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Shearwater 17 Hybrid built by Sam C, seen here in Casco Bay off the shore of Little Diamond Island, ME
Sale
Shearwater 17 Hybrid
Sale
Shearwater 17 Hybrid
Sale
Shearwater 17 Hybrid
Sale
Shearwater 17 Hybrid
Sale
Shearwater 17 Hybrid
Shearwater 17 Hybrid built by Sam C, seen here in Casco Bay off the shore of Little Diamond Island, ME Thumbnail
Shearwater 17 Hybrid Thumbnail
Shearwater 17 Hybrid Thumbnail
Shearwater 17 Hybrid Thumbnail
Shearwater 17 Hybrid Thumbnail
Shearwater 17 Hybrid Thumbnail

Shearwater 17 Hybrid

Builder Testimonials

The same refined hull as the Shearwater 17 sea kayak, with a strip-planked deck as an added grace note.

  • Skill Level Intermediate
  • Estimated Build Time 120 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 kit features computer-cut parts, puzzle joints, pre-drilled wire holes, and computer-indicated bulkhead locations, speeding and simplifying the construction process. The illustrated assembly manual makes the construction process accessible to first-time builders.

Build this boat if...

  • You weigh less than 220lbs and your shoe size is 12 or less
  • You want a sporty, West Greenland-style kayak
  • You prefer advanced handling qualities in all conditions, including waves
  • You want a closer-fitting cockpit (like a bucket seat in a sports car)
  • You like the looks of a strip-planked deck

  • For Woodcrafters

    Boatbuilders, sharpen your block planes! 

  • Easy to Build

    Your first boatbuilding project!

  • Versatile

    A design that does everything well

  • Quality Materials

    Only the best professional-grade materials

If you love woodworking, this is a project where you get to make wood shavings. You'll need to be comfortable with a sharp plane and a Japanese pull-saw, but the reward is a work of craftsmanship that's all your own.

If this is your first go at mixing epoxy and assembling pre-cut wooden parts, here's a good design for starting out!

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!

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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.
Shearwater 17 Hybrid built by Sam C, seen here in Casco Bay off the shore of Little Diamond Island, ME

Shearwater 17 Hybrid built by Sam C, seen here in Casco Bay off the shore of Little Diamond Island, ME

Shearwater 17 Hybrid
Shearwater 17 Hybrid
Shearwater 17 Hybrid
Shearwater 17 Hybrid
Shearwater 17 Hybrid
Shearwater 17 Hybrid built by Sam C, seen here in Casco Bay off the shore of Little Diamond Island, ME Thumbnail
Shearwater 17 Hybrid Thumbnail
Shearwater 17 Hybrid Thumbnail
Shearwater 17 Hybrid Thumbnail
Shearwater 17 Hybrid Thumbnail
Shearwater 17 Hybrid Thumbnail

Specifications

Length
17'0"
Beam
22-1/4"
Cockpit Size
31" x 16-3/8"
Hull Weight
44 lbs.
Paddler Weight
150 - 220 lbs.
Max Payload
270 lbs.
Knee Height
12-3/8"
Max. Men's Shoe Size
12.5

Performance

Stability

3 out of 5
Very Tippy
Very Stable

Speed

4 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
After building his lovely Shearwater 17 Hybrid, Romeo A. gets to enjoy a lovely day on the water.
After building his lovely Shearwater 17 Hybrid, Romeo A. gets to enjoy a lovely day on the water.

Overview

Cedar-strip kayaks are admired for their beauty and functionality.  Kayaks made entirely of cedar strips require a “strongback” and special molds, which translates into a lot of skilled labor and time.  Why not combine the best qualities of stitch-and-glue plywood kayaks with the beauty of a cedar-strip deck?

This is exactly what we have done with the Shearwater Hybrid kayak kits.  We took the standard Shearwater’s graceful hull lines and added a strip-planked deck.  The resulting hybrid of strip and plywood techniques combines the look of a cedar-strip hull with the speedy assembly and great handling of a West Greenland-style hull.  The Shearwater Hybrid is a kayak with elegance and individuality. Since the hull forms the “strongback” for constructing the strip-planked deck, assembly time is a fraction of an all-strip hull.  Our Shearwater 16 display model took only about 100 hours from start to finish!

Here’s how it works.  The Shearwater Hybrid’s hull is identical to the standard Shearwater’s, with computer-cut BS 1088 Okoume panels assembled with “finger joints” so it goes together very, very quickly.  Computer-cut molds are set into the hull with temporary hot glue.  These molds shape and support the deck during construction.  With the kit, we include 50% Western Red and 50% Alaskan Yellow cedar strips.  The strips are milled with a “bead and cove” joint so that one slides into the next for perfect joinery. 

Once the deck pattern has been established and glued together, the entire deck is gently taken off the hull and the underside fiberglassed.  The molds are removed from the hull, then the deck epoxied back in place, atop structural “sheer clamps.”  Finally, the top of the strip deck is fiberglassed and the cockpit and hatches are added.

As paddling boats, the Shearwaters are sophisticated and fast.  On the water, the Shearwater demonstrates excellent poise and responsiveness in a broad range of conditions, edging turns easily when leaned but tracking straight when pushed hard in surfing conditions. The narrow beam and low profile translates into fewer corrective strokes and more paddling energy spent on covering ground.  The speed and relatively narrow beam means the Shearwaters are not beginner paddling boats, but athletic paddlers and paddlers with intermediate skills will find them an excellent fit.

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

Our strip-built and hybrid kits ship with 50% Western Red and 50% Alaskan Yellow cedar bead & cove strips. Photos on our website and printed materials may show patterns and accent strips with walnut or other materials. Optional walnut strips are available and can be shipped with kit orders.

Buying Options

Choose Your Boatbuilding Experience

Select the components that are the best fit for your hybrid-decked kayak project.

  1. Select your configuration


    Choose the components that are the best fit for your hybrid-decked kayak project.

  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 slot-together frames, pre-drilled holes for stitching-and-gluing, puzzle joints, and precision in the fitting of parts.

Standard Configuration

Sale
$1,759.00 $1,490.00

This Shearwater kit includes pre-cut parts, precision-milled ...

This Shearwater kit includes pre-cut parts, precision-milled bead-and-cove Western Red and Alaskan Yellow cedar strips, deck molds, flush hatches, bulkheads, adjustable footbraces, epoxy kit, fiberglass for hull and deck, full deck rigging, tractor seat, backband, and hardware plus expanded step-by-step 100-page instruction manual with more than 300 illustrations. 

Alternative Configurations

$1,199.00

This Shearwater kit includes pre-cut parts, precision-milled ...

This Shearwater kit includes pre-cut parts, precision-milled bead-and-cove Western Red & Alaskan Yellow cedar strips, deck molds, flush hatches, and bulkheads plus expanded step-by-step 100-page instruction manual with more than 300 illustrations. 
$119.00

This package includes full-size plans for every part in the S...

This package includes full-size plans for every part in the Shearwater 17 and expanded step-by-step 100-page instruction manual with more than 300 illustrations.

 
$20.00

This option comprises the latest version of the illustrated a...

This option comprises the latest version of the illustrated assembly manual, emailed in the form of a large PDF, with 8.5" x 11" (216x280mm) pages.  

Please note:  This option is for builders who want to study the process before taking up their tools. The manual includes a materials list, tool list, and of course step-by-step construction details from start to finish.

While the manual is expansive in detail, the manuals alone lack sufficient detail to fabricate parts.  You will still need to purchase the plans or a pre-cut kit to build the boat. Plans are available through the mail. We regret that we are not able to transmit plans or CAD/CAM data digitally.

Upon placing the order, you'll receive an email with a link to the PDF.  Be sure to use a correct email address! If you have filters in place, be sure that emails from "admin@clcboats.com" are not blocked.  

Orders from outside the lower 48 U.S. states will need to wait until the next business day for processing and email delivery of their manual.

Copying or transmitting any part of this document is prohibited, as is posting or displaying any part of it online.  
$25.00

This Shearwater kit includes expanded step-by-step 100-page i...

This Shearwater kit includes expanded step-by-step 100-page instruction manual with more than 300 illustrations.


NOTE: CLC instruction manuals walk you through construction step by step with photos and drawings, and are a good way to get acquainted with the process in advance of a kit purchase. (Manual purchase refundable with kit purchase.) There is not enough information in the manual to build a boat from scratch---you will need the complete Plans & Manual Only package for that.
$2.99

You can get printable study plans for most of your favorite ...

You can get printable study plans for most of your favorite kits and plans by return email --- for just a few dollars! 

When you order a set, you'll receive the study plans emailed in the form of PDFs at 8.5" x 11" (216x280mm).  

These printable drawings (most are two pages) help give a sense of the construction process and a feel for what the full-size plans or kit contain. Please note that a boat can not be built from Study Plans; they are to preview a project in print media; the Study Plans are an excellent broad-strokes look at the process. The subsequent escalation for more information is to order the boat's print instruction manual (where available), which will walk you through the project step-by-step.   

Upon placing the order, you'll receive an email with a link to the PDF.  Be sure to use the correct email address! If you have filters in place, ensure emails from "admin@clcboats.com" are not blocked.

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.
$24.95

A kit for flush hatch hold-downs, requiring no deck hardware ...

A kit for flush hatch hold-downs, requiring no deck hardware to sully your strip-planked deck. Internally mounted bungies hook to hatches. Includes machined wooden parts, hardware, and instructions. Read the instructions here.

Kit includes enough material for two hatches. Specifically: eight wooden blocks, bungie cord, stainless steel hooks, and hatch cover reinforcements.

Almost any hatch system, flush or otherwise, will work with the Invisible Hatch Hold Down scheme. These kayak kits include flush hatch kits: Shearwaters, Arctic Hawk, Sea Island Sport, Night Heron S&G and all Guillemot strip-planked kayaks.

 
Shearwater 17 Hybrid
Shearwater 17 Hybrid

What builders are saying

Just wanted to say thanks for a great set of plans for the Shearwater 17 Hybrid kayak. I've been paddling around Banks Peninsula in New Zealand and am well pleased. I made a few modifications including a skeg and kajaksport hatches. All the best

Ian H. | NZL
Verified Builder

Thanks to CLC and Eric Schade for this great Shearwater 17 Hybrid kit.  I finished the kit in September 2021 and launched it last weekend.  I am still tweaking a foam footrest and tightening the hatch tabs, but I got a couple paddles in over the weekend and look forward to many more.

Jim C. | ME
Verified Builder

So yesterday marks the official completion of my winter project.  I launched my new Shearwater 17’ Hybrid kayak at Red Bridge, which is located on the Quinnipiac River where it meets Hanover Pond in Meriden. I would like to thank everyone at CLC who answered my many questions and helped me along the way.

Sam C. | CT
Verified Builder

AUTUMN is the Shearwater 17 Hybrid that I built during lockdown. The build started mid-November 2020 and she was completed by mid-February 2021. I sometimes paddle her at Bair Island in San Francisco Bay, California. The Shearwater is everything I hoped it would be, the best all-round do-anything day boat out there. The kit contained enough of everything and the manual covered the whole build process in plenty of detail. It was almost as much fun building it as it is paddling it! Thank you.

Andrew B. | CA
Verified Builder

Let me thank you for providing people the opportunity to build stunningly beautiful wooden boats by themselves. I just recently completed my Shearwater 17 Hybrid. Both building and paddling this beauty have been a wonderful experience. Simply heaven. I took her for a tour of Lake Rurtal on a calm day in March. It was my first boatbuilding project that went smoothly thanks to your well made manual, videos, and the helpful support from your branch in Germany. Way to go CLC!

Florian C. | DEU
Verified Builder

You sold me the kit for this Shearwater 17 at the WoodenBoat show in Mystic. I worked on her non-stop as soon as she arrived, got some good advice and help from my dad. I finished her in time to go kayak camping with my family in Georgian Bay, north of Toronto, at the end of August. I named her Osprey. I love her very much. She is living in my family's living room for the winter, stacked on top of my dad's Arctic Hawk (which he also built from a CLC kit). Thank you so much. This is a GREAT boat!!!!!

Bennie U. | CT
Verified Builder

Videos

How to Build a Kayak | The Shearwater 17 Kayak | Part One - Introduction

How to Build a Kayak | The Shearwater 17 Kayak | Part Two - Joining the Panels

How to Build a Kayak | The Shearwater 17 Kayak | Part Three - Preparing to Stitch the Panels

Frequently Asked Questions

Has anyone built both the Chesapeake and the Shearwater and how would you compare the build time and complexity of the two?

We've built a handful of Shearwaters and scores of Chesapeakes. I think the elapsed building time of the two boats is about the same. We kept an eye on the hours when we built the second Shearwater 17 and it was about 80 hours total. That was moving fast, and often with two people working on it at once.

There are no scarfs to glue and no sheerclamps to plane on the standard Shearwater, and that reduces time compared to the Chesapeake. You gain all of that back in putting the Shearwater's deck on. Actually, you have the deck on and off about four times in the process of assembling it. None of the processes are any more difficult than the Chesapeake, just different.

On a Shearwater, does it matter what order I lay the three layers of glass on the hull?

Yes, it matters.  The first layer is the all-encompassing layer; the second is just on the bottom panels, and third come the bow and stern reinforcement.

There are two problems with doing that in reverse order: First, you might get an air bubble at the edge of the layers that end short. Second, if the smaller patches shift beneath the all-over sheet, you'll have the devil of a time getting them back in place.

You want to apply all the layers DRY, and then wet them out with epoxy together at the same time.

Are there any significant differences between building the Shearwaters and the Chesapeakes?

The sequence for the standard Shearwater is thus: Wire the hull up like any other CLC boat, install fillets, etc. Wire together the deck (with a few temporary forms providing the deck camber), apply "tack welds" to the deck, and wire it onto the hull. Take the deck back off to finish the fillets and fiberglass on the deck. Like most of the hull, the deck is fiberglassed on both sides; there are about four layers of 'glass right behind the cockpit. At a last you wire the deck on for good and apply fillets to the hull-to-deck joint.

The Shearwater Hybrid process is different: there are temporary forms upon which the stripped deck is assembled, and the hull has the usual CLC sheerclamps to which the strip deck is ultimately fastened once the forms are removed. Definitely takes more time to build, but a fraction of the time of an all-strip hull.

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.

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

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