel Play SG is built stitch-and-glue fashion, with computer-cut hull parts literally assembled like a jigsaw puzzle. “The amount of sculptural detail in the Petrel Play is amazing,” says John C. Harris of Chesapeake Light Craft. “Nick has pushed the realm of what’s possible in plywood to another level.”

"Puzzle joints"---one of Schade's signature design motifs---give the Petrel Play great artistic flair. 


Check out the review in Sea Kayaker's final issue!

The front half of the Petrel Play is multi-chined, for an efficient balance of low-drag buoyancy and minimal resistance. The aft half of the kayak has a firm single chine, perfect for carving turns and surfing, and for excellent secondary stability. 

Functional details also make this kayak kit substantially unique in that busy niche of the kayak world. Watertight hatches are recessed in the forward and aft decks and are standard in the kit. Without penalizing the kayak’s ability in rough water, these hatches will allow light camping expeditions.

Large paddlers will find generous knee- and foot-room. The cockpit has been recessed to make rolling easier in expert hands.

Do you fit in this kayak?  Study our kayak fit chart.

Buying Options

Choose Your Boatbuilding Experience

Start your kit-building experience by selecting the option that best fits your goals. Don’t have the confidence to build on your own? No worries! Join a boatbuilding class or hire us to build a custom boat for you.

  1. Select Your Configuration

    Build From a Kit:
    Most builders start with the Base Kit. It’s all there.
    Build From Scratch:
    Build from scratch using full-sized plans.
    Build From a Wood Parts Only Kit:
    For those who have their own supply of epoxy, fiberglass, and hardware.
    Order Study Plans or Manuals:
    Like to study up a bit first? Download study plans or a copy of the assembly manual. 

  2. Choose Options and Add-ons

    Additional Components:
    Add rudders, skegs, hatch options, spray skirts, and more.

  3. Get Building!

    Computer-cut kits feature all of the latest tweaks to ease assembly, including pre-drilled holes for stitching-and-gluing, puzzle joints, and precision in the fitting of parts.

Standard Configuration

Sale
$1,569.00 $1,340.00

The Petrel Play SG Complete Kit includes 196-page step-by-ste...

The Petrel Play SG Complete Kit includes 196-page step-by-step instruction manual with hundreds of photos and drawings, computer-cut okoume parts, epoxy kit, fiberglass, bulkheads, recessed hatches, rubber hatch assemblies, foam tractor seat, Rapid Pulse backband, Keepers footbraces, hardware, and complete deck rigging.  

CLC Petrel Play Kayak Kit

Alternative Configurations

$945.00

This option is for Petrel Play SG builders who have a ready s...

This option is for Petrel Play SG builders who have a ready supply of epoxy, fiberglass, and the peculiar hardware.  This gets you the CNC-cut okoume hull parts (shown below)---with a HUGE time and accuracy savings compared to cutting the parts yourself from plans. The instructions are included in this kit.  

CLC Petrel Play Kayak Kit
$149.00

For builders who want to start from scratch. Full-Sized Plans...

For builders who want to start from scratch. Full-Sized Plans include patterns for every part in the Petrel Play SG, ready to transfer to the wood.  Also included is the 198-page spiral-bound manual with step-by-step photos and diagrams, including materials list. These plans are for the stitch-and-glue version of the Petrel Play.

Petrel Play SG full-sized kayak plans
$35.00

Additional Options

$195.00

Many kayaks can benefit from a retractable skeg. There will b...

Many kayaks can benefit from a retractable skeg. There will be conditions in which no skeg is needed at all, other occasions when just a little skeg will help, and days in smooth water with a strong breeze over the aft quarter when a skeg is essential.

The Skeg Kit is comprised of three basic components: the skeg itself, the skeg box where the skeg lives in the boat, and the control slider. The skeg is a fin that can be retracted in and out. The skeg box is just big enough and wide enough to hold the skeg. The control slider is mounted up near the cockpit where it is convenient to the paddler.

What builders are saying

I just finished my Petrel Play SG after having completed a Wood Duck 12 a few years ago. WOW! The Petrel Play is a fast fun boat! I love them both! Here is a few shots of my Petrel Play SG and my Wood Duck 12 on the shores of Crooked Lake in northern Michigan. There was a storm in the distance around sunset at the end of our paddling day which I thought made an excellent background.

Sam W. | IL
Verified Builder

The Petrel Play SG kit was absolutely exceptional with all the pieces fitting together nicely and most of the holes predrilled. The manual is also a piece of art loaded with pictures and building tricks. The boat performs as advertised, it tracks nicely but turns very easily with a little lean and is easily driven at cruising pace.  I was looking for a smaller kayak for use in small streams and springs where my 17LT is a little too big. It looks like the Petrel Play was a good choice. This is my third CLC build: I have my Chesapeake 17LT, my wife has the 16LT, and now we have the new Petrel Play.

Mark N. | FL
Verified Builder

Videos

Building the Petrel Play Stitch-and-Glue Kayak Overview

Build Your Own Adventure: The Petrel Play SG Kayak

Outfitting Skeg, Seat, Decklines - Petrel Play SG - E31

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I order this kit?

Click on the Buying Options tab the top left of this page and follow the directions.

If I buy one of your boat kits, what else will I need?

Chesapeake Light Craft kits contain all the parts and materials you need to build the boat. The kit includes pre-cut parts, hardware, epoxy, fiberglass, plans and instructions. Our standard kayak kits also have the seats, hatches, bulkheads, footbraces, and the deck-rigging. About the only thing kits don't include is the final finish: paint or varnish. Your boat's color scheme is entirely up to you.

You'll need a few ordinary tools, like a cordless drill, a decent 5-inch sander, and for most boats a wood plane. You'll need disposables such as sandpaper and paint brushes and mixing cups.

You need a workspace a couple of feet bigger all the way around than the boat you want to build, and you'll need to be able to maintain temperatures between about 55 degrees F and 95 degrees F during steps when epoxy is being applied or curing. Since a lot of boatbuilding gets done during winter, we've written up some tips on how to heat a cold space cheaply, easily, and safely.

How much does this boat weigh and how much can it carry?

The weight and payload of this boat, along with other statistics such length and beam, can be found under Specs in the Specifications section, which is just below the lead image seen at the top of this page.

Can you send me the plans digitally?

Sorry, but until digital rights management technology for marine architectural work catches up to that used for books and music, we are unable to transmit digital plans. Currently, only study plans and manuals can be sent digitally.

Extras

How to Build a Petrel Play SG Kayak Kit

A Video Series by Nick Schade


Nick Schade presents an instructive series of videos on the construction of the Petrel Play SG kayak. The summary video was above. The first one of the individual series is here.





Classes

Take One of our Boatbuilding Classes

We offer classes for many of the boats we sell. Teaching sites stretch from Maryland to Washington State and from Maine to California. Click here to find out more.

View Classes

Related Products

Need Help Building it?

We’re here to help with any questions you might have during the build process.

Phone

Available Mon – Fri, 9am–5pm EST

410.267.0137

Email

We answer emails 7 days a week and within 24 hours

Contact Support

Chat

Available Mon – Fri, 9am–5pm EST

Start Chat