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Here is Chris Domby's project of converting his kayak into a sail boat:

Kayak with Leeboards are for sailing Kayaks can be converted to sail boats

I have been tinkering with this for about a year and that slow process has helped to refine my design.

I have four different wind surfer sails that I use because they are very inexpensive.

I lengthened the mast by cutting one of the two that I had and epoxying it on top of the other.

They overlap about 16 inches and now my mast is about four feet longer.

I attached my mast and my lee boards at the same point.

Since it is a two person kayak it has three dry holds and so I capped off the middle one between the two seats with fiberglass and epoxy.

I built it up about one inch thick because there are a lot of forces being applied here.

I then drilled two holes in it.

One is for hand access to tighten the stainless hardware and the other I epoxied a sleeve in place that I simply drop the mast and sail into.

This kayak came with a foot operated rudder that makes steering a cinch.

I have the sail roped through a pulley and just hold the line in my hand so I can easily dump the wind if I need to.

This is a fun craft to sail but it is completely top heavy and will not balance by itself even with about twenty pounds at the bottom of the lee boards.

My technique is to get everything ready to go with the kayak tied to the dock and then at the last second I put the mast and sail combination in the sleeve, then I get in fast!

As soon as I am sitting down it has enough low weight to be stable.

The only design consideration I am not sure of is that my two lee boards are attached to each other by a rod and they cannot be independently lifted.

I was reading that lifting one while sailing could be advantageous.

So far it sails great but I have to add ballast if I don't have a front passenger.

Thank you Chris Domby of Chapel Hill, North Carolina for allowing us to share the above with everyone.


We hope that you'll tell us about your leeboard project as well.

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Always wear life preservers, drink and party responsibly, sail at your own risk, and please pass the word that leeboard sailing is now a blast from the past that will soon be in the news as being the latest sailing craze.