Just Yakkin' . . .

Black Pearl Project - Strips and Forms

2012-02-19T23:05:00.001-03:30

This was a good productive weekend for me - finally!!. Friday night was a bit slow - I made a few test cuts with the strips. I decided to go with the circular saw rather than using my radial arm saw or other stationary equipment. Preliminary testing was positive, so I decided to wait until Saturday so that I could move the operation outside - it was proving to be a VERY dusty endeavor!

Saturday AM was time for a short paddle from St. Philip's to Portugal Cove with Tobias and Dean. It was nice to get back on the water for a few hours!

Saturday afternoon was clear and relatively warm so I decided to give the strip cutting a whir! I set up a plank on the picnic table and proceeded to cut strips from the three pieces of 1x8x8 clear pine I picked up on Friday. It went so well that I decided to run out and pick up 2 pieces of 1x10x12. I started cutting at 1:20 and by 4:30 I had all the strips cuts. Of course included in this time was the trip to the lumber store. Not a bad patch of work if you ask me. I ripped about 66 strips at 8' and 56 at 12'. Of all these, only one snapped because there was one small knot in the board. Not too shabby if you ask me!

Making hay (dust) while the sun shone!!

Circular with long fence!

Oh, how many times I walked this walk that day!!

The end product.

Saturday night was spent relaxing and socializing over a few brews. Sunday, I promised Cheryl that we'd put up some moldings. So, after 13 years, we finally finished the cove moldings in the upstairs hall. It was mid-afternoon when we finished so I decided to go back at the boat. I finished leveling up the table. For the centre line I went with a copper wire stretched between two screws. I managed to tighten the wire by twisting the screw. It sounded like a big guitar when I cranked it up!!

Centre line cranked up nice and tight!

I made recesses in the bottom of each station so that it could fit over the wire. I used my Schedule 40 clamps to hold the forms while I did some cursory checks. As expected, the clamps worked like a charm!!

Schedule 40s to the rescue!

Checking the level-ness using the designed waterline as a reference.

Checking the vertical!

Checking for fairness - and sticking on a few strips just to see what it will look like.

With the forms in place, I just need to cut and fit the inner stems. I am not anticipating this to be a big job so I'm not that far off from the actually planking

Black Pearl Project - Forms and Such

2012-02-17T09:34:00.001-03:30

The plans arrived for the Black Pearl last Thursday (February 9). It's funny but Cheryl phoned me at work to tell me they arrived and then, jokingly said , "I guess I won't see you for the next six months?!! I promised both myself and Cheryl that I'd not devote the same fanaticism to this build as I did to the Point Bennett this time last year. And true to my word, I am proceeding with a more relaxed pace this time. Hence the lack of progress reports!!

Here's the first . . .

Plans for the Black Pearl are, what I would call, spartan. But then again, all the designer needs to provide is the actual information to build the hull shape. The rest is up to the builder. Besides, there's a plethora of materials out there on how to build strip boats, so why bother the redundancy of including it with a boat design plan??

The package (envelope) contained a scaled plan view, full size half-patterns, a sheet of instructions and an invoice.

Plan view on top, 1/2 form patterns below.

As I mentioned in a previous post, the beauty of this boat is that Björn Thomasson will design it to fit you personally. In other words, there's no guesswork about whether the boat will be too big/small, not handle properly etc etc. I must admit, I'm glad I payed the extra dollars for this. For those interested, I had to provide my height, weight, arm span, hip width and shoe size. Thomasson will build to your request as well. My boat will come in at around 18.5" but I know of one instance where Thomasson, at the request of the builder, stretched the boat to 19' 7" for more storage capacity. The plans came to a total of 145 Euros or 190.00 dollars delivered. In the big scheme of things, that's not a whole lot of coinage!!

Here's what you pay the big bucks for - to see that the plans are customized just for you!!

Rather than cut up the plans, I scanned them, then flipped the image digitally, printed both sides (normal and reversed) and taped them together up the centre line. This created a full-size set of patterns from the halfs that were provided.

I decided to go with 1/2 MDF for the actual forms. It has been suggested to use plywood or particle board but I really like how stable MDF is. With a sharp handsaw, you can cut incredibly straight lines as there's no "deviation" in the materials - unlike the voids/splinters in plywood or particle board.

Using a spray adhesive, I glued the patterns right onto the MDF. As there are no curves to be cut at this point (remember this is a chined boat), a sharp handsaw was ideal for cutting out the forms. I'm guessing that it took less than 1.5 hrs to cut and sand them

Forward form patterns glues and ready to cut.

Aft forms on the left, fwd on the right.

Thomasson's form set-up procedure is very fifferent than that of, say Nick Schade. In the case of the BP, the baseline (see the "tops" of the forms above) is left square and this is fastened to the strongback (or building table, in my case) This will become clearer in the next update I provide but I just wanted to point out that the forms, at this point, do not accurately represent the shape of the deck. The hull, yes, but not the deck. If you look closely at the image above you can see the shape of the sheer and deck. The forms will be trimmed once the hull is finished and the boat flipped over for decking.

Confused? If so, stay tuned for the continuing saga of the Black Pearl . . .

Will the rubber hit the road . . . again?

2012-01-27T00:33:00.003-03:30

I'll admit that I could turn a mean crank back in the day, i.e., the 1980s and 90's. I started off as a road racer and raced both provincially and nationally. The culmination of my road career was competing in the 1985 Canada Summer Games. But I must admit that one of my best bragging stories was, that for over 20 years, I held the third fastest time up Signal Hill - a mere three seconds off the overall record. I then moved onto mountain bike racing and competed and placed second in the first organized race here in St. John's. It took place just around present-day Stavanger Drive. The area is now completely built up so it's hard to even discern the approximate location of the old course. That was in the late 1980s.

In the mid 1990's the ol' bike basically went into retirement. Cycling, by nature, is a time consuming endeavour. In 1997 I fell off the roof and broke my neck and elbow. Two weeks later my son was born. A double whammy to take me out of the cycling scene altogether. And I never really got back into it. Even when my young son expressed a great interest in riding, I could not get excited. My broken elbow can not straighten out and it really makes my pedaling awkward and often painful!!

Fast forward to Sunday January 22, 2012. My activities have been languishing due to a persistent knee problem. Even walking was getting hard. It was beginning to get a bit depressing as it was making me miss out on a lot of things I really enjoy - like competitive basketball, for instance. On Sunday I decided to throw the old road bike on the ancient mag trainer and see how the knees felt. I only did a 30 minute spin but afterwards my knees felt freakin' great. I tried this for a few days with lots of stretching throughout the day and I'm noticing an incredible difference in my knee mobility and pain. The decision was made. Purchase a better trainer and set my bike up better to accommodate my "afflictions"

Today I did just that. I bought a new fluid trainer - CycleOps Fluid 2 - and a set of aero bars to help support my bad elbow. Tonight I dragged the bike down from the attic to do a bit of work on it and to get it set up for some spinning.

I'm still using my circa 1987 Miele Beta. It's a handbuilt steel (Columbus) frame with Shimano 600EX all 'round. Yep, I'm still a sucker for the classic look of the old steel bikes. The new carbon fibre, aluminum and titanium are fine but the steel frame reminds me of the days when I started racing - when Merckx, Hinault, Fignon, the mighty Irishman Kelly and the upstart American, Lemond where the kings of the road. There's a certain mystique surrounding the beauty of a handbuilt steel Colnago, Pinarello or Ciocc. Or is it just me?

The unmistakable simplicity of the steel framed bike and the La Vie Claire water bottle belonging to Gervais Rioux that was "borrowed" while at the Nationals in Hamilton!!

The new fluid trainer. Smooth and quiet.

Fluid 2 by CycleOps. Yep, she's a six speed hub. Can't find them anymore - not even at Walmart!!

Starboard quarter

Starboard bow

Where's this all going, you might ask? I have no idea. My only hope is that I don't "blow a knee" and make it so that I never hit the road again. Racing is out of the question - but that's not to say I won't make up for lost time riding with my son. I can't wait to give this new setup a whir, that's for sure!! Maybe even relive those days long ago when all I did was eat, sleep, breathe, work in a bike shop and RIDE!!!

Thanks for dropping by and feel free to post any cycling memories - I'd be happy to hear them!!

Betcha can't build just one (or three) . . .

2012-01-19T23:10:00.001-03:30

After hemming and hawing for the past several months, I've decided to build a new boat!! I'm very happy with my stitch and glue Point Bennett. It's a great boat for paddling but I really want a play/rolling boat as well. I built my SOF Disko Bay for that purpose but am finding the boat, while great for rolling, is not the most "playful", i.e., it tracks like a train on a track and turns just as easy!!!! I'm thinking I'm a bit big for the Disko and I never took the time to scale up the plans to accommodate my size!!

So, the job is determine what boat I'd like to build. And I've decided on the Black Pearl by Björn Thomasson, a Swedish designer.

Image courtesy of http://www.thomassondesign.com

The boat is described as " . . . a long, low and narrow kayak of east Greenland ancestry – extremely easily handled, instantly reacting to shift of weight, leaning etc, and with enough secondary stability to support leaned turns, balance brace and such. It is very easily rolled."

The beauty of the Black Pearl is that Thomasson requires a variety of body measurements so that he can custom the design/plans for the individual, ensuring a kayak that properly fits!!! I just took my measurements, submitted them online and now must the plans via mail.

I was a little hesitant about starting a new boat as I thought Cheryl would think I was crazy. Tonight I decided to raise the matter. She didn't even bat an eye when I said I was going to start a new boat. Her first question was "Is it a strip boat?" I must add that Cheryl is enamored by the beauty of some local strippers (boats, that is) and has expressed a desire to have one. I replied that "yes", the boat is a strip boat BUT it will be painted black!! Her interest waned at that point but at least she didn't question my sanity on the whole matter.

So now I must begin the task of preparing the attic for construction, start collecting the necessary building materials and get my head around the whole build process. Oh dear gawd, what have I gotten myself into . . . AGAIN???

Christmas Greetings

2011-12-23T09:59:00.000-03:30

Merry Christmas

and a

Happy New Year!!!

My Bestest Paddle Ever . . .

2011-12-14T22:33:00.000-03:30

I've often been asked about how many Greenland paddles I have made. While it is true that I went through a phase of frenzied building in 2009 and 2010 and completed a total of 10 paddles, few of these are actually still in my arsenal. My first paddle (solid spruce) was given to my sister two summers ago after she bought her new boat. The second one is languishing in the shed and has not been used in almost two years. The third iteration (my first solid cedar) has been on a long term loan to a fellow paddler for over a year now. The fourth, I gave to my wife as it was a mere 25 oz in weight and just right for her. My fifth paddle is my primary one and is the main subject of this blog entry. My sixth paddle was a solid cedar storm paddle that sees very little use. Paddles 7 and 8 were laminated beauties with great potential but due to certain design flaws they failed with great fanfare. (Number 8 snapped in two while doing a rather enthusiastic high brace in front of Greg Stamer - do'oh!!) Paddle number 9 is a nice little solid spruce number that has been on long term loan to a fellow paddler while Number 10 is what I jokingly called the "Newfoundland Paddle" - it has a plastic edge with a wider blade for playing around the rocks.

So what makes paddle #5 so special?

It's a laminated paddle made with strips of Western Red Cedar, Spruce and Aspen. The loom has been hollowed out which dramatically reduces the weight yet it remains a strong paddle. This paddle comes in at 27 oz which is on par with most high end carbon fibre Euro paddles.

I've epoxied a plastic tip guard that has held up remarkably well for almost two years. It has managed to save the wooden tip of the paddle with no wear on the soft wood at all.

This is a fairly slender paddle - coming in at around 3.25" at the widest point of the blade. The loom is 1.25 x 1.125 and 22" in length. The paddle, overall, is 88". As per all my paddles, the edges are fairly sharp and the tips well rounded. This makes for a very quiet entry into the water. This paddle is a true joy to paddle. Also, the hollow look makes it very buoyant which is great for rolling!!

The picture below shows the detail of the tip. The white is coloured epoxy while the black is the plastic tip. The black tape is reflective.

In the beginning

After close to two years of use, I decided to do a major overhaul of the whole paddle. So I stripped the tips of most of the epoxy, removed the reflective tape and sanded the whole unit.

After stripping.

Looking a little rough.

My son wanted to see how the reflective tape worked, so I took a flash shot to illustrate.

Cool Jimi t-shirt!!

For a different look, I went with all black tips this time. In lieu of epoxy, I went with spray-on truck bed liner. This stuff is pretty tough and easier to touch up than the white tips!

As per usual, I finished the paddle with tung oil and I replaced the reflective black tape.

New tip detail.

A better idea of how it all looks!

Non-flash picture to show how the tips "normally" look.

I must admit that I am happy with the restoration project - considering it took only about an hour to complete. I was a tad apprehensive about the all-black tips but comments were favourable when I brought it to a pool session.

I guess she's ready for another two years of use, now. I certainly hope so because I'm not sure I can ever replicate this paddle!!

A back is a terrible thing to waste . . .

2011-11-18T21:22:00.000-03:30

I've been going through any number of attempts at creating a comfortable backrest for my Point Bennett. It started off as a solid foam pillar. This worked for a while until I found that it was creating pressure points on my back and the coaming was digging into my back whenever I tried a layback roll. As a result I found the boat a pain (literally) to roll and my roll actually suffered because of it. I did very little rolling in this boat this summer and I never even attempted a butterfly as I knew I could not get back on the deck enough to be successful.

After suffering through the "pillar" phase, I just yanked the thing altogether and went "backless" - oh la la!! This forced me to have a bit better posture in the boat but I soon found myself leaning all the way back to the coaming lip. It also exacerbated the problem with layback rolls as there was nothing between my back and the hard wooden lip!! Ouch!!

This all lead me to concoct some pretty drastic remedies to lower my rear coaming to help facilitate laybacks. The most "involved" was cutting off the rear deck, dropping the sheer line and replacing the deck!! Ughhh! But I was ready to do this if it meant easier rolls!!

Thankfully I decided to try a new approach for my backrest - a full foam affair that slanted back nicely to accommodate laybacks. I whipped up a prototype (sorry no pictures) and tried it at the Tuesday night pool session. Voila!! An hour of rolling and no pain plus I was getting my back right onto the back deck!! I managed to even get my butterfly back - on both sides. The stage was set for the "real deal".

Flash forward to Thursday night.

I whipped up a laminated wooden back band using some scrap 4mm ply left over from the hull.

Test fitting the laminated back band.

When it comes to foam, I always rely on the garden variety floor tile foam found at your local hardware store. 12.00 gets you an amount equivalent to a 2' x 2' x 2" piece of minicell foam!! Not a bad deal. You just need to laminate it if you need thicker stock. I use Marine Goop for this.

Foam tile with back band cut out.

I went with an angled foam pillar for a single support for the back band. I cut 6 pieces and glued them together. The lip of the seat plus friction holds the pillar in place.

Dry fitting the pillar pieces.

Clamping.

I used Marine Goop to glue the back band to the pillar. This stuff is very tenacious and with a large, flat gluing surface, this will not let go!! I added Gorilla Tape as an extra to keep the whole thing together. For those wondering, you will not see this tape as it's inside the hull and behind the seat.

From the back.

From the right side.

In place.

Initially, I had the back band snug to the rear coaming but this would severely hamper the self-bailing capabilities of the boat. One lift of the bow completely empties the hull and I did not want to mess with this at all. The whole assembly can be removed in seconds, if need be.

Showing the gap.

Of course it's too wet and cold to be doing this all outside, so the work was performed in the comfort of the living room - complete with woodstove that often made the heat unbearable. Great for drying the glue and paint, though.

Typical Friday night at my house!!

I have yet to test the new setup in the water but it's mighty comfortable sitting in it here in the living room. I also re-did my thigh and hip braces so I'm all ready to go. Sunday looks like a windy day on the water and may be just the time and place to give 'er a test!!

Stick a fork in me, I'm done - again!!

2011-10-23T23:44:00.001-02:30

Having built two boats in less than six months, I find myself just repeating blog entry names. Back in March I posted a blog entry with almost the same name when I was nearly finished the Point Bennett! Now, almost a month and a half after launching the Disko Bay, I am safe in saying that the boat is finally complete!!

Today, I made the decision that the deck lines were going to be finished. I've had the rope for several weeks but never got around to putting it on! It was a lovely fall day. It was sunny and warm so I dragged the boat out of the basement, popped into the back deck and set to work!! Besides the decklines, I also need to do some final touches on the back rest.

I've not decided on what type of flotation I will finally go with but for now I've got the fore and aft sections blocked with swimming noodles. Before drilling the holes for the aft deck lines, I had to take the noodles out.

How many noodles does it take the fill the aft hull?

Yep, all that foam does fit in there!

I originally had a foam pillar for a backrest but was finding that it created too much of a pressure point. I whipped up a new backrest with floor tile foam and it's working out great. I can add spacers behind it to change the angle. I made it to fit snug and added two wooden pegs to hold it in place.

Back band in place.

Peg to stop it from slipping forward.

The fwd hull is also stuffed with noodles and in order to keep them in place, I've cut and put in place a foam bulkhead . This bulkhead is not fastened but held in place merely by being pushed in tightly. Not a perfect fit but it works for testing purposes. I will replace with a better fit if the noodles actually work out.

This version of the Disko Bay, as it has a larger cockpit, does not have a true masik. As such, I've created one out of foam. It is put in place after you get in the boat and is removed before you exit. It acts a brace for your thighs for paddling and rolling. In the event of an emergency exit, it will simply pop put of place.

Foam masik

I used black rope for my decklines and maple for the links. The holes in the gunwales are sealed with black Goop. The following images show the lines and fittings and need no description.

In the meantime, I'm more than pleased with the outcome!!

Club Paddle - Aquaforte, October 22, 2011

2011-10-23T22:49:00.003-02:30

KNL, traditionally, has its final club paddle in September but this year it never materialized - in that month anyway. Word went out from Gerard, a.k.a. G-man, that a paddle was being planned for the weekend of October 22-23. The weather proved more than favourable and crew of 11 paddlers showed up for a lovely-tell-yer-Mudder-kinda-day on the bay. Below are all the shots I took that day. Sorry, nothing spectacular but they'll do!!

Heading out!!

Hanging out!

Da b'ys!

Peter cruising along with Ferryland in the background!

At the Arch!

Neville in the "Alex" position!

Gerard in a cave, as per usual!

Great spot for a bite!!

Lots of water in the river!

If you look really close you will see Peter in the lower left of the falls

Our illustrious leader, G-Man!

Blowing a gasket . . .

2011-10-03T12:19:00.000-02:30

Well, I had a feeling it was going to happen soon. While the suit is only 15 mos old, I could see tell tale signs that the neck gasket was getting soft. To be honest, I always thought that this particular gasket was rather thin. This was nice as it was not too restrictive yet it gave a good seal. Anyways, I was finally giving my suit a much-needed wash after the paddle on Sat when I noticed that the latex looked cracked. I stretched it a bit with my fingers and whammo, it ripped from top to bottom in one quick tear. Not that I wanted this to happen but it's better to have it happen at home than on the water somewhere!!

I'd done gaskets before so I was not fazed by the prospect of having to replace it. Actually my first gasket was not a replacement but rather a new installation. Cheryl's suit had a neoprene collar and I installed a new latext gasket. That was a much harder job than just replacing an existing rubber gasket.

Split from stem to stern!!

A quick call to the Outfiters confirmed that they had an XL gasket in stock - thank gawd! Last time I did a neck gasket I borrowed the wooden discs and ring from a fellow paddler. This time I decided to make my own because a) I know I'd need them again sometime in the future and b) the individual I borrowed them from last year is "in between" houses right now and I rather not bother him to find them for me. A few pieces of scrap 4mm plywood and 30 minutes of work and I had my own set of jigs. The instructions provided by Kokatat gave sizes that did not work with the gasket I had purchased so I had to re-work the inside diameter of the ring to accommodate the difference in size.

I'm not sure if this is "standard" but the old gasket was stitched to the suit fabric and sealed with seam tape. There was no glue/sealant on the gasket, itself. This made removal of the gasket a bit harder but I managed to get a pretty clean surface.

Wooden disk wrapped in wax paper and in position.

Getting ready to apply the Aquaseal.

Last time I did a neck gasket I had to use a wide variety of clamps and clothes pins and "what have ya" to hold the gasket in place while the Aquaseal setup. The biggest job was trying to get even pressure to prevent creep. But not this time!!! Schedule 40 clamps came to the rescue once again!!! These simple little clamps are rapidly becoming my favourite tool - from hatches, to deck fittings, to cockpit coamings, to thigh braces, to gunwales, back to cockpit coamings and on to fabric skin.

Once I positioned the gasket in place, I simply ran a ring of Schedule 40s around the whole jig and voila - even pressure all the way 'round with no creep!! Also, I was not fighting with the extra weight of the metal clamps that have a tendency to pull the fabric downward and cause movement of the gasket.

Looks like some kind of insect!!

Modern art??

After making sure that the everything was seated propely I left the whole thing overnight. The next morning I pulled off the clamps, removed the jigs and BADDA BOOM BADDA BING, a "factory" job

"Factory", as they say!!

The first time I tried this operation, I was covered in head to toe with Aquaseal, the gasket tried to creep off the jigs, I cursed and swore etc etc. This time, it was almost too easy. Familiarity with the process and remaining calm are the big things - and, let's not forget that those Schedule clamps make all the difference in the world!!

Now I need to do a "real world" test to see how it all works out, i.e., check for leaks!! I'll also have to be bit more vigilant with the UV protectant as well!!

Thanks for dropping by,

Sean

Absence makes the heart grow fonder . . .

2011-10-02T00:21:00.003-02:30

There's an old saying that absence makes the heart grow fonder. In other words, if you're without something for a while, you'll find that you really like it or miss it!! Today was the first time in some time that I took the Point Bennett (PB) out for a cruise. With the Disko Bay being the "latest thing", I've spent more time playing with it, figuring out its idiosyncrasies and trying to make it comfortable. In the meantime I've forgotten how the PB feels on the water. I've spent a fair bit of time/effort making the PB fit me and today, when I sat the cockpit, it all came back. "Hand in a glove" is a term used to describe two things that fit well together. When I sat in my PB today, that is how I felt. I was home. I was comfortable.

PB waiting to hit the water at St. Philips

Today was an easy paddle. I sat in the back of the group and just tooled along - enjoying the lovely warm day, the bounce of the water. No need to push. We had a headwind on the way up but nothing serious. On the trip back we had a following sea. I caught a few good waves and was quickly reminded how fast this boat can be. "Rocket" comes to mind!! No skeg in a following sea means you have to rely on edging for control - maybe a bit of paddle rudder to keep you on track. All was good.

Today was a good day to remember that the PB is a damn fine boat to paddle - real sea boat!!

Sean

Where it all began . . .

2011-09-25T23:13:00.000-02:30

In the "About Me" section to the right of this post, you'll see that I mention making a skin on frame (SOF) kayak at the age of 13. For years (perhaps 30) this little boat has languished in the crawlspace under my uncle's log house. I knew it was there but never really bothered to look at it - until this weekend.

With the completion of my new SOF, the Disko Bay, I experienced a new desire to see the boat where it all began, i.e., my interest in kayaking and kayak construction. I decided to dig out the old boat and see how I made out with the build.

Before moving onto the pictures, there are a number of things you must take into consideration:

a) I was only thirteen,

b) I had never laid eyes on a real kayak other than in pictures,

c) I built this without any adult help whatsoever. My Dad worked at Horwood Lumber and provided me with the materials but everything else was done solo,

d) I did not have a workshop. I built in the kitchen at first and later in a makeshift shelter outside and

e) I did not have a plan. I simply drew it up and went from there.

For 30 years in a damp, unheated, dirt-floored crawlspace, the boat has held up remarkably well. There is no rot in the wood and only one section of canvas has shown deterioration.

The boat measures 13' feet long by 21" wide with a foredeck height of 11". Initially the foredeck was flat with a very small opening for the legs. I found this too hard to enter so I raised the foredeck by adding a curved piece onto the existing frame. I then stitched in a new piece of canvas to accommodate the structural changes. This added piece of canvas is the only one showing significant damage.

When I raised the foredeck, I added two pieces of plywood to either side to give the cockpit a more oval shape than the initial fully open rectangle. I added a backrest but I'm not sure why I made it pointy!?!?!? Not the best boat for doing layback rolls, what??

Cockpit looking fwd.

Showing the raised foredeck.

I'm not sure how I came to know about how to build a SOF but my construction techniques are not a whole lot different than those used on the Disko Bay.

You will notice that I screwed up on the stringer placements. Instead of placing the middle stringers at the chine, I put them in the middle. This resulted in the ribs/frames poking out the canvas. I did not notice this until I had the thing skinned and as the paint dried, it pulled the fabric taut and my mistake became painfully obvious. I always thought that is made the hull look like a starving cow!!

Looking fwd.

Port bow. Can't remember if the rocker was intentional or not.

Certainly not fancy but a good first try for a 13 yr old!!

If you are to paddle, then, obviously, you need a paddle. If you can build a boat, then you can build a paddle, I figured. My Dad gave me a piece of handrail and I fastened two plywood blades - and voila, an unfeathered kayak paddle. I re-found the paddle a couple of years ago in the woods and saved it from the elements by putting it in the shed. This weekend is the first time in 30 years that they've been reunited.

Boat and paddle - reunited and it feels so good.

I'm thinking that I'll put this boat in my basement now. It's dry and free of bugs or any other creatures who'd do it harm. It'll never hit the water again but it will hold it's place with my other boats.

As I was revisiting the past with this old boat, my Disko Bay was close by getting a new coat of paint. While these two boats are world's apart in finesse and craftsmanship, they are basically the same concept. It's just that one was built by a 13 year old boy with no knowledge of kayak design and/or construction. The other was built by a 45 year old man with a wealth of information found on the Internet and in books, with all the necessary tools and a workspace and with firsthand knowledge on how to actually paddle a kayak. All things considered, that 13 year old boy did alright, don't you think?

SOF - the latest iteration.

Hmm, this one doesn't look like a starved cow.

Thanks for dropping by and reliving a little history with me.

Sean

A house gives birth and a maiden voyage - yet again!!

2011-09-06T00:22:00.000-02:30

Back in April of this year, I launched a new boat and I made a blog entry titled - A house gives and a maiden voyage. Well, now its just over 5 months later and I am making a second blog entry with the same name.

With the exceptions of deck rigging and stem/stern keel strips, my Disko Bay is finished.

Below are some pictures showing the boat leaving the house and of its maiden voyage.

Look familiar??

No snow on the ground this time!!

Disko Bay meeting the rest of the "family"

Hanging out by the pool, i.e, fish pond.

The blunt end!

The pointy end!!

Very nice profile!!

Very nice lines!!

Lean and mean at a mere 28lbs!!

Obligatory standing-on-end shot!

Baffin and Disko ready to hit the water!

I decided to take the boat to the pond for its maiden voyage. I made this decision for a couple of reasons - a) there was a bit of wind on the bay and I was not sure how the boat would handle, b) I was not sure how hard it would be launching from the beach and c) I do not have my flotation bags made yet.

Cheryl and I packed up the car, racked the two boats and hit the pond.

The boat certainly handled a lot better than the last time it was on the pond!! Freeboard was a bit low, as to be expected, but at least it did not sink (hahahaha)

I'm not sure if the low freeboard is affecting edged turning but it seemed like the boat wanted to turn to the edged side as opposed to away from it. Still experimenting to check this out.

This boat is no pig. It can be brought up to pretty good speed. Initial stability is a bit low but easily gotten used to!

As was anticipated, this boat rolls very nicely. The total height at the back (including the coaming) is just 6.75" so lay back rolling is a piece of cake. My first roll went so easy that I came flying up like a rocket. My current boat rolls easy but the force required for this one is far less - I guess I used too much power!! Sculling braces are a breeze and balance bracing will come very easily!

Sittin' pretty!

Just scullin' about!!

Image form a video capture of sculling.

We spent about 1.5 hours puttering around the pond.

I'll admit that I was bit disappointed in how the boat felt and handled. It just seemed pretty much like any other of my boats - with the exception of the rolling and other stationary manoeuvres. I figured (hoped) it was just that it was new to me. We packed everything back up and headed home. On the way home we drove through St. Philips, an area where we often take short paddles. There was a good breeze blowing but the water at the shore was calm. A great chance to take the boat out on the salt water. I'm sure glad I did.

I launched without incident. The low masik on the boat makes my regular entry impossible - one leg followed by the other. This boat requires a lot more balance. Inside the harbour it was pretty calm - a good place to get a feel for the boat. As I moved out around the headland, the wind/waves increased a fair bit. The weather station at the local yacht club was recording winds of 14 knots at the time. Nothing out of the ordinary but at least it gave me a better feel of the new boat. After paddling for a few minutes, I came to a decision that this boat will never touch the pond again!! On the salt water it was a different beast. The movement of the water brought the boat to life. It seemed to turn quicker. It flexed with the waves. I was happy to see that it did not plow through the waves as much as I was expecting. It rode them quite nicely. There was enough wind and wave to create some surf-like conditions as well. I caught a few waves and the boat tracked nicely - it was not pushed off to the side, nor did the bow dig in nor the stern get pushed under. I was impressed given its low volume and my weight (just under 200lbs).

Putting in a St. P. There was a crowd of about 30 people on the beach!

In the end, I'm glad we made the detour to St. Philip's. It showed me the capabilities of this boat. Besides, it is a West Greenland replica, so shouldn't it be more at home on the salt water? I think I'm going to enjoy seeing what it can do!!

Thanks for dropping by.

Who would have thought polyester could look so look good . . .

2011-08-30T12:06:00.000-02:30

Admit it, when you hear of polyester your mind flashes to images of 1970's leisure suits. You know, the kind that Herb Tarlek wore on the sit-com WKRP in Cincinnatti. How can something look good when made of 100 poly? Simple, if you're using 8oz cloth to cover your skin on frame kayak. And even easier when it has nice lines like the Disko Bay. Read on and all will be revealed!!

As per Dave Gentry's advice I went with 8oz polyester from George Dyson of Dyson, Baidarka & Company in Bellingam, Washington. Within hours of contacting George via email, he had my fabric on the way via post. Using foresight, I decided to order enough fabric to do two boats (Betcha' can't build just one). Somehow George managed to fold and fit all that cloth into one small box and I paid the same cost of shipping as it would for enough fabric to do a single boat. Hats off to George for some of the best service I've received with online ordering. It was too bad that my order was shipped just prior to the national postal strike as my package bounced all over North America trying to get delivered. But I digress!!

I'm not sure about other fabrics but this poly seems really tough. It's a pain to cut with scissors and/or razor blade knife as it tends to unravel. Using a hot knife (no, not THAT kind of hot knife) works great if you have one. I've been cutting it with scissors/razor blades and cauterizing the frayed edges with a small butane torch.

After draping the poly over the frame, I used (you guessed it) Schedule 40 clamps to hold the fabric in place while I did the rough cuts.

Schedule 40s at work on the bow portion of the boat.

After trimming the fabric, I began stitching it up using a simple running stitch. I used a hemostat to hold the already-stitched fabric while I moved on along the seam. Initally I thought of using dental floss to stitch the seams but was having trouble finding unwaxed (Waxed would cause adhesion problems with the paint used to seal the fabric). A number of years ago I was really into stunt kite flying and I knew I had some Dacron line laying about somewhere. I managed to dig it out and it worked perfectly for the stitching.

It took a few hours, over two evenings, to drape, cut and do the running stitch on both the fore and aft decks. It was not as tedious as I thought it was going to be. I simply flipped on some music, had a beer at the "ready" and got into the "sewin' zone"!!

Stitching up the aft deck

Aft deck running stitch complete.

Stern shot showing the nice lines.

Aft deck - yet again. Seam is straighter than as shown in this image.

Preliminary testing of fit around the cockpit area. Getting a tight fit will not be a problem.

Move on to fore deck and repeat . Working above the deck stringers just ahead of the cockpit.

Fore and aft deck running stitching completed. The true shape of the hull finally emerges. I'm a happy camper.

With the seam held with the running stitch, it was time to follow up with another stitch designed to create a tighter closure to the seam. This one was a little trickier and more time consuming. The idea is to roll the fabric down tight and hold with an overhand (?) stitch. The result, when pulled tight looks like a braid.

Cheryl came up to be with me as the kids were downstairs watching TV. It was a Saturday night and we had a bottle of wine open. I was having trouble doing the roll and stitching so we devised a routine. Cheryl would roll the fabric and hold it while I would follow up with the stitching. It worked like a charm. We'd do a bit, stop and have a sip of wine. Do a bit more. Give the fingers a break. Have a sip of wine. Repeat. Within 2 hrs we had the aft deck completed.

So, Cheryl and I spent the early part of the evening paddling on the bay and later that night we worked on my new kayak while enjoying a few glasses of wine and a few laughs to boot!!

All I can say is there "Ain't no woman (Like the one I got)"

Great teamwork!!

Working our way to the stern.

Cheryl putting her sewing skills to work on the stern.

The aft deck completed. A good night's work. And still some wine in the glass - even better!!

On Sunday evening I found that I could, indeed, do the rolled stitching myself so I proceeded to work alone. In a matter of hours I had the fore deck completed. Sorry no pictures but it came out pretty much exactly like the stern - you get the picture?

Stay tuned. Up next is painting and affixing of the cockpit coaming.

Sean

Things are coaming along . . .

2011-08-21T22:36:00.001-02:30

The coaming was next on the list. I took the template I had from my Point Bennett and reduced it in both length and width. This one is pretty snug to my hips.

I toyed with the idea of making a steam bent laminated coaming but decided to go with a Yost-style plywood setup. It consists of a 1/2" baseplate and a 3/4" + 1/2" spacer and lip combination.(See details below)

Checking out the template.

Using the template, I marked and cut the 3/4" spacer from Russian Birch plywood. I then used the spacer to mark off the lip on the 1/2" plywood. I increased the width of the lip to 1 1/2".

Gluing up the 3/4" + 1/2" spacer/lip combo. Baseplate against the wall on the right.

1/2" is too thick for a coaming lip so I decided to router out the lip and bring it down to 1/4" thickness. Using a DIY router table I made about 20 years ago, I reduced down the lip. Now the spacer is 1" thick with a 1/4" lip on top

The underside of the coaming lip. The 1/2" lip has been trimmed down to 1/4" which then increased the spacer to 1".

Baseplate and coaming laid in place.

Test fit. Looks good so far!

Looking aft.

Before attaching the baseplate, I need to make two stanchions that will support the coaming at the sides. This will greatly increase the stiffness of the coaming and provide added strength at points where extra strain is put on the coaming during entry and exit of the boat.

A different kind of plastic boat . . .

2011-08-08T23:58:00.000-02:30

With not a whole lot more work to do on the frame (sand and do a bit more lashing) I decided to do the plastic wrap test. In other words, wrap the frame up with plastic and tape to see how it works in the water!! Cheryl picked me up 7 meters of "medium" weight plastic and, using Gorilla Tape, we set to "skinning" the new boat. Nothing fancy but it worked!!

We extracted the boat from the attic via the stairs and front window - just like with my Point Bennett back in April. Tied it to the car and headed for Healey's Pond for a quick test.

Wrapped and ready to leave the attic.

Racked.

It floats!!

The masik is a little low so I can't get in like I do with my other boats. I even manged to fit my feet in eventhough I was wearing my booties. I was afraid they'd be too clunky to fit.

First thing we all noticed was the VERY low freeboard - about 1.5" at the sheer by my hips. Still, I was able to take the boat for a paddle and managed to keep water from shipping in. The additional height of the cockpit coaming will help with this. While paddling, I was unable to edge at all but the boat turned nicely.

Squeezing in.

Cheryl shot a short video of me on the first paddle. Here's the link - Disko Bay plastic wrap test

Just sittin' Dig the demon eyes!!

After paddling about for a bit, I decided to do some edging anyways. After a few dips of the gunwales under the water, the boat proceeded to fill up quickly. Due to the fact that the paddler's weight is in the back and thus boat is inclined to sit lower in the back, all the water rushes backwards and the boat quickly sinks arse-first with the bow in the air!! I ejected but had to the push the boat back to shore while I swam along with it. I was out a few hundred feet at the time - D'oh!!

Dumping the water.

And again.

The last drops!

I was "bouncing" the frame here. There's little bit of flex but nothing much.

As she floats "unloaded"

I'm a bit unsure about the low freeboard. I'm going to post on the Kayak Building Forum for advice. I can quite easily add 1" to the overall height of the sheer but if I don't have to then I won't.

By the way, for anybody wondering, the frame (sans cockpit coaming) is weighing in at 19 lbs!!!

Sean

Disko Bay Update . . . Finally

2011-08-06T01:35:00.000-02:30

After what seems like quite some time, I'm finally getting around to posting an update on the Disko Bay (DB) project!! I have been picking away at this boat for some time but between family camping trips and a general laziness with regards to blog entries, I've not been good at keeping an ongoing account of my work. Hence this posting!!

The gunwales/sheer on the DB are quite curved. Instructions state that pre-curving is required. If not, the gunwales will pull up on the boat causing hogging. (Reverse rocker is not a good thing) I initially tried soaking the gunwales with hot water and then bending them but the resulting curve was not enough. When I fitted the frames, the gunwales pulled the keel up so much that all rocker was lost. One of the other options suggested by Dave Gentry (designer) was to cut the ends of the gunwales into three strips, bend to desired curve and then glue. I decided to go this route. I simply took a sharp handsaw and ripped the gunwales. Then I bent them to the exact desired curve, applied some Elmer's Waterproof glue and a whack of Schedule 40 clamps. Badda Boom Badda Bing - the exact curve that I needed!!

Schedule 40's doing their "thing"

I decided to peg and lash the stringer/gunwales/frames.

Tie down strap holds stringers in place while holes are drilled and pegs put in place.

Use of tie down straps and clamps to hold the shape. Level used to make sure that hull is not twisted.

The frames/gunwales/stringers are lashed using synthetic sinew (waxed nylon) that was purchased, believe it or not, at Michael's Craft Store. This stuff is damn strong and the wax creates great friction so that it holds very nicely.

A lashed join.

Sinew wrapped around a block of wood for greater pull!!

Lashing the frames was not an onerous task but it was bit hard on the hands. The sinew had a tendency to cut into the skin. Still, once a "system" was established, it became quite an easy task.

The plans for the DB do not include templates for the stem and stern. These are left to the builder's discretion. Using the scale drawings from Harvey Golding's Kayaks of Greenland, I determined the length of the stem should be about 28" while the stern should be about 18" Taking these measurements I set about to cutting templates. I used some corriplast (corrugated plastic) I had laying about.

Initial fitting of the stem.

After some trimming.

Here's the actual 11mm plywood stem based on the template seen in the images above!

After some trimming and planing, the gunwales and chines fit nice and tight!

Of course a kayak has two ends, so here's the stern template in its early stages!

And the stern glued and clamped!!

The stem glued and clamped.

There are two deck stringers just behind the cockpit. I pegged these into place as seen below. Note: I put some glue on these prior to driving them home. In the image below I left one inserted halfway. After taking the picture I tried to drive it all the way but the glue had swelled it too much. I had to drill out the peg and re-insert a new one!! Note to self: glue makes things swell very QUICKLY!!

Back deck stringer pegged into place.

Back deck stringers.

Unbound!!! The frame off the strongback!!

After installing the rear deck stringers, the next step is adding the foredeck stringers!! This is where there was some finagling of the original DB design. At 6'3" with size 13 shoes, I'm thinking I'm a bit outside of the "typical" Inuit body size!! I had to raise the height of the deck at the footrest. This required some changes to the shape of the foredeck. After some tweaking I came up with a look that I could "live" with!!

The mock-up of the foredeck.

Well, at least I can fit in there!!

A closer look at the foredeck stringers. Should look fine under the fabric.

Well, that's where the project stands right now. A little more work on the frame, i.e., sanding and some more lashing and then I'm ready for the polyester "skin" .

Looking forward to seeing this on the water. I'm hoping I'm not too heavy for it. If I sink it, I guess Cheryl get's herself a new SOF!!!

Cheers,
Sean

The Perfect Storm . . . of spray skirt problems.

2011-07-18T11:01:00.001-02:30

Wikipedia defines a perfect storm as "an expression that describes an event where a rare combination of circumstances will aggravate a situation drastically." I experienced a mini perfect storm this weekend while paddling.

By way of background, my 2 year old Seals Shocker sprayskirt has been "acting up" lately. I've noticed that after every paddle I've had a lot more water in my boat than my fellow paddlers. I just assumed that it was water coming in around my waist or under the skirt rand while I was rolling and edging. I never really put much though into until about a month ago. I was on a paddle and after 1.75 hours in the boat, I had about 2" of water in the cockpit. I asked others if they ever had any water enter while paddling. The general consensus was "no" to " just a little". I bailed the boat out at lunch and we paddled back to the take-out. After 1 hr of steady paddling, again I had about 2-3" water in the boat. I was confused as I consciously paddled with the boat upright so that the cockpit coaming stayed out of the water.

That night I did a good visual inspection of my skirt and I'll be damned if there weren't holes in the deck areas by my waist and back. I could pull the neoprene tight and see light through the holes!!! I popped on a neoprene patched and on the smaller holes I whacked on the aquaseal.

Subsequent paddles saw a great reduction of water in the boat - but still a little more than I'd like. I left the skirt alone and just continued to use it as is.

Fast forward to Sat, July 16. A group of us left Mobile en route to Tors Cove. There was a good swell on and the clapotis was very chaotic (See Dean's and Tony's blog entries). As the trip went on I noticed the boat getting a lot less stable. I was thinking that I was either getting tired or my new boat wasn't a stable craft in rough water. At one point I stopped to switch paddles and almost went over during the transition - not something I was expecting. Then I noticed that I could feel water sloshing under the backs of me knees. I popped the skirt and there was about 3" water sloshing around in the cockpit. There was my problem. We all know that you can throw some water in your boat for good balancing practice but I would not suggest that you do it while on a paddle in rough water!!

I rafted up with Neville and pumped all the water out. Badda Boob Badda Bing, the boat was back to it's old tippy, but much more predictable self!!

So where's the Perfect Storm in all this, you ask? What were the combined conditions? First, and most obvious, is the fact that I had a skirt that leaked like a sieve. The water leaking into the cockpit was throwing off the stability of the boat dramatically. Every lean into an edge, send a significant weight of water to the lower side of the boat, making it hard to maintain that edge safely. The second factor was the chaotic wave action which was sending the water from side to side quite rapdily making for a very unstable boat. This went on for most of the paddle and was quite taxing.

The third, and final, factor is directly related to the nature of the Greenland paddle (GP). GPs do not have drip rings and their long blades are buried in the water right up to the paddlers hands. Therefore, they tend to pick up a LOT of water, which runs down the shaft and drops right onto your spraydeck. When you paddle with a GP your sprayskirt is ALWAYS - even if the water is dead calm with no splash or wave action. On Saturday I looked at a fellow paddler's skirt. We were paddling in the same conditions but his was drying in the sun, while mine had big water puddles on it. He was using a Euro paddle with drip rings.

The combination of a leaking skirt which was exacerbated by the fact that my paddle was shipping large amounts of water, which subsequently went "below decks" while paddling in chaotic water, was, indeed, my perfect storm of spray skirt problems.

I toyed with the idea of buying a new skirt (104.00 + tax) but opted to seal the worn areas with half a tube of Aquaseal. It's good and tight now but for how long? From now on I will be inspecting my skirt a little more closely. I'd suggest that others do the same.

Cheers,

Sean

Disko Bay - Taking Shape

2011-07-14T16:21:00.000-02:30

It's been quite a while since I've posted any updates on the Disko Bay build. I ordered my "skin" from George Dyson in Washington just prior to the postal strike. For reasons unknown, the package first went to Mexico, then it was bounced off Canada because of the strike. For weeks there was no update on its status until one day it finally said that it was in Canada. A few days later it arrived at my door!!

The arrival of the polyester was the reason to get back at working on the boat. I already had the frames cut and the gunwales and stringers ripped. The intention was to build outside as weather permitted but the summer started off so slow that I got very little done that way.

Checking frames in the very beginning of the build. This was a on the b-ball court in the backyard.

I also needed to find a strongback on which to build the boat. By chance I was also constructing a new deck and amongst the lumber was a very straight piece of 2x6x12. I poked it in the basement for safe keeping. With the arrival of the fabric I decided I needed to get going on this project and this meant not relying on the elements, i.e., building outdoors. I already had an 18 ft work table in the attic from when I built my Point Bennett so I decided to move the project indoors to familiar territory.

In a matter of minutes I had the strongback set up on the table and was off to the races. Below are a few shots of the work I completed the first evening. This is just a testing phase to see how the things fit together and what I'm up against. For those who followed my blog during the construction of the Point Bennett, you will immediately recognize the surroundings!!

Looking Fwd. Frames, keel and gunwales in place temporarily.

Looking aft @ amidships. Gunwales and chines in place temporarily.

Looking FWD @ amidships. A very flat after deck.

Looking aft from the bow.

I know it's not much to report but the intent of this blog entry is to show that, indeed, I am still actively pursiung this build. Now that I have the strongback setup in a "stable and predictable" environment, work should progress nicely.

Stay tuned!!

p.s For some reason I cannot respond to my blog or make comments on any others. So if it seems like I'm ignoring you, I'm not. I just can't figure out what is wrong with my account!!

Just Bein' Thankful . . .

2011-07-07T11:02:00.000-02:30

As I write this entry, it's pretty much 14 years to the hour of a significant event in my life.

It was a beautiful sunny July morning. We were in the midst of building our new house yet we were taking the day off to join family in Northern Bay Sands. Prior to leaving, I wanted to do some work on the roof. I was alone and in, a very stupid move, placed a ladder where it should never be - from the porch roof to the eve (two stories up). I overreached at one point and the ladder became unbalanced and started to slide off the roof - with me on it!! I can still see and feel that moment in slow motion. That feeling of falling. The feeling that you can do nothing to stop it. The awareness to tuck my head into my chest before hitting the ground below. And finally that dull thud on the back of my neck as it hit the compacted rock and gravel!! (I have the willies now as I think of it!!)

I lay on the ground for just a moment. Then though that if I don't get up now, I may never get up. I pulled myself up, feeling the dull pain in the back of my neck , and proceeded to walk the severl hundred meters down the road to where we were living. I was dazed but, trying to look alright, I said hello to my wife's aunt who was out on her front step. When I got home, the door was locked and Cheryl was in the shower. Finally she heard me and opened the door. I said that I wasn't feeling well and that I wanted to lie down. When I did, I noticed that my right elbow wasn't quite right - it felt kind of loose.

I said I was fine and that I just needed to rest before we went to Northern Bay. It was then decided that we should go to the hospital. We got in the car and I placed a piece of wood under my arm to support it. Cheryl (who was nine months pregnant) drove. On the way out I noticed that my neck hurt when I tried to turn it to the right and it wouldn't go all the way. As per usual, I kept testing it to see how far I could turn before it really hurt!! On the way out, the gear stick on the car popped out and we had to drive the whole way in third gear - even at red lights!!

At the emergency ward, the nurse who checked us in, for some reason, took me in right away. I was packed off for x-rays right away. While lying on the gurney, I still kept trying to turn my head all the way to the right. The Tech said "You really shouldn't be doing that". I stopped!!

X-rays confirmed that I cracked two bones in my neck and that I had subluxation (shifting) of a few vertebrae in my lower neck. I had also broken off a chip of bone in my elbow and it was loose in the joint. I was told that I was very lucky not to be paralyzed and even luckier, still, to be alive. The cracks in the vertebrae were very close to the nerves - damage to those nerves would've meant paralysis.

To make a longer story short - I was on my back in hospital for 4 days. I was fitted with a neck brace that prevented neck movement for 4 months. My elbow was casted for a few days but they removed it and sent me to physio right away. Physio on a broken elbow ain't fun. The first time, I took pain killers. The therapist was not happy - she needed to know how much pain I was in during the exercises!!

Three weeks later my son was born. I was still in a lot of discomfort but at least I was there for him!!

So why this post, then? Because, eventhough I still have residual effects from the accident - like a right arm that cannot straigthen out nor rotate all the way and sometimes my neck makes funny noises like it has sand in it - I'm still here and still able to do most of the things that I want to. Kayaking is certainly one of them.

In a nutshell, I guess I'm just thankful.

It's a Start

2011-06-16T10:52:00.002-02:30

After a week of reading/researching and dredging up materials, I'm actually getting around to starting the Disko Bay. I easily managed to find some cedar at Home Depot that I can rip for the gunwales, chine and keel. Finding the plywood for the frames was another matter. Marine plywood cannot be gotten easily in this neck of the woods. I could order a sheet but the cost would be over 200.00 a sheet - eventhough I only need 1/4 of a sheet. Regular exterior grade plywood can be used but this wood tends to be very splintery when you cut it and often full of voids. I just find it nasty stuff to work with!! I toyed with the idea of making the frames from solid cedar pieces lap joined together - but that was proving to be too complex a job and I'd be better off going with the exterior grade plywood for the amount of extra work involved.

One more trip to Home Depot yielded an interesting find - Russian Birch plywood. I had no idea if it was exterior/interior or what and the sales dude was not much help either. Interior/exterior plywood is classed by the waterproofness of the glue. Incidently, the standards for testing the glue involves boiling. There was no indication what type of glue was used. My frames call for 1/2". There was 11.5mm and 17.5mm (13 ply) available in 2x4 sheets. Always erring on the side of caution, I grabbed the 17.5mm 2x4 sheet and decided to give it a whir. Without going ahead willynilly and building a boat with plywood that could possibly melt once water hit it, I decided to give this stuff a test. And the test was as follows:

I cut off one corner (there goes any chance for a 33.00 refund from Home Depot), sanded one edge smooth (this stuff has incredibly hard edge grain) and popped it into a pot of boiling water where it sat for a full hour at a rolling boil. At one point, about five minutes in, I thought the plys were delaminating but on closer inspection, it was refraction or the water distorting how it looked, After an hour I took the piece out and the plies were intact. I took a knife and tried to separate the plies but no go. They were stuck as fast as when they went in. Even the sanded surafce was still as smooth - with no rasied grain! In a similar test, I dropped in a piece of "supposed" exterior fir plyood but it did not fare so well - I could split the laminations with the knife.

After the boiling I put the test piece in the freezer for a few hours. The dishwasher was due for a run, so, just for poops and giggles, I took the wood and popped it in with the cutlery. After three water cycles with the water temp at 160, the wood was still intact. I threw it in the freezer overnight just to be mean!! The next day, I dropped it diectly from the freezer back into a pot of boiling water. After 20 minutes, I took the boilding water and wood and threw it in a thermos and took it off to work with me. At lunch time, I replaced the water with freshly boiled. After 8 hours in boiling/very hot water, there was still no delamination, nor could I separate the plies with a knife. That's good enough for me!! The only consequences of the exposure to boiling water were the facts that the wood swelled about 1mm in width and it went a dull gray-ish colour. Again, fine by me!! As a footnote - I will be encapsulating the frames in epoxy for further waterproofness!!!

Let the games begin!!

Test piece after the boiling/freezing. Glue intact and edge still smooth!!

Having determined that the plywood was suitable, I could move onto making the frames. The "plans" that Dave Gentry provides are simply a set of offsets (measurements) to make the frames. In the image below you will see these offsets. (I purposely blurred the numbers. If you want them you will have to contact Dave yourself). This was just a test run of frame #3 marked (with an an extra 1" added to the masik - an idea later abandoned) and cut from plywood underlay - not suitable for boat construction.

Below is marking out on the "real McCoy" Notice the fine surface on the wood. It is like this on both sides - which means no splintery and knotty side on the other!!

The first frame I cut is #3 or the masik. This frame is located right under the front of the cockpit rim. You will see that the height of the frame is 10". Add on another 1/2" for the deck stringer and that is the total height of this boat. Obviously your feet have to fit through this opening which is a mere 7" high. I'll have to rejig the deck height at the footbrace - frame #2 (thanks to size 12 shoes) but it should work out fine!! It's going to be snug, though!! The boat should be 21" wide.

Partially completed frame #3.

I'm telling myself that I will not pull a blitzkrieg on this build - like I did with my last boat. There's a lot less work and because there's no urgency to complete the boat nor the contraints of working with epoxy, I'm looking forward to a more leisurely building pace. For the record, the first frame took about 2 hrs to complete (loft and cut) but the next one's will probably take half that time!!

Of course, the time frames may be all moot. My polyester fabric left San Francisco enroute to Canada on June 12th. With the current strike, gawd knows where it is and when it'll get to me!!!!

Thanks for dropping by!!!

A SOF Distinct Possibility

2011-06-06T23:13:00.002-02:30

Just like building paddles can be addictive, so too can be boat building!! I really like my new boat and it will remain my "main ride" for some time but there's always been a certain allure of a skin on frame (SOF)!! Back in the late 1970's, as a teenager, I built two SOFs but they weren't up to snuff and they are both rotting now under my uncle's cabin!!

I think it's time to revisit the idea of making a SOF - and doing it right!

The Disko (not to be confused with Disco!!) Bay boat is a well documented and oft-reproduced kayak design from the West of Greenland. Dave Gentry of Gentry Custom Boats has devised a way to recreate the Disko Bay in non-traditional building method. It's a wooden framed skin boat but minus all the steam bent ribs. Instead there is a small number of frames made from marine ply. Once the frame is completed, it is skinned as per any other traditional SOF. The boat looks and feels just like a Disko Bay of traditional construction but with a lot less frame work.

Dave Gentry has also slightly modified the design to include a larger cockpit coaming as opposed to the traditional small round one - this is great for tall people with stiff knees. The design also has a raised masik and foredeck to accommodate larger feet - another bonus for me!!

Even with these modifications, this is one nice looking craft.

Image courtesy of Gentry Custom Boats

If I decide on this design, then the next big question is "When?" I keep saying it'll be winter project but I'm not sure I can wait that long!! Decisions!! Decisions!! Decisions!!

Paddle Canada Atlantic Paddling Symposium 2011

2011-05-24T09:48:00.001-02:30

After waiting for it for months, the 2011 Paddling Symposium has now come and gone. Unfortunately, I did not take nearly as many pictures or videos as I had originally intended so now I have to rely on my own memory. So, in the words of Bender, the crass robot in Futurama, "We're boned!!"

Getting there is NOT half the fun!!

My first session was Greenland paddling with Maligiaq Padilla. When it comes to Greenland paddling, Maligiaq is one of the best in the world. By way of background, Canoe and Kayak published a great article on him back in Feb of this year.

Saturday AM at Sandy Pond. Cold, windy and wet!

Maligiaq demonstrating his preferred loom length.

Maligiaq and students on Sandy Pond

On Sunday AM, I headed off to Sandy Cove to take part in a wind management session. The day was almost perfect for this session as there was a pretty stiff breeze blowing once out around the headland.

Sunday AM. Parking lot at Sandy Cove.

There was a number of sessions going on at the same time so there were a lot of boats and people on the beach.

That's a lot of boats. Sandy Cove beach.

Instructor Blair Doyle (NS) at the beginning of the session on Wind Management.

Sunday afternoon, I was back at Sandy Pond for Greenland rolling. By now the weather was breaking a little and the sun was actually trying to shine. When it did, it made all the difference in the world. But for some reason, the water in the pond felt even colder than the day before!!

On Saturday, Maligiaq asked me about my boat. I started to explain how it was designed by an individual (Duane Strosaker) in Califiornia but as soon as I said that, he knew right away who's design it was and that was why it looked familiar to him. He said that he'd never paddled one before but understood it to be fast because he was at another paddling event where Duane won the race. On Sunday Maligiaq asked to paddle my boat.. When he came back, the first thing he said is "This boat is very fast"!! Having not paddled a lot of different boat designs, myself, I do not have a good way of gauging a boat's speediness but that was my initial impression when I first paddled this new boat. I'm taking Maligiaq at his word - he'd know better than me

The funny thing is that Maligiaq is so small, when he sat in my boat, he makes it look huge!!

Sunday PM. Back at Sandy Pond. Maligiaq asked if he could try my boat.

As for the event, as a whole, sure, it's great to take in some instruction, but that's only one component of the Symposium (or Retreat). It's just fun to get out there among so many avid paddlers. There's lots to talk about, new boats to see and old friends to hook up with. We stayed in a house with 11 people. There's was lots of time spent sitting around just yakkin' while enjoying a few drinks, beers and/or wine. The two suppers were excellent. I always leave with great memories of the event and looking forward to coming back next year!

Kudos to the organizers and to all who attended. It was a great time!

Testing. Testing. 1-2-3. Testing.

2011-05-01T22:27:00.002-02:30

Finally a chance to give the new boat a good test. On Sunday a group of 8 paddlers left from Bauline en route to Pouch Cove. The total distance was 21.8 kms by my GPS. Total time in the boat was around 3.5 hrs. There was a variety of conditions ranging from flat water, to swells, to clapotis and even some surf. It was good chance to see how the boat reacted and to see how the new setup would feel after being in the boat for a few hours on end. Everything worked out great.

Thanks to Tony, Dennis, Dean, Stan, Tobias, Gerard and Clyde for a great paddle and here's a few shots from the day. Sorry, not much commentary. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves!

Putting in @ Bauline.

Dennis (l) and Dean (r) inside the breakwater.

Gerard cruising along . . .

. . . and checking out one of the neat caves we encountered.

Stan in a steady downpour!!

It rained pretty hard - 'nuff said!

Fog rolling down the hills.

Playing in one of the numerous waterfalls along the way.

Dean (l) and Clyde (r) sittin' in the surf.

Regrouping

Dennis

Tobias (l) and Gerard (r) getting ready to have lunch.

High and dry.

Between a rock and hard place. A little white paint was left behind!

Heading towards Pouch Cove.

Taking out in Pouch Cove #1.

Taking out in Pouch Cove #2

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle . . . .

2011-04-27T00:11:00.003-02:30

When I needed a seat for my new boat, I set to cannibalizing my plastic Baffin. First, I liked the seat and second, it fit in the new boat perfectly. Of course, this left a perfectly good boat without a seat. There was the option to replace the seat with a factory one but it would cost 160.00 plus tax and shipping = around 200.00. Ouch!!

I decided that I would build one out of foam. So I set to work but was not getting anywhere. It was a warm (relatively) day and I was working outside. Outside the shed stood two lawn chairs destined for the garbage next week. Suddenly I had the craziest idea - "I wonder if I could make a kayak seat out of a lawn chair?' I seem to recall seeing it done but did not know how well it would work out.

Your garden variety lawn chair!!

I simply started hacking, trying to get the chair to, at least, fit inside the hull. I made one cut that proved wrong but was later easily fixed by some West System G-Flex epoxy which is specifically designed for use with plastic.

First round of hacking and one bad cut. These "L" shaped pieces proved invaluable when left in place. The back was too high as well for comfortable lay backs.

B E G I N P A D D L I N G I N T E R L U D E

Having been cutting and fitting for about an hour and making some good headway, I put the seat away for a while so that Cheryl and myself could take our 11 year old daughter for a scoot about in St. Philips. Bridget showed an interest in going so we made hay while the sun shone.

Following Bridget out!

Cheryl (l) and Bridget (r)

Bridget all decked out in a drysuit and Greenland paddle!

Cheryl and Bridget stopping for a snack of almonds!

It was a nice little excursion about the harbour and it helped Bridget gain some confidence on the salt water. She handled her boat very well even though a good breeze came up and she even had to punch out through some waves after landing by herself on the beach. She's on the way!!

E N D P A D D L I N G I N T E R L U D E

As for the seat, I splinted and epoxied the mistaken cut and later that night I sanded and painted. Here's the final product:

Painted and the back trimmed to the right height.

The "L" shapes that I retained where perfect for bolting the seat to the boat - as per the existing holes in the hull! I reused the back band that originally came with the boat but did not use with the new one as I am experimenting with the foam pillar with that boat. I popped in the foam hip pads as well. Total installation took no more than 15-20 minutes.

Back band and hip pads in place.

For now the hip pads are held in place with Gorilla Tape.

While it may look nice, it feels even nicer. I was truly amazed at the level of comfort from this simple setup. It's actually more comfortable than the setup I have in my new boat!! My intention is to have Cheryl use this boat so I had her come outside and sit in the boat. I could tell from the initial look on her face that she, too, found the seat quite comfortable! She feels the way I do about this setup. I can't wait to give it a whir!!

And that, my friends, is some good recycling!!

A day of firsts . . .

2011-04-17T22:33:00.002-02:30

My last run in the new boat was less than ideal. I was too loose and it showed after a few hours of paddling. Since then I've remade the thigh braces altogether. Today was my first chance to try them out. They really snugged things up nicely. I'm happy!! For the first time I felt truly comfortable in the new boat!

Today was also the first time trying the new rack on the car as well as using the new foam pads I just made. Both worked great - even though it was only a 3 km drive to the put in!!

And most important!! Today was Cheryl's first run on the salt water for the year. Accompanied by Tony and Dennis we paddled from St. Philip's to Topsail return - for a total of 14 kms.

I'll let the pictures tell the tale!!

First time putting the boats on the Hyundai. Works great!!

Putting-in @ St. Philip's.

Grouping up outside to cove in preparation for moving out!

Tony(l) and Dennis (r) just off Whelan's Beach!.

Cheryl (l), Tony (c) and Dennis (r) cruising by the icicles.

Following Cheryl through the rocks.

It may be mid April but we still have icicles.

A little break on Topsail Beach.

The final leg. Cheryl just before turning the corner into St. Philip's.

Thanks to all for showing up and a big congrats to Cheryl on her first, of many, trips on the briny!!

Fittin' and Finishin' . . . a slight return!!

2011-04-16T00:51:00.000-02:30

Well, the boat was launched two weeks ago, today. Since then it's been in the ocean 4 times and the pool twice. Like any new boat, there's been bugs and kinks to work out.

The first showed up after the first run - leaking pad eyes!! Those little friggers!! I ended pulling them out and reseating them in Marine Goop. Took the boat to the pool and I'll be damned but they did not leak again - you could see the air bubbles escaping when the deck was underwater!! Crap!! Time to rethink this pad eye thing!! In a nutshell my problem was a design flaw - on my behalf. I'm not about to explain it here but it meant pulling all the pad eyes out and coming up with a new design! Which was . . .

bungees pulled through plywood backing plates with knots holding them in place. The backing plates were first sealed to the deck via Aquaseal. Once sealed to the deck, I mixed Aquaseal with black printer ink and then filled in the whole thing from the above deck. A pool session (with lots of rolling and general farting around) + a night of surfing and rolling in the salt water and not a drop to be seen inside the hull!! Finally!!

While dealing with the pad eye problem, I was also dealing with the fitting of the cockpit. The back pillar took some time to cut and shape before it's now finally comfortable. I had it too steep and too close to the seat so it was rubbing my lower back - not good on a three hour paddle as I found out - ouch!! I needed to work on my thighbraces and footbraces as well!! I went on a three hour excursion in bouncy conditions and my hips were killing me because I was too loose in the boat. Then my footbraces were too far fwd and my thighbraces were too slack. Glad to get off the water that day!!

The first night rolling in the pool revealed that the cockpit was a little wide and I was losing my leg grip during sculling braces. I decided to tighten up the cockpit by bringing the thigh brace "ears" a little closer. I simply epoxied a piece of plywood place and faired it. This picture shows the unpainted epoxy but a quick shot of black paint and you'll never know the difference.

Prijon Seayak to the Port beam, Pelican Elite 140 off the Port bow and a Boreal Design Baffin off the starboard bow!

With the cockpit the shape I wanted, I needed to finally fit the thigh braces. Again, I've decided to go with the minicell foam floor tiles available from your local hardware store. 12.00 for 4 pieces at 24"x24"x1/2" is not a bad price!!

The new braces fit up under the deck and then curl down along the hull to give better support - both vertically and laterally! I built the braces from several pieces of foam and laminated them so that they will retain their curved shape for easier attachment.

Schedule 40 clamps once again rise to the occasion!!

The intent is to customize the cockpit so that it will fit like a glove. That's the beauty of a self-built boat - such customization is rather easy!! That plus the fact that I'm more concerned about function over form!!

My wife gave me two sets of Yakima Mako saddles for Christmas. I kept them based on the belief that they'd fit the new boat - HA!! After fitting them to the car and popping the boat on I realized that they are strictly designed for boats with soft chines!! They could, in no way, accommodate the hard chines of the Point Bennett!! Not to be deterred, I decided to make a set of foam carriers just to fit my boat. Again, I used the foam floor tiles and the prototype is looking good. Simply need to glues the layers together and BADDA BOOM BADDA BING - $6.00 carriers!!

Testing the fit!!

After two weeks I have some observations to make about the new boat:

Even without a skeg, it tracks remarkably well. I paddled head 'long into 60 km winds with no perceivable weather or lee cocking. The only deviation from course resulted from the bow being blown by the wind as I punched through a wave - quite understandable!

I find the edging quite good to the point that I am trying to make it my main means of steering - even while surfing!!

It's certainly lighter and stiffer than my poly boat!!

While I've managed to shave the back pillar to better accommodate lay back rolls, it is nowhere near my Baffin. The aft cockpit height of the Baffin is a good 2" lower than the Point Bennett. Lay backs in the Baffin are a dream - even for the stiff backs like myself!!

Its a very nice looking craft!! While many endeavor to create a work of art, I like to think that my boat is a workhorse. Something to use, maybe abuse. Strong yet not hard on the eyes. You decide . . .

A house gives birth and a maiden voyage!!

2011-04-01T23:13:00.001-02:30

The big day has finally arrived. Two months to the day, the new boat is ready to leave the attic and hit the water!!

I think the pictures speak for themselves . . .

See, no problems coming down those stairs!

Not what you'd expect to see!!

A helping hand.

Coming down!

A soft landing.

Time for rackin'

A two minute drive brings us to St. Philip's.

On the slip next to Tony's Nordkapp.

It was a lovely evening on the water.

Impressions: This boat is a lot "tippier" than my Baffin - but in a good way! My initial fit is good so far - may need one more 1/2 piece of foam on the foot braces! Rolling is good - only three pulled off due to cold water temps. Edges nicely. Tracks great - but no wind to really test.

Verdict (after one paddle): A boat that will reward the serious paddler but will not suffer fools!

My camera died before heading off for a paddle but my good paddling buddy, Tony, managed to document the rest of the evening in his blog - http://mynewfoundlandkayakexperience.blogspot.com/2011/04/seans-shakedown-paddle.html

It was a great evening on the water - thanks to Tony, Dennis and Eugene. The boat was great. Fast and responsive. We hit some slight clapotis - just enough to get the feel of the new boat. After two hours I was quite comfortable and it's only going to get better!!

Only one setback. When Dennis and I we're loading the boat back on the car I heard sloshing and the boat felt a little heavy. I ignored it until home when I found that the day and rear hatch had significant water in them. My initial thoughts were DAMN - those friggin hatches are leaking. BUT after some pressure testing, i.e, pressing down on the closed hatches, I found that the pad eyes (deck line fittings) were all leaking. They all hissed loudly whenever I pushed down on the hatches!! Again, my initial thoughts were DAMN - those friggin' pad eyes are leaking. But then I thought that is was better the pad eyes than the 300.00 worth of hatches!! Oddly enough I managed to push the pad eyes back into the hull with no problem. It appears the sealant did not set up properly!! I've decided that I will next put copious amounts of Marine Goop on them and see how that works!! Marine Goop is very thick and tenacious - I am confident that a good dose of it will cure any future leaks..

Other than that, the boat is resting comfortably here in the living room - lying in front of the woodstove like a lazy dog!. I put the compass in earlier this evening (without incident) and am now waiting for the hull to dry out. Tomorrow I will rectify the pad eye problem.

All in all, a great evening on the bay with a great new boat in the company of fellow paddlers!! Can it get better??

Sean

Stick a fork in me, I'm done (almost)

2011-03-31T23:30:00.001-02:30

Tonight was the most surreal night of this entire project. On the agenda was deck lines, bungees, seat, sheer and keel strips. Surreal because it was so relaxing - the jobs at hand were not dirty (no sanding, no paint, no glue, no epoxy and glass). They were the finishing touches and that, in itself, was a joy!

Joins in the deck lines and bungees were whipped with dental floss and then wrapped in self-vulcanizing rubber tape. It looks pretty neat.

I've gone with the standard crossed bungees on the foredeck for now but will replace with a netting in time.

In my previous posting I wrote, at length, about Gorilla Tape. I mentioned that I was contemplating using it on the sheer and keel. Tonight I made the "command" decision and went with both!!

The tape on the sheer makes for a nice transition from the blue to white.

Below are a few shots showing the sheer tape and deck lines/bungees in place.

Seeing how easy the sheer tape went on and how good it looked, I kept going with the keel strip. I like to call it the "sacrificial gorilla"

I simply ran the tape up the stern, then pulled out the full length to the bow but not allowing it to touch the hull. I lined it up by eye and laid it down on the keel. A little bit of jiggling and a nip and tuck at the stem/stern and here's how it came out!! Any concerns of a twisted/crooked keel were allayed when I put down the tape - nice and straight!

The sacrificial gorilla to appease the Rock Gods!

Nip and tuck!

Sheer and keel. Notice the texture of the tape - looks like glass!!

Stern shot!

The plan is to try and get the boat out for a run tomorrow. Forecast is for light winds, sunshine and a temp of 4 Celsius. Sounds good to me so hopefully a trip to St. Philip's is in order!!

Thanks for dropping by - won't be long now!!

p.s. Tomorrow, April 1st, will be exactly two months, to the day, of starting this project!!

Time to talk about gorillas and other things . . .

2011-03-31T11:18:00.000-02:30

"The time has come," the Walrus said,
"To talk of many things:
Of shoes--and ships--and sealing-wax--
Of cabbages--and kings--
And why the sea is boiling hot--
And whether pigs have wings."

I've mentioned in a previous posting that Gorilla Tape (GT) is my new "tool" of choice and since then it has shown its worth any number of times.

First case in point. The nuts holding in my seat are tucked in behind the hip pillers and are are hard to reach. I tried a number of times to simply lay the nut on my finger while I tried to line it up and thread it onto the bolt. No such luck. It kept falling off and escaping under the seat, prompting the need to remove the seat and start over. GT has a VERY thick adhesive so I figured I'd run a tape around my finger (sticky side out) press the nut into the adhesive. Voila, the nut stuck fas. I was able to slip my finger in under the bolt and, on the first try, I had the nut threaded on!!!

Second case in point: I wanted to attach my thigh braces but not permanently, lest I need to make adjustments. I tried some velcro but it was not holding well enough. I thought of using heavy duty double sided tape but had none on hand and did not want to buy any. GT only comes in single sided but can easily be made double sided!! I placed a strip down on the thigh brace, doubled back over it again. Then I put some Lexel adhesive between the strips and, for good measure, ran thin strips of tape up and down each edge. BADDA BOOM BADDA BING- extra sticky double sided tape. The braces went in perfectly arnd are as solid as rocks!!

Third case in point: I'm going to try a foam pillar for back support instead of a back band. I took thinner pieces of foam, glued them up with Marine Goop and then covered the whole lot with GT for protection.

Flash plays havoc with color of deck - it's not two-tone as seen above.

Fourth case in point: Some of my pad eyes, are in loactions that cannot be reached by hand - those in the bow and stern. I needed a way to put them in place. I used a piece of wire and, you guessed it, a piece of GT. I fed the wire through the hole, glued up the pad eye with Lexel, attached the wire using the GT. I pullled the wire back through and, because the tape is thinner than the webbing, it came through the slot with no problem. The webbing, with a bit of pulling, came through as well with little or no problems.

Call me nuts but I am toying with the idea of using GT on both the sheer and the keel!!! It's a very thick tape - 17 mil as compared to the thickest duct tape at 13 mil. It's highly water resistant and, according my own testing, quite tough in terms of abrasion resistance. I've done tests with nails and rocks with good success. I've taken a scrap piece of plywood with glass and epoxy (actually cut outs from the deck for the hatches) and placed GT on the surface and gouged it. The fibres in the tape protected the surface remarkably well for a single layer of tape. I put as much presssure as I could by hand with the rock (a semi-sharp beach rock) and only after repeated attempts, did it finally break through the the tape fibres. Similar tests on the un-taped surface gouged right into the epoxy/glass. Tests with a more rounded piece of rock would simply compress the tape. I did similar tests with a nail head (the edge) on a painted epoxy/glass surface. Putting as much pressure as I could on the nail head, it did not break through the fibres - it cut but, not all the way through until repeated in the same place several times. Tests on the un-taped suraface were as expected - heavy gouging! Sorry no pictures of all this!!

Will it be worth it?? I can't say. The sheer tape will provide a nice transition from the blue deck to the white hull. It will also provide abrasion resistance at the deck line. As for the keel, well, I guess any sacrificial strip is better than nothing. If it works well, then it's just a matter of pulling off the strip when it's wore down and slap on another one!! My only concern is the possible residue left over when the tape is pulled off. This is not a big issue if you plan on simply replacing the strip with a new one. I'm pretty sure I'm going to give it a whir - just giving the paint a few more days to dry before I proceed.!!

Since my last posting, I'v painted the cockpit coaming black. I like how it matches the hatches, seat and, potentially, the sheer strip.

A slightly more "natural" color of the deck.

And a few obligatory fwd and aft shots.

The pad eyes are in place. Tonight I will do the deck rigging and, maybe, the GT sheer/keel strips, and then, for all intents and puposes, she's good to go.

Feelin' blue!!

2011-03-26T23:23:00.000-02:30

Almost two months to the day of starting this boat, I finally get a real good idea of the finished product. I put the first coat of blue on the deck and I'm really liking it!! After I finished, I looked at the boat and thought "something looks very familiar about this" Then it clicked. Back in 1979 I built an 11ft skin on frame. It was a wooden frame covered in painted canvas. The hull was painted white and the deck was almost the exact same shade of blue that I have on the new boat. Co-inkydink?? Perhaps, not!!

The images below were taken just after the first coat of blue paint. The masking tape is still in place. Any "blemishes" you see on the deck are the holes for the pad eyes.

On Deck - again!!

2011-03-25T17:39:00.002-02:30

The third coat of paint was put on the hull on Thursday night. I contemplated a 4th but decided not too. If I ever need to touch up the hull, it's just a brush stroke away.

Friday was, believe it or not, a snow day. Even the Provincial Government was closed. Even with all this time on my hands, there was not much to do today. I did some work on my pad eyes - ground down the square edges on the plywood backing.

Then I set to work on preparing the deck for painting. I wet sanded the whole deck, the cockpit coaming and scrubbed the epoxy around the hatches because I knew there was amine blush there. Amine blush will turn your polyurethane paint to mush if you try to cover it!! It was an easy day. Tonight we're asked out to supper so no work will be done further on the boat this day. My son has a basketball tournament tomorrow (Sat) but between games I should get a coat of blue on the deck.

I snapped off a few shots of the boat after I finished swabbing the deck. I popped the hatch covers on just for effect. The white deck and wooden deck look nice - sorta Betsie Bay-ish!. But I can't go that route because of too many pencil marks and such found under the layer of epoxy. I put in a few pad eyes in and some deck lines to see what it would look like. The compass is laid in there as well. Tomorrow this deck will be blue!!

Tick tock. Tick tock!!

The Point of No Return

2011-03-21T22:44:00.000-02:30

There comes a time when you just have to say "that's enough" - especially when it comes to sanding. I finished off the 220 grit last night but had to fill in a few small blemishes. I hated having to do this but I could not leave them as is. I was being pretty picky with the feathering of tape edges because I did not know how much, if any, that the paint would cover any rough edges. Anyway, today I decided that I was finished sanding. It's time to paint.

I knew that IMP Marine had some Interlux Brightsides in stock - this is a one part polyurethane paint. From the start I decided that I wanted to go with a white hull and blue deck. Not being one to concern myself with colours, I simply dropped by the store and bought what ever they had in stock. I went with Saphire Blue and Blue Glo White (which is just a very bright white)

I gave the hull a rub down with acetone and when the saw dust was cleared, it showed a lovely looking natural finish to the hull.

A lovely soft hue!!

I taped the sheer with masking tape. Note to self - buy better tape. This just started to peel off as I was painting. I'll simply feather the paint edge when I'm finished and retape the deck - with proper tape!!

Taped sheer.

I flipped the boat back over and set to the task of painting. Did I mention that I truly hate painting?? I usually throw lots of paint at a surface and hope the first coat is enough!! But not this time. Too much work invested in this project to go and get sloppy!!

I happened upon a method that works great with polyurethane paints to give a mirror-like finish. I think the person who devised it must've been a kayaker because it's called "roll and tip". You roll on a coat of paint and then tip or smooth out any bubbles or streaks using a dry brush. I used a foam rolled and a foam brush with pretty nice results.

Once I got the hang of it, it was pretty easy to do. I came close to having a few sags at the beginning but realized that a lot of paint was not required for coverage. There's two more coats to come, so why try to put on one thick one that'll just run like a river?

Port Bow

Port Quarter

I really like these two images below - one with flash, the other without - as they show the reflective qualities of the paint. Remember, this is the initial coat that has been applied directly over un-primed glass/epoxy. The second coat should be smoother as I'll sand this first coat before applying another. I also have a better understanding of the "roll and tip" method and should get better.

One sleek hull. Look at how the reflection makes the hull seem to disappear!

Made to slice the water, what?

Anyhow, that's the initial paint job. 16 hrs between coats is required so another one can't go on until tomorrow night. Plus, I'm staying out of the work area to prevent stirring up any dust. This all means that I can, with good conscience, take a break from building. Maybe I'll have a beer and watch a movie!!

Thanks for dropping by - not long now!!

Fittin' and Finishin'

2011-03-19T22:37:00.001-02:30

Things are moving into the nitty gritty stage now. Fittin' and finishin', so to speak. Once I knew what seat I was going to use and where it was to be located, I needed to work on where my feet would rest. But before I get to that, here's a picture of my 11 yr old daughter sitting in the boat. Just before this, my wife, Cheryl, gave it a whir as well. It's funny but both had the same reaction - the fear to actually step on the boat. Both were afraid that it would break. I'll admit that my first time was the same. I was waiting for the big CRAAAACK as the plywood snapped under my weight. Well, there wasn't even some much as a creak!!

Here's hoping Bridget shows as much interest on the water!!

With the seat fitted, I now know where my feet will rest. I'm using the front bulkhead as my foot brace. I left enough space so that I'd have to fill in foam or some other material. Mini-cell foam is not readily available so I went with an alternative - foam floor "tiles" from Canadian Tire. 4 tiles @ 24" x 24" x 1/2" for 14.99 is not a bad price!! I went with one full layer to fit against the bulkhead with 3 smaller layers for a) weight saving and b) a central gap in which to stretch my legs. I glued them all together with Marine Goop. For those edges that would be kicked and rubbed, I ran a strip of Gorilla Tape and Goop. Gorilla Tape is now my "tool" of choice. Expect to see it again on this boat - in the most unlikely of places!!!

After much deliberation, I decided to epoxy my hatch rims in place. No screws or bolts. I had some G-Flex epoxy which is a special adhesive by West Systems for gluing plastic. This was free so I figured I'd give it a shot. I threw in a bit of 406 filler and laid a good bead around the rim of each hatch. I popped the rims in the boat and laid weights on top to keep in place. All went according to plan.

Rim with G-Flex.

While the rims were setting up, I finally got around to making the pad eyes for holding the deck lines and bungees. I needed a total of 23 units - which included cutting the small plywood backing, cutting a 3/4" slot and then epoxying the nylon webbing in place. It was not as tedious as I though and only took an hour or so.

I cut the plywood backing plates and made the slots in my work space in the attic. I decided to do the gluing up on the dining room table so that I could be with my wife as she worked on some sewing. I used to always work on my dining room table until we got a new one a few months back!! But I figured that gluing up the pad eyes was pretty benign work - as long as I provided adequate protection, i.e., a piece of plywood, for the table.

Funny but gluing up the 23 pad eyes took very little time and was without incident. It was made much easier by the use of, you guessed it, those Schedule 40 clamps!! They were perfect for the task.

Mylar stops backing plate from sticking to plywood used to "squat" the nylon into the epoxy. The Schedule 40s were perfect for this.

A pad eye from below showing the nylon encased in epoxy.

All the pad eyes glued.

Sitting and gluing 23 of these while having a few drinks of Tullamore Dew Irish Whiskey (in honor of St. Patrick's Day) can certainly have an effect on you.

Thanks Cheryl for the lovely picture!!

Saturday saw me cutting into the deck - again. I needed to cut 23 slots in the deck for those pad eyes I made the night before!!

I devised a simple jig out of plywood. I'd simply use it to locate and drill 4 holes in the deck. Then I'd use a razor blade knife, file and sand paper to make the final cuts.

Simple jig that worked flawlessly.

Sometimes the most unlikely of tools will be the most useful. I was tasked with making 23 slots that were 3/4" wide. I found that my garden variety file was just the right thickness and, once I marked off a spot, was exactly 3/4" wide. Once I determined this, it was simply a matter of working the file into the rough hole until it hit the tape marker - at which point I knew the slot was the exact size needed. Too easy!! After about hour I had all 23 slots made!!

File in up the hilt means a perfect sized slot.

Here's pad eye laid in place. Nice and neat - and soft so they won't tear your legs off during rescues!!

Last night I just epoxied the rims in. Tonight I ran a good bead of epoxy around the rims to fill in any gaps.

Front hatch fully encased in epoxy.

The front hatch again.

While all this was going on I ran another coat of epoxy over the coaming and epoxied the sides of the pad eyes slots for better water resistance.

That's enough for one day especially when the builder is fighting a cold and feeling quite nauseous!!

Cheers,
Sean

Some days are dust and some days are diamonds . . .

2011-03-17T22:57:00.007-02:30

Since my last posting I've done a fair bit of work on the boat. A lot of that was sanding the hull and deck. I opted to go with hand sanding as I didn't want dust to be going everywhere. Granted it did so even when hand sanding but it was a bit more controlled. It took about 4 nights of sanding to get the hull down to a reasonable finish. I'm down to the 150 -220 grit level now to make sure that all glass edges are feathered and any hump/lump/bumps are gone!!

With the semi-final sanding complete, the next task was the cockpit coaming. The plans call for a 3/4" plywood spacer that is 3/4" wide. Using a template, I simply cut the spacer from 3/4" exterior grade fir plywood. I used the Schedule 40 clamps to hold it in place while the epoxy set.

Clamps, clamps, clamps . .

and more clamps

There's an old adage "measure twice, cut once" I'd like to revamp this by saying "read many times, cut once" I'm positive that the instructions said to cut the coaming lip to 1 1/4" width. So I cut the lip to that size and epoxied and clamped it to the spacer. I sat back to admire my handiwork and browse the instructions one more time. Well, I'll be damed if those instructions didn't say 1 3/4" for the lip.Time to panic. Luckily the epoxy was not near set so I just pulled the lip off. Also luckily I had a piece of 1/4" subfloor plywood kicking around (I just used my last piece of 4mm marine play and had nothing big enough to make a new lip). In 15 minutes or less I had the new lip cut and epoxied in place - phewww. Yet another bullet dodged!!

Here's lip #2 being glued using Schedule 40 clamps!

Gluing the lip!

I purposely left the lip a bit wide so that I could be bit more careful on the final trimming. Below is a handy little device I came up with to make sure that had the lip the same width/shape all the way around.

I used a combination of Shur-form, small block plane and sandpaper (ohhhh, the amount of sandpaper being used in this project!!!) to get the lip into shape!

Using the Shur-Form

Oddly enough, it seems that I've made my cockpit about 2" longer than I had originally intended (16"x32" as opposed to 16"x30"). This is no biggie as I'm 6'3" 211 pounds and not as limber as I used to be. I can slip in and out of the cockpit quite comfortably. The only problem is that the longer cockpit with a 1 3/4" wide lip makes for a BIG sprayskirt. Unfortunately my Shocker 1.4 ain't gonna cut the mustard. I tried a 1.7 nylon skirt I had but it too was too tight. I decided to cut back the lip and you guessed it - almost right back to the size of the one I ripped off the night before!!

The next day I picked up a new 1.7 Shocker. After a little more work on the lip, it fits like a charm!! Sorry no shots of the skirt in place but I'm sure you can get a mental image! For those wondering, the smaller lip holds the skirt with great tenacity. I'm actually a little intimidated by the grip but I'm sure I'll get used to it.

I really like the seat in my Baffin. It has a raised front that puts your thighs in a slightly elevated position. I decided that I'd try to replicate this seat in foam. I went to the basement and pulled the seat out of the Baffin so it would be easier to work with. Just for sh!ts and giggles I decided to drop the seat in the new boat to see how it fit. Well, I'll be damned if that thing didn't fit just PERFECT! With a little twisting it just shoe horned right in!! The hip plates/hangers snugged up just under the coaming and the base of the seat matched the hull shape ever so sweetly!! Problem solved - I ain't going through the hassle of making a new seat. I'll just see if Boreal Designs will sell me one. Already got the email sent off to them. In the meantime, the Baffin will remain sans seat!!

I will be replacing the backband with a solid foam pillar that will give a little suppurt just to centre part of my lower back.

Lip/coaming epoxied, seat in place.

Profile of coaming.

Looking fwd from day hatch.

A very neat fit!! Backband is just hanging there for now. Don't be deceived by the camera angle - it makes the cockpit look asymmetrical.

Looking aft from front hatch.

Hatches laid in place.

Looking aft.

With the seat taken care of (for now), the things left on the "to do" list are - sand and epoxy the coaming a few more times - do some more sanding on the deck/hull - fasten in the hatches - devise the thigh braces (already got some good ideas) - paint the whole thing and then affix the deck rigging. Certainly not big tasks when you consider what I've gone through these past two months!!

Thanks for dropping by!!

The price you pay . . .

2011-03-07T11:50:00.000-03:30

Last weekend saw the mating of the deck and hull. This weekend saw the final consumation of the union - glassing the topside of the deck and tying the deck and hull together for ever (hopefully).

Friday night I had a few small jobs to complete - finishing the filleting and taping on the bulkheads. With that complete, I took the rest of the night "off" to watch some TV with the family.

Saturday morning was a beautiful sunny day and I knew that a crowd of fellow paddlers were heading out but strong is the addiction when building a boat. I turned my gaze away from the waters of the bay and headed up to the attic to glass the deck.

I read of a neat trick to get a nice clean edge when overlapping glass joins. Normally what you'd do is run a wide strip of masking tape, let the glass hang down over the strip and epoxy just overlapping the tape. When the epoxy is almost cured, take a sharp blade and cut the glass right at the edge of the tape. Looked good in the book so I figured I'd give it a whir. Not having wide masking tape and dredged up an old roll of gyprock tape. I simply ran masking tape alomg the edge and made a nice wide strip.

Then I laid the glass over the boat and trimmed it so that it fell within the confines of the strip. I used some Schedule 40 clamps to hold the glass in place initially.

Applying the first coat of epoxy took a few hours but was rather uneventful, nonetheless.

After first coat of epoxy.

The image below shows the trimming process using the wide tape. By cutting along the edge of the tape, you are leaving a nice crisp edge. This will later be feathered after I apply my epoxy. It's nice using this metthod because you are not fighting with itinerent/wayward glass strands that can be a real PITA to keep down flat as you bush on the epoxy!!

Nice and neat!

Trimmed edge at the bow.

It's sure nice to see the whole thing covered in glass and epoxy. Below are two nice shots showing the deck with one coat of epoxy. Notice that it's not yet shiny. The first coat does not fill the weave of the cloth, instead it leaves a rough surface. This rough surface cuts down on the flash glare and makes for a nicer photo!!

Looking Fwd

Looking Aft

I entitled this entry "the price you pay" because the amount of time I'm spending on building this boat could very well be spent on paddling my plastic one. I'll admit that I would like like to get out for a paddle but then I look at this new boat and I can't wait to get it out on the water. As I always say, the water ain't going nowhere!! It'll still be there when I'm finished this project and then I'll make up for lost time.

I have one more coat of epoxy (the 3rd) left for the deck. Last night I started sizing up the cockpit coaminig - the next task on the list!!

Crappy work AND crappy pictures

2011-03-04T23:19:00.001-03:30

I haven't posted in several days but work has been progressing. I just completed taping and filleting the inside seams and bulkheads.

I entitled this post "Crappy work AND crappy pictures" because, of all the work I've done so far, this was the least enjoyable as well as the hardest to get pictures of.

After joining the deck and hull, there is a need to fillet the deck/hull seam and then tape it. No big deal - IF THE BOAT DOESN'T HAVE A FULL DECK!! This means getting epoxy/filler right to the bow and stern. Access to these points is only through the aft/fwd hatches. The aft hatch is bigger and affords a little more room to work from. The fwd, on the other hand, is mere 10" round - which means my head would fit through but not at the same time as my hands. This meant applying the fillet and tape totally blind or simply by sense of touch. Pretty tricky. I'd do a bit of work and then place a flashlight inside, pop my head in and survey the work. Repeat as necessary. This took several hours to complete.

For filleting the bow and stern, I'd scoop up the thickened epoxy on a long stick, put the stick inside the hull and drop it on the seam. Then I''d push/pull the epoxy into the seam until I had a reasonable fillet. For taping, I pre-wetted the tape, draped it over a 2' stick, pushed it out to the ends and deposited it into the seam. Using the stick, I work the tape into the seam.

The taping and filleting were VERY messy. I went through a lot nitrile gloves and got a lot epoxy on my building table. Now that this stage is done, I need to do a good cleaning of the work area.

Because I was often up to my elbows (literally) in epoxy I took very few photos. Those I did take are pretty crappy because I simply popped the camera inside the hull and snapped them off. The dark inside made it hard to take a good photo.

In my last post I wrote about bulkheads and their reinforcement. All my bulkheads are now filletted on both sides. Each bulkhead has one side taped with 3" tape for extra strength. That should be plenty strong.

Having finished this not-so-enjoyable step, I am now ready to glass the deck top. I'd much rather working above deck, than below!!

Looking fwd - compass recess in the foreground. Yes, there a few globs of epoxy but they are right out in the stern and this is the only time they'll ever be seen!.

Looking fwd in cockpit. Bulkhead will serve as foot brace. This is very blurry image - so don't be concerned that you're going blind!!

Looking aft - white lines are saw dust that has fallen in through stitch holes! They'll just brush away.

Fwd hatch. My arm could just reach to far side of compass recess - after that required a long stick.

Return of the Porcupine Boat . . . or the joining of the hull and deck

2011-02-26T22:06:00.001-03:30

Today was a milestone. I finally joined the hull to the deck and now have a complete boat - of sorts.

After some interior preps, i.e., adding a second coat of epoxy on the bulkheads and such, I was ready to finally mate the deck to the hull.

I bought some new wire at Princess Auto - 18 gauge with a green poly covering. About 3.00 for 30 meters = a dandy deal!

2x4s on edge provided enough room to loosely fit the wires.

Cheryl doing the "twist"

Things went together nicely. A few hiccups involving clamps but all will be fair in the end.

Tomorrow we remove the sutures and all will be be revealed.

If I may say so, day-um this is one nice lookin' craft.

Scantlings and the "expedition boat" ...

2011-02-25T23:53:00.000-03:30

Scantlings . . . explains the structural strength through girders and I-beams in a particular section and scantling length is considered as structural length of the ship.

Many years ago I completed the first year of Naval Architecture at, what was then known as, the "Cod College". If there are two concepts that have stuck with me, they are "scantlings" and "Lloyd's Rules". If memory serves me correctly (and I'm not using Google here), to be considered insurable by Lloyds of London, ships had to have proper scantlings according to their size and application. I doubt that Lloyds was ever called upon to insure a kayak but I'd like to think that my new boat would fit the criteria!!

When building a boat there is a fine line between weight and strength. Are you willing to sacrifice weight for strength and vice versa. In researching my boat, I've found the term "expedition boat" often used to describe one that is made a bit more durable, often at the expense of lightness. Not being one to be THAT hooked up on weight, I've opted for the stronger vs lighter.

Case in point. Last night I installed the bulkheads. Tonight, the decision was how to strengthen them. The options were - a) fillet them in and then epoxy the surfaces for waterproofness b) use fillets and glass/epoxy the surfaces for waterproofness or c) use fillets and then glass the whole lot AND tape the seams! I opted for "c" and filleted and glassed ALL bulkheads on BOTH sides and ran a 6oz tape around BOTH perimeters of all bulkheads. Excessive some may say but for the sake of those few ounces of cloth, tape and epoxy, I know that this an "expedition boat"

FWD bulkhead - 6oz glass on both sides, filleted and taped with 6oz tape.

Rear bulkheads - 6oz glass on both sides, filleted and taped with 6oz tape.

Having completed this, somewhat arduous task, I am now ready to fit the deck!!

Fittings, bulkheads and decisions . . .

2011-02-25T00:29:00.003-03:30

I've decided to forgo buying deck fittings and go with a system attributed to Joe Greenley at Redfish Kayaks. According to legend (just kidding) Joe came up with an idea of using nylon webbing to hold deck lines and bungees - as per these instructions. I like the idea of soft pad eyes and the fact that I can put these on the boat after I finish painting.

I added reinforcing under the deck in spots where I plan on putting a pad eye.

A test pad eye. Easy peasy!!

I also cut and fitted the three bulkeads. I've got them filleted for now but I just read that I should glass the fillets as well. That will have to wait until tomorrow.

As it stands right now, the only thing between me and stitching on the deck is that glass tape for the bulkheads. I can do the taping and then proceed to do the deck even before the epoxy/glass on the bulkheads has dried!!

For a day or two I agonized over whether to install a skeg or not. At one point I had myself convinced I needed one and even had the plans drawn up to make it. Then I had a change of heart and decided against it. This change of heart was prompted when I looked at my keel and saw a total of 4 layers of 6oz glass, tape, fillet and epoxy!! I'd need a chainsaw to get through it.

I did some further research on the matter of skegs and came across the expected arguments for and against. The deciding factor was a little nugget I found on the Kayak Building Forum. Apparently somebody asked the exact same question as me sometime before. I read with interest the responses. The one that really tweaked was the comment that "if the designer does not include a skeg in the design, then there is probably no need to have one" As far as I know Duane Strosaker designed the Point Bennett as a skeg-less craft. ( I stand to be corrected and, Duane, if you're reading this, please feel free to jump in) I also checked other people's builds of this craft and all, save one, appear to be sans skeg. I am willing to try the boat without the skeg and, if if does not work, I can retrofit one relatively easy.

In the meantime, I hope to join the deck and hull this weekend. Woohooo!!

Schedule 40s and other things . . .

2011-02-20T23:27:00.002-03:30

There's an old adage in woodworking (and boatbuilding) circles that you can never have too many clamps. My next task was the gluing the hatch spacers to the deck. This would require a substantial number of clamps if to be done correct. I'll admit that my clamp inventory is somewhat lacking. I have a few old c-clamps, some plastic spring clamps and a few bar clamps. And that's it. But, in Moores and Rossel book, Kayaks You Can Build, (rapidly becoming my Bible) they briefly discuss the use of clamps made from ABS pipe (Schedule 40 is stamped on the side, so hence the name) Simply cut a 3" pipe into 1" sections, then split the ring. The result looks like this:

Surprisingly, the ABS pipe really wants to retain its original shape so there is a fair bit of holding power. Of course, you are using a bigger number of these clamps which increases the holding power. Also, we're dealing with epoxy and a great deal of pressure is not required - lest we end up starving the join!!

$15.00 of pipe yielded 50 Schedule 40 clamps.

The first use of the new clamps was the gluing of the coaming lips to the spacers. As shown below.

The next step was one that I was both eagerly anticipating yet almost dreading!! I had to cut the holes in the deck for the hatches. I've cut holes in my plastic boat for both a bilge pump and an underdeck hydration system but nothing as drastic as cutting a 16x12 gaping hole!!! I followed the old rule of measure twice, cut once because a wrong cut would mean a MAJOR setback. My camera went missing during the cutting process but all went without incident. I left the holes a little small so that I could enlarge them in a more controlled manner as required.

I used the Schedule 42 clamps again when epoxying the spaces/lip to the underside of the deck. In the images below I only have a few clamps on each piece. I later doubled these amounts.

Rear and day hatch.

Fwd hatch showing compass recess.

That's a lot of clamps!!

Since I was cutting holes for the hatches, I figured I'd do the compass recess while I was at it. Again the camera was AWOL but I do have pictures of the recess in place. Again, I cut the hole too small and used a rasp and sandpaper to slowly bring it to a perfect fit. I will fillet the underside for added strength.

I glued the spacers in on Sunday AM and left them for the day to dry. Later in the evening I decided to take the clamps off. Of course this lead to some "experimental" sanding and cutting to see how how hard it will be to get a neat looking job. It was not a daunting task at all. The 4 mm deck is easy to cut and shape. I set to the front hatch and after about 30 minutes I almost had a final product.

After some shaping.

Coaming laid in place.

Coaming and hatch laid in place.

It was getting near bedtime for the rest of the family so I decided to lay off the sanding and call it a day. I wanted to get an idea of how the whole project was looking so I popped the deck back on the hull and here's what it looks like thus far. I'm a happy builder!!

All Decked Out - the 4th step

2011-02-19T00:05:00.000-03:30

Friday night was an easy night. My son had an out-of-town b-ball game (they won) and we did not get home until 9:00. I did not get to work on the boat until 9:30. No biggie. I was only planning on glassing the underside of the deck.

As per the plans, I ran another strip of 6 oz tape up the inside of the foredeck seam and then glassed and epoxied the whole lot. Total time was less than 1 hr! For once, I am happy to say that nothing went awry during this whole thing!! Finally!!

Bow to stern

Stern to Bow. Hull to the left just waiting!!

Soul mates waiting to be forever joined!!

I'm going to apply one more relatively thin coat of epoxy and then I'm ready to do some cutting.

After that, the next stage is cutting the hatch "holes" and the installation of everything you see in the image below.

Spacers, coamings and hatches

Time to kick back and have a beer before hitting the hay. Another b-ball game in the AM!!

Thanks for dropping by!

All Decked Out - the 3.5 step

2011-02-18T00:18:00.000-03:30

Tonight saw a continuation of last night's project, i.e, cutting the hatch spacers and working on the compass recess. I completed all three hatch spacers - to my satisfaction, at last!! I ended up cutting one of them three times. Did I mention before that I am anal retentive?!?!? Well, they are all cut now and waiting to go.

I decided to drop the deck on the hull to see how things were fitting. Things are looking really good. The deck is going to require very little extra fairing. Once I start stitching the deck to hull, it should really start to come together. The exercise of popping the deck on the hull was to get an idea of hatch placement. This a pretty narrow craft and it's going to take some finagling to get them all to fit but I've got it all cased!!

Deck on and held in place with push pins.

I was trying to connect the deck and hull by using masking tape but it did not have the holding power so I opted to use push pins. I pushed them down through the deck and into the top of the sides. I am sure some purist will find some problem with this but it works great. Plus I can work on fairing the sheer as the pins are not in the way!!

Hatch placement is pretty well figured out - just a few things to keep in mind like bulkhead placement.

In my last post I was ruminating about how to encase the back of the compass recess. Today, while at Home Depot I came across a cap that is used on white PVC drain pipe. It says it's for 3" pipe which I take to mean 3" ID as the OD was 3.25 or exactly what I needed!! At $1.75 it was worth the risk of buying it to see if it would work out!!! And it did!!! I was planning on constructing a custom backing out of FG and epoxy but when an easier way presents itself, I am not one to ignore it!!! I initially tacked the cap onto the compass recess using hot glue and did some test fitting. You decide - does it look good, or what?

Compass recess with ubiquitous beer can in the background!!

And again!

I've had success with epoxying plastic before but it's a bit dodgy at best. I had some West System G-Flex on hand but never had a chance to try it. G-Flex is designed for use on plastic and other hard to glue surfaces - and in a marine environment to boot!! G-Flex is a 1:1 mixing ratio and it puts you in mind of the cheaper epoxies by Lepages that you can buy at CTC. It's pretty gooey during the mixing stage and, for some reason, it smells like a barn - weird!! I figured that since I'm gluing a piece of PVC, I'd give the G-Flex a whir. I sanded the PVC and gave it a quick cleaning with some acetone. I added some 406 filler to make the epoxy thicker to keep it in place. G-Flex + filler = a very yellow epoxy. I ran a thick fillet around the PVC. No need to worry about looks as this will NEVER be seen once installed on the boat. Curious to see how this stuff sets up!!

And just a few shots showing what the finished product will generally look like.

Hatches laid in place - they will be recessed much more than this once installed.

Next will be glassing the underside of the deck.

Cheers.

All Decked Out - the 3rd Step

2011-02-17T10:59:00.002-03:30

Last night was supposed to see some good progress on my hatches and compass recess. As I've pointed out before, Duane Strosaker provides only the rudimentary intsructions for building this boat. His intent is to provide the builder with the hull and deck shape. The rest is for a) the builder to decide and b) the builder to come up with the process to make those decisions come to fruition.

I've decided to go with commercial rubber hatches because a) it's easier to install them than to make custom ones b) they are very watertight and c) I think they look better (but that's just me!!). I've seen pictures of other boats where the builders simply stuck the hatches on top of the deck. They stand out like chimney stacks from the deck of the boat. Not wanting that look nor the hatches getting in the way of rescues and such, I 've decided to go with recessed hatches.

I'm going to use 3/4 plywood rings as spacers that will allow me to drop the hatches and have the tops just slightly above the deck. The spacers will be epoxied up under the deck. A lip of plwyood will be epoxied to the bottom of the spacer. The hatch coaming will be bolted to this lip. Here's what I came up with.

Having no plans means that there is a certain degree of trial and error. I ended up cutting three extra, i.e., WRONG, spacers before coming up with the one I liked. Initial tests had the sides up and down pefectly vertical. To do this meant that the opening had to be pretty big because you need to get your fingers in around the hatch to put it on/take it off. I toyed with the idea of bevelling the sides but I did not think that my jigsaw could accurately cut the sides at an angle. To to my delight, it cut smoother and with better control with the blade set at around a 35 degree angle.

After a few hours and lots of plywood dust, I finally came up with a spacer that was up to snuff.

The hatch will actually sit lower then this.

While it took a while to create this one spacer, the rest will come quicker as I now know a) what dimensions are required and b) what cutting processes are to be followed.

Making the spacers brought me up to 11:00 but I still wanted to get to work on the compass recess. As I was making it out of 4mm plywood, I knew I could cut the materials with a razor blade knife and not make enough noise to keep people awake. Using a cardboard mockup I made the other night, I set to cutting. 4mm plywwod is not much harder to work with than stiff cardboard so cutting and fitting the pieces was not hard. I also have a 3.25" holesaw that was just the right size for the hole that compass back sits in. Initally I tacked the pieces together with a hot glue gun. Once I was satisfied with the fitting, I ran a fillet of thickened epoxy up the inside seams. It's a little bit rough righ now but once the epoxy sets I can get to work on making it look a little more "refined".

Looks good so far. I've got a few ideas on what to put behind to ensure watertight integrity but have not made a final decision yet.

As a side note, wooden boats generally have what is called an "end pour". This is where you fill the very tips of the stem and stern with epxoy. This not only adds strength but it also provides a secure place to run your toggles through. Most builders warn about putting too much epoxy in at the one time as it can possibly lead to heat build up during the curing process. Some suggest that you put in small batches at a time to reduce this problem. I've decided to kill two birds with one stone. What I do is simply dump in the epoxy that is left over after various jobs. This way it's put in small amounts and I don't waste any epoxy! Just another of the many tricks you pick up as you go!!

The last thing to do last night was run a strip of tape up the foredeck seam. By this time it was 12:30 and time for bed..

Thanks for dropping by!!

All decked out - 2nd Step

2011-02-16T00:01:00.002-03:30

Tonight was a pretty easy night. I traced and cut out the cockpit opening and created the raised foredeck.

As per the plans, a 2x4 on edge will give the right deck height. Because the centre deck panels were not initially glued, the raised foredeck is easily formed. A sliver of panel is needed to fill in the space.

The image below shows the sliver epoxied in place. It also gives a good indication of the cockpit shape.

In these images you will see the hull off to one side. I've rigged a set of boards to hold either the deck or hull as required, leaving the work table free for whatever piece is currently being worked on!

It's Tuesday night and I could've been at the pool, but creating a boat is actually more addictive than paddling one!!!

Next step is to tape the foredeck seam. While that is setting, I will work on the recesses for the hatches and compass.

All Decked Out - the 1st step

2011-02-15T12:21:00.000-03:30

The problems I had with my stem have been playing on my mind for a number of days. I was concerned that the changes made would affect how the deck would fit. Last night I lofted the lines for the deck and made the cuts. Much to my suprise and GREAT relief, the alterations I made will have very little bearing on the final fitting of the deck - just some minor trimming in the bow . This was to be expected. Funny, but I lofted, pencilled in and cut the deck in far less time than it took to do either the side or bottom panels. I was less careful on the marking and cutting but for some reason the lines came out more fair! Go figure.

With just a little bit of shaving and some tweaking, the hull and deck will made just nicely! Pheww - dodged that bullet!!!!

As I said in an earlier post, I think I will copy the cockpit shape of my wife's Prijon Seayak. It's a little tighter than my Baffin but I can enter and exit with no issues. I simply took a piece of cardboard and traced the cockpit shape. Easy Peasy!!

In this picture you will see that the foredeck is still flat. The centre deck line is not glued so that it can be raised into a peak. Once I cut the cockpit out, I will raise the two panels and fill the resulting gap with a small piece of plywood and then tape and epoxy. I've left two plywood "ears" on the cockpit that will be used to hold the thigh braces.

Yesterday my hatches arrived from Boreal Design - a Canadian kayak company - which is another reason to get working on the deck. I went with a 10" front hatch, 8" dryhatch and 11x17 rear hatch.

For those not familiar with BD hatches - they are made in Canada from a high grade rubber. I've paddled them in some pretty cold temps (-15) and they've NEVER gotten hard. They are always as easy to get off warm as they are frozen. No special tools required either!! That's a definite bonus for cold water paddling.

Shiny AND Stinky!!

Next step - cutting the cockpit and raising the deck!!!

A Pain in the Glass

2011-02-14T09:59:00.002-03:30

On Saturday I was ready to do the final bit of glassing on the hull - the inside. I just finished sheathing the outside of the hull on Thursday with 1.5 layers of cloth and 3 coats of epoxy.

Friday night was actually a pretty slow night. A friend showed up with a bottle of Gibson's 12 Yr old whiskey - om nom nom!!. We put a very fine dent in the bottle before 10:30 when he went home. Not wanting to miss an entire night of building, I decided to pull the stations out of the hull and complete the filleting of the keel and chines. A very short job and no pictures either.

Saturday was my son's basketball tournament. This was an all day affair so I was not able to do anything with the boat until after supper. I tackled the next task on the list - putting one layer of glass and two coats of epoxy on the inside. The glass and first coat were done in a couple of hours on Saturday night. I put the final coat of epoxy on at noon on Sunday. As often, I never bother to take the camera out during the process - don't want to get expoy all over it - so I only have a shot of the finished product.

Inside completed. Note the "alternate " location of the boat at this time. (See reason below)

Shiny!!

The next big thing to do with the hull is sanding but I'm holding off on that for a while. I want to get started on the deck. The deck is made of 4 separate panels that are glued together to make a one piece deck. Sunday night's goal was the gluing up of the panels. Again, I used glass butt joins (no scarfs or plywood backing plates). It all went rather smoothly. I only have a picture of the whole affair as it was after setup. Note that I needed the full table so the boat was relegated off to the wings!

Joining up the deck panels.

I used the weights to hold the joins during the gluing up. Two sets as there are two joins in the deck. On the edge of the table you can see my batten. I had to reglue it as the original join broke during some rough handling!

Next step is lofting the lines onto the plywood and cutting the deck. I can't wait to see this thing sitting on top of the hull. Fingers crossed that my hatches arrive today!!

Lots of work - just boring to look at!!

2011-02-11T00:27:00.004-03:30

It seems like ages since I made an entry YET I've spent several hours each night on the boat. In my last post, I had just finished the first coat of epoxy on the glass. Since then I've double glassed the bottom, i.e., put another layer of cloth on the bottom of the hull starting just above the chines, and put on two more coats of epoxy. You can only put one coat of epoxy per day so that slows down the whole process.

Tonight I took a break from the outer hull and flipped the boat over to work on the inside. The order of the night was filleting the chines. The first thing I noticed when I flipped the boat is that it's a fair bit heavier with 1.5 coats of 6oz glass and 3 coats of epoxy. I've also added 3" wide 6oz fibreglass tape up the stem and stern. The hull is a helluva lot stiffer than when I just had the joins tacked with epoxy!!

Fillets near amidships.

How it's done - using a piece of plywood shaped to make nice neat fillets.

I still have the stations in place. I figured I'd leave them until the fillets set up although I'm pretty sure that once the outside of the hull was glassed/epoxied, I could've taken them out!!

I've left the third coat of epoxy unsanded for now so it may look a little "off" in the images below. I've decided that there's lot of work left to do so why try to get the final finish on the hull. I still need to tie the deck in, so I'll leave the bottom of the hull for now. Still, it looks pretty decent right now . . .

Stern view from the top of the stairs

Looking fwd from the top of the stairs.

Bow shot

Aft looking fwd

Straight up the stern

Stern shot

The next major task is glassing the inside of the hull. One layer of 6 oz glass with two coats of epoxy should be fine. Strangely enough I am almost finished my first gallon of epoxy. I thought a gallon would have gone further but I guess not. My coats of epoxy are quite thin - still some weave showing on the third coat - but I guess an 18 foot boat will require more materials! I'll pick up another gallon tomorrow in anticipation of doing the inside of the hull over the weekend.

My rubber hatches should be here any day now - which is good because, after the inside of the hull, the next big ticket item is the deck. Not only do I need to determine hatch size/location but I need to determine what shape/size cockpit I want to go with. I may copy the cockpit of my wife's Prijon Seayak. It's a nice keyhole that is tight but not too hard to enter/re-enter. I've also come up with an idea on how to fit my new Brunton compass that I got for Christmas. We shall see.

So, that's my update and as the title sez - lot's done but not exciting enough to post about!!

Filler, Fillets and fiberglass

2011-02-06T22:26:00.002-03:30

Saturday was supposed to be the day I glass the hull. I say "supposed" because I took another look at my "bent stem" and realized that I was not happy with it. I'd be staring at it on every paddle and I could not see it happening!! I ended up having to saw down through the join I made the day before and resetting and reshaping the stem once again. Surprisingly, it went pretty smoothly. I found the hot glue gun invaluable for test tacking the join. After two hours of fooling, I managed to get a nice symmetrical bow! I won't be doing this again!! I needed to use some fairing compound to take out a dip in the stem. It wasn't pretty at first and took a long time to set but it worked out in the end (see last image in this entry).

While waiting for the filler to set, I decided to try a fillet. I mixed up some epoxy thickened with 406. I ran tape down each side of the keel join to keep things neat. As my stations are still in place, I stopped short of them to prevent unwanted adhesion!!

Just a shot to show the shape of the hull.

Finally on Sunday morning the filler had set and I sanded the bow. As to be expected much of the filler was sanded away leaving a nice fair stem.

The next step was glassing the hull. I am using 60" wide cloth so I simply draped it over the hull and cut off the excess - which is just the right size for covering the deck!

After three hours of squeegeeing and brushing she was done!!

From the bow

From the stern

Stern

Stem

The "filler" side of the stem

Yes, you can see the filler but this boat will be painted anyway! Also, as this is the first coat of epoxy, the weave of the cloth is supposed to be visible!

Took a bit longer than expected but I figured I might as well do this right!!

Setback, Remediation, Discovery and a Kludge!!

2011-02-04T10:19:00.000-03:30

Tonight's work was supposed to quick and painless. Tack in the stations with glue, remove the copper sutures, double check the hull's fairness and do the final fill in of the seams with thickened epoxy! I figured two hours at the max.

Last night's problem of having a front bow panel not cooperate reared it's ugly head again. It's probably a product more of my anal retentiviness. To make a long story short I was not happy with how I tackled the problem the evening before. I dismantled that work and set about finding a better solution. Fast forward two hours and some cutting and rehaping of the bow panels, sheer and stem profile - and I'm finally a semi-happy camper. I'd better be because I've since epoxied the panels together at the stem and they ain't coming apart. The modifications I've made may require some rejigging up the deck panels but nothing I can't overcome. Sorry no images of the procedure as I was too busy and too easily frustrated to be concerned about documenting what we used to call in the Naval Reserves - a clusterf#ck!!

In the plans, it calls for the tacking of the panels to the stations temporarily so that you can remove the fasteners (push pins, in my case) in preparation for glassing the outside hull. It is suggested that you tack with wood glue. I decided to try a glue gun. I figured it dries quick and you simply need to place dabs of glue in strategic places to hold the stations. It appears to be working like a charm. I could put a spot of glue right were I wanted it. It was thick enough to stay in glob form without wanting to run. Plus it set in minutes - thereby cutting down on the wait time. I had the stations tacked in a few minutes.I did a check and the glue can be lifted from the plywood by simply prying with a chisel. Badda boom, badda bing.

The next step was to remove the copper sutures. What took a few hours to put in, came out in a matter of minutes. I am happy to say that all wires came out without a hitch and non were set in epoxy and, therefore, had to remain in the hull. I am also happy to say that the "porcupine boat" is no more although it did manage to give my fingers a few good pokes before it was over. I guess the blood stains will sand off!!

Once the sutures were out I finally managed to get a good look down the lines of the hull. I am very pleased and no tweaking was required. I mixed up some thickened epoxy and filled in the seams. All went well.

No pictures of the above steps as they are pretty much identical to those covered in previous blog entries.

Before packing it in for the night I did my routine scrutiny of the night's work - see above concerning anal retentiveness!! A glance down the line of the stem showed a VERY slight waver. Not willing to let sleeping dogs lie, I figured that I could take some of the waver out - especially seeing that the epoxy had not set yet.

Wikipedia defines a kludge as a workaround, a quick-and-dirty solution, a clumsy or inelegant, yet effective, solution to a problem, typically using parts that are cobbled together.

Below we have a fine example of a kludge. A square is, by nature, straight but thin. BUT the clamps could not hold it horizontal. Let's add a 2x4 for support. BUT a 2x4 ain't going to hold itself up. I think we need another clamp. And so on. And so on.

I'm sure there's a much more elegant wave of doing this but it was 12:30 in the AM. I was five hours into a "two hour job". I guess I wasnit thinking "straight" - hahahah. Pun intended. I'm curious to see how well it worked. We shall see when I take apart the kayak kludge later this evening!!