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.
With just a little bit of shaving and some tweaking, the hull and deck will made just nicely! Pheww - dodged that bullet!!!!
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.
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| Shiny AND Stinky!! |
Next step - cutting the cockpit and raising the deck!!!
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