By Ashley McLeod, Senior staff writer
Jun 6, 2016, 12:07
CHESTERFIELD — Joseph Saunders is a man of many talents, and has a lot to show for them.
As a master carpenter, he has built exquisite furniture on a number of occasions.
While working in Virginia museums, he was a fabricator for exhibits. For years he worked in Richmond City schools as a behavior specialist for students on the Autism spectrum.
He is an award-winning photographer and artist. In his home you can find sculptures, and on the walls hang numerous paintings and photographs, both created by his own hands.
As a boat builder, he’s fabricated the interior of boats, using exotic woods to create stunning interior pieces.
And now, Saunders has built his very own kayak.
The 11-foot, 3 1/16-inch boat sits in his backyard, where he works making improvements for the final project. The current boat was only a prototype, a test run for a final project of a kayak made of deep mahogany wood.
“Don’t ask me why, I just decided to do it,” Saunders said.
Saunders was born and raised in Hopewell and now lives right down the road in Enon.
Retired from the military and work, he’s filled his days now with creating, and the kayak is just one of his projects.
Prior to getting into kayaking, Saunders was a longtime cyclist. But with age and illness not on his side, he was made to give up his passion for long-distance cycling.
Still filled with the need to be outdoors, Saunders decided to start kayaking as an alternative to cycling.
“I miss being on my bicycle, so now I just have to be in the water,” said Saunders.
Saunders made numerous trips from City Point to Richmond in his store-bought kayak.
In October of last year, Saunders decided he would build his own vessel. The design was completely his, and he cut every piece of wood for the kayak on his own from pieces of soft pine.
Saunders knew from the beginning that the first kayak would be a test for a final product made from mahogany, but wanted to try his hand at building a kayak before cutting and building a boat with the more expensive wood.
Each small strip of wood, each cut, was done with no measurements, completely by eye.
“This is a prototype, built from my head. There were no drawings, no measurements done,” said Saunders.
Six months later, he had completed the kayak and tested it in the waters of the Hopewell Marina. Saunders witnessed his kayak float along the water, with very minimal issues.
“Some water did come into the keel the first time I put it over, but not enough to sink it. I ended up with probably a quart of water in the boat,” he said.
In a second test run, Saunders boarded the kayak and paddled around in the water to test and see how it would do. The vessel stayed afloat, and cut through the water with no problems at all.
His boat, made without blueprints or measurements and just pure skill, was a winner.
Saunders estimates that the prototype can hold up to 250 pounds, carrying a person and an assortment of gear stowed inside. The next step in his plan is to build the actual kayak he first envisioned, made of dark mahogany. Saunders said that his choice for mahogany comes from the beauty of the wood, as well as the history it has in boat building.
Two main kinds of wood used to build boats include mahogany and teak, and Saunders is a firm believer that wood is the proper material for any boat.
“They’ve built whole hulls out of mahogany and they last forever,” said Saunders. ”To me, real boats are made of wood. If it’s not, it’s not a boat to me.”
The weight of the prototype kayak made by Saunders is lighter than most kayaks, which are around 40 pounds. Mahogany is a slightly heavier wood, so he believes once the final kayak is put together, it will weigh about the same as most fiberglass or polyethylene kayaks on the market.
But weight isn’t an issue to Saunders. The beauty and craftsmanship are more important.
“I’m not interested in how light it can be,” said Saunders. “And sometimes it’s nice to have a heavy boat, it moves through the water differently. The wind can’t just blow you away.”
Saunders plans to begin building his mahogany kayak towards the end of the year and hopes to be finished in 2017. The boat will be very similar to the prototype.
“With all the little modifications I will do, nothing is really going to change the appearance of the boat; it’ll be the same. It will still be the same length, and everything,” he said.
The final kayak will be adorned with Saunders own logo, which he designed, and will be entirely made of wood, with no metal used to keep it together. With the few minor changes planned from the prototype, Saunders hopes to grab his camera, get in his one-of-a-kind kayak, and paddle his creation while enjoying the outdoors and all it has to offer.
