I worked on the Kayak when I got home tonight. I finished cutting all the 1″ wide lengths. I beveled the edges of what I cut tonight with a block plane. I broke 1 peice doing this. So now I have to re-cut that peice.
It looks like I will need to fill the voids on my longer peices if they are going to be useable. I am thinking of just shoving wood glue and sawdust into the holes. That oughta reinforce the peices enough.
I fiddled around with the broken peice and came up with a jig to cut the half round ends on most of the peices. I will just cut of a small 45 degree peice off of each corner, and 2 or three strokes with the block plane rounds the peices out quite well. Any finishing should be managable when sanding the peices down.
Counting up what I have left for wood, I have more then enough for another 2 full boats. I am planning on making both of them. Things are just so much more fun when you can do it with somebody else. I am thinking that this first boat is going to be a bit short for me to sit in comfortably, so I am probably going to make the next one longer. I will probably try to sell the 3rd one to recoup some of the costs in making them.
I have been looking at how canvas skins are put on other types of boats, and I think I am going to deviate from the “specs” a bit. I am going to add a ton of loops all along the sewn edges of the kayak. I will then lace these up over the top like a corset. This should enable me to cinch the bottom part of the skin – that touches the water and really ought to be fairly tight and smooth – snug. I haven’t seen any DIY boats that have this feature, but I did see a photo that had a lot of lashings across the deck and it might have been a commercial unit that did this. It’s hard to tell, as it appears that most kayaks have lashes across the top to stow gear, and tuck you paddle away so it doesn’t float off on you when you stop paddling.
I have been reading a lot about building Kayaks, and I found 2 more that I want to build. The one I am currently building I would consider a “casual” Kayak, not really all that good on the water, but you know, it stores small and sets up fast. I will probably keep the goofy thing in the trunk of the car so it is with me where ever I go.
There is another type of kayak called a Greenland Kayak that can be made to be broken down. However, this boat is lashed together, so it takes about 2 hours to tie the thing up once your good at it. It also is a mess of little peices that don’t sit flat with each other. The long peices are about 6 feet long, and the short peices would fill a suitcase. This, however, is a “real” kayak that would be seaworthy.
There is a third kind that is made with thin strips of wood. They are absolutely beautiful! I have always loved a fine peice of woodwork, and these boats qualify!
So, IF I start using the kayak I am making now a lot, and IF I decide I like kayaking, and IF I decide I need another boat that is better and IF I don’t have a large place to keep it, I will be making a Greenland Kayak.
When I get a place where I can store a non-collapsable kayak, I just might make an all wooden one.
A fella can dream, right? 5 boats away…
