Back to Work

Well it has been a busy spring and very little time has been put on the kayak. This is a great time to be out on the water paddling but ... I just did not get started early enough in the winter to be done. I have finally got some work on the hull done so I am posting a few pictures of my progress. I used a darker wood along the keel and also to outline the centerportion of the hull. I finally finished the bottom center part of the hull and now I am working my way up (or down depending how you look at it) the sides. The contrasing color of the wood looks good.

This is a view looking from the bow back towards the stern

Comparison photos looking from the stern forward (left photo) and the bow back (right photo)

This is a view showing how the bottom is shaping up

Back to Work

Well ... it has been a while since I've been able to work on my kayak, it has been a busy spring.

I finally got a few strips put on and have milled some more coves on the strips that I had previously put the bead on. This weekend and tonight I got the center line strips on the hull. The kayak is beginning to take shape. The project requires a lot of clamps of various sizes and shapes. A friend of mine loaned me his dad's Stanley #4 plane and I used it to plane the edges of the centerline strips, a real fine tool, a real pleasure to work with.

Below are a few picts of my progress:

This is progress from the stern looking forward

This view is from the bow looking towards the stern

Looking along the center of the hull with the centerline strips in place

A view of the stern shaping up now, the lines look fair

Here I'm using the old Stanley No. 4 to bevel the centerline strips

Yep, it is getting to build another boat ... Mr. E would be proud

First Strips

I found a couple of nice red cedar boards that I could get a few strips from, there were a lot of knots in the boards but I was able to get enough strips to use for features and will be able to add some nice color. I plan on using the red cedar to make a patter of sorts on the top side of the kayak. I cut strips from the juniper, white cedar and red cedar and now have about 1050 feet of 1/4 x 5/8" strips ready to use. I have milled the bead on them using my router and will mill the cove on the strips in small batches as I use them so as not to damage the coves.

I finally got the time to install the shear strips that are made of red cedar and began installing the lighter juniper strips on the hull.  I had to make sure the shear strip presented a fair line along the hull since this will set the appearance for the remainder of the strips.The kayak should start to take shape fast now as I to make progress stripping the hull
.

The above shows the shear line at the bow

This is the shear line at the stern

Here is a closer view of the stern

I'm deciding how the next strip will go on

while allowing for the first "cheater" strip

Just a cool photo of my tools

The Strongback

Over the weekend I completed the bow form by laying a few random strips on the bow mock-up I had made to see the lines and reshaped the bow and forms 2, 1 and 0.5, this took a little work shaving and trimming so as to get a nice form to the bow section. I'll have a similar effort for the modified stern that I am looking for but that comes later.

I bought a nice and straight 16 ft. 2x4 to use as a strong back. I marked off the adjusted form locations along the strongback starting in the middle and working out towards each end. Then I located the center point on each end, drove a nail and ran a string along the length of all four sides of the 2x4. I used this string to mark a pencil line along the length of the 2x4. This establishes a straight line for me to use when aligning the forms prior to securing them to the strongback.

Then I located the center of mass of the kayak and marked that on the strongback. I located the center of mass for two kayakers and marked the two cockpits locations on the strongback. This lets me know which forms fall in the cockpits. For easy removal when building the cockpits, I will cut these forms horizontally along the center and glue them back together. I can simply break them at the joint when I get to the point of making the cockpits so they will not be in the way.

The following are some photos of my progress:

This is the 16ft. 2x4 I'm using as a strongback

Here is the nail and string marking the centerline on the top side, this

was repeated on all sides



I'm marking the centerline with a pencil for use later when aligning the forms

This photo shows the forms temporarily placed on the strongback

The kayak is starting to take shape, next I'll start securing the forms to the strongback. Then I'll attach the newly modified bow form and begin working on the stern.

Cutting the First Strips

Set up of the band saw with a 1/2" wide 3tpi blade and cut a few strips. I'm using the band saw instead of the table saw to help keep the waste down to a minimum. I cut a few strips because I wanted to temporarly attach some strips to the bow mock-up that I built over the weekend to see what modifications I need to make so the bow form looks good.

This photo shows the fence and blade installed, the wide blade helps keep the cut is true and the blade is not too radical.The strips will not require too much sanding due to the blade marks.

I made a table on the infeed and out feed sides so cutting the strips can be a one man operation. I will still need help when cutting the 16 ft. boards. The shorter boards are not a problem for one person to handle.

Cutting the first strips. The strips are coming off at a uniform thinkness, there is no noticable blade creep.

The re-designed bow form with a couple of test strips temporarly attached so I can see how the lines will look. I did not taper this template since I knew I would be making some modifications to the lines. I will reshape the deck side of the form to be more straight and will cut forms 0.5 and 1.0 to allow a smooth transition.

I plan on making the curve of the bow more gentle and the deck up towards the front end a little more flat.



Friday getting the bow form reworked

I bought lumber yesterday at a specialty lumber yard in Blountstown, Florida. Had a good time talking with the guys there, very helpfull. They have a lot of exotics and anyone seeking special wood types should check them out. Great bunch of guys with a lot of knowledge and inventory, had a great experience and a fun afternoon talking with them.

I want a more traditional form for the bow and stern rather than the severly upturned ends of the Guillimot Double so today I spent the day working on a mock-up of the end form for the bow and building a fence table for the band saw so I can cut the strips. I need a few short strips to lay on the mock-up so I can find out how the shape of the re-designed bow will work and present a fair hull shape.

Below are some photos of my progress.

Here is a photo of the lumber that I bought, it is Juniper that has the weight and consistancy similar to that of cedar. I could not get my hands on cedar that was clear of knots. These boards are very clear and is flat-sawed so the strips when I finish cutting them will be quarter-sawed. I bought boards that are 16', 12' and 8'. The Juniper will be lighter in color than cedar so I will use a darker wood for the feature strips such a the sheer line and some decorative patterns on the top deck.

This is a photo of the mock-up of the bow form that I want. I will work out forms 1.0 and 0.5 after I have cut some strips that I can fasten and get the exact shape of the forward hull I want. I may re-work form 2 as well to get a fair transition of the hull to the bow form. More to come ...

Starting to build a strip kayak

I am beginning to build a tandum strip built kayak and I thought about posting a blog of my progress for friends to follow.

I plan on building the Guillemot Double as presented in Nick Schade's book The Strip-Built Sea Kayak but I have scaled the plan down to 17 feet using the method he describes in the book.

I began by inputting the offsets into an Excel spreadsheet and developing a formula for scaling the Kayak down. This took about 2 hours or so. I made an array of x,y,z coordinates and and imported them into AutoCad. I then plotted full size templates, spray mounted them onto 1/2" mdf plywood to cut them out. Anyone that wants to know how to do this in Excel and AutoCad please let me know and I'll give you the details. It is really cool to be able to view the forms in 3-D, rotate it and view the hull from various directions. You must have access to AutoCad for this.

I started on Saturday cutting the  forms and so far I have cut out my forms for stations 2 thru 18. I will begin to cut my 1/4" strips and start building the strong-back this weekend. I do not especially like the bow and stern shapes so my plan is to modify the ends so the  next step is to cut the end forms that I like and to modify forms 0.1, 1.0, 19 and 19.5. I will do this by building a mock-up of each end.

Above I am rough cutting the forms from the1/2 inch mdf plywood

Here I am using the band saw to trim the forms before sanding

 The photo above shows me sanding the forms to dimension

                                                                                                                                                                                                                       
The completed forms before routing the openings for the strong back

Routing the Strong Back guide holes

         The forms with the holes for the strong back