Day 12

Sew day.  :-)

There are a few photos to show of how I did the sew but first I have to thank Tony Calvert for his suggestions and photos and a character called Corey Freedman  http://nz.youtube.com/watch?v=FYWJANqRUsc for a great set of instructional videos.  In the end I followed, as much as possible, the Freedman way and so far the results are good.

Also I started by using a strong polyester cotton thread but found it to weak to handle force I was using.  So I did a bike trip and ended up at a fabric shop called Haralds.  I have no idea if the young guy who owns Haralds (two shops now) is Harald but he was great to deal with.  (Phone number 03 352 6763).  From there I spied some polyester thread which has the consistency of unwaxed dental floss.  It has great tensile strength though I did still manage to break it the odd time.  I started using it as a single thread but soon ended up using it double.    

He also has a great range of nylon fabric so that may become the place I purchase from, for the next kayak.  Plus he has the imagination to understand what I am doing and make great suggestions.

This is how the day started.  Cloth is centred on the keelson.  I took care to run one of the fabric ripstop ridges down the centre of the keelson.  Why?  Because I thought it looked nice.  :-)

Now sew the bow, including about 50 mm up the centre stringer.


Now down at the stern.  Pull the fabric as hard as possible to stretch it along the length of the kayak.   Mark the point where the fabric meets the end of the keelson.  Now relax and loosen the fabric.  Take the fabric off the bow so that the fabric is loose.  Then sew up the stern at the place you marked, as in the photo above.


Re-attach the fabric at the bow.  Position yourself at the stern, grab the fabric and with one foot pushing against the stern stretch the fabric so that the stern piece covers the stern.  This should give you a very tight fitting skin, over the keelson.

Flip the kayak and pin the sides of the fabric to a very loose join over the centre stringer.


Cut away the waste fabric.  This should leave you with something like the above photo.


Starting from the cockpit start sewing forward.  This is quite a hard job and requires a lot of strength in your left (assuming you are right handed) hand.  The left hand has the job of grasping both sides of the fabric and maintaining continuous tension.  Look at the YouTube clip of a good explanation of where to make the seam and why.  It is well explained.

I did a much stronger stitch than shown in the video.  This was for two reasons.  The first was that my thread was thinner than the one he was using.  He seemed to get better continuous tension on the sewn fabric than I.  The second is that I wanted this seam to be as strong as possible, within reason. In the end, what I achieved worked well.  But be warned.  This is an area for both practice and experimentation, so work at it.

The photo shows the final forward seam before trimming.

This is the seam after trimming.  It is trimmed so that I can role the fabric edges over themselves and create a very tidy centre seam that sit on the centre stringer.

There was also a bit of discussion about the suitability of polystyrene as a floatation device.  Two issues were raised.  The first was the degree that it would take on water and the second was possible long term deterioration.  I tested the floatation of the polystyrene by weighing it dry then fully immersing it for two hours and weighing again.  I also observed it's flotation behaviour.

Both before and after immersion the polystyrene floated on top of the water and was hard to submerge.  (To submerge it 50 mm, I needed to place a full bucket of water on top of it.)   The before and after weight photos are below.  Clearly the polystyrene look on some water, though this was minimal and surface based.  However its buoyancy was affected only very marginally.  Of course we all know this from our experience, year after year, of trying to sit on a flutter board when swimming as kids.  :-)

However it is definitely possible that the polystyrene will break down over time and, more importantly, once wet may not dry easily, in the hull.  For this reason I will look for a better floatation device next time around.

Before



After.  The difference was about 150gm water.

:-)

Tomorrow.  Finish sewing.  Finish preparing the coaming.

Day 11

My days are going something like this.  

- Up around 7:30.

- Breakfast then check the emails.

- Plan the day.

- (usually) head off on the bike to visit a timber merchant or Bunnings or something.

- Back and check the emails again.  By now it is early afternoon.

- Start would on the kayak in earnest.

- Dinner around 5:30

- Do a couple more hours after dinner.

- Check the emails.

- Write the blog. :-)

I know you didn't need to know that but quite frankly I have to explain why I don't start construction earlier in the day.... and I cant because that Bunnings is beckoning.  Sick I know but there it is.

Today I went to Para Rubber and picked up a kayak seat, actually one of those rubber dufers that people kneel on when doing the garden.  Also bought some closed cell foam for the coaming and as cockpit protection.

Then I checked out Ceder at Placemakers... they have what I need for the paddle.

Then to Bunnings for screws and glue.

Then to a marine shop to check out a hatch cover for making a forward compartment.  Danged expensive and I had second thoughts.  My third thoughts will be to buy it but I will also look around at alternatives first.

Did the last of the significant finishing bits needed, prior to skinning, like adding the stern pieces, gluing down the top rear stringers, inserting some flooring in the compartment behind the cockpit to hold a tent and things and other minor things.   The only thing I haven't built is foot rests.  Currently I don't need them as my feet rest against the 3rd profile but... well... I will add them later if I need to.

Glued up two parts of the coaming base.  I have a nagging feeling that I should not have done this but I can not see why they need to be separate.  I guess I will find out one day.  Of course I did not have enough clamps.  All the web sites say "get enough clamps" and "you can never have enough clamps".  It is possible that they are right but I survived with two G clamps, one monster G clamp, a set of vice grips and about four 300mm electrical ties.  The ties worked really well, in this instance.  See the photos.

Now the kayak is inside resting on the dining room table.  Fortunately I am batching for a couple of days as I am not sure that Mary could cope with this boat consuming all of the dining room and part of the lounge.

Finished up the stern piece.


Made this thingie up to support the front of the coaming.  It will also act as a stable platform for an eventual marine compass.


The coaming shown supported by the thingie.


Glued up the coaming base plates.  Note the use of ties.  Worked a treat.


Last look at her before she gets skinned.

One more last look.


And in through the windows she goes.


Don't show this to Mary.


And on to the dinning table


If it was only this easy.  The forecast is for rain over the weekend so I guess that i will have nothing else to do but stitch.  This will be a riot.

Day 10

The fabric arrived.  Woowowowoowowoowoowoowoowoowowoow.

It is white, feels very strong and has a slightly raised, square pattern on it.  If I have any left over I might make a nice apron... for the barbecue of course.... for a bloke.  

Despite having time, I did not achieve a huge amount today.  I visited the Ceder distributor (wood for my paddle).  Of course it is not simple.  I have to buy through a merchant.  But the merchants don't stock most of the profiles.  They buy from the distributor on a "as required" basis.  I can not buy direct so I need to order from the timber merchant, pay my money, have it ordered and wait till the distributor gets it to the merchant, so that I can pick it up.  Bah humbug.  And all of this is in the name of an efficient supply chain.  Right!   One good thing is, I suppose, that all this running around creates jobs, and in these uncertain times, jobs are necessary.  So I will have a go at ordering tomorrow.

I also changed the flooring in the cockpit such that I have a section held in by Velcro.  This is to enable a section of the floor to be easily lifted to mop up any sloshing water.  

And while I was horsing around I reshaped the join between the bow and the keelson.  The way I had it would have made stitching the skin a little difficult. 

Then, even though I had a head of steam, I downed tools to keep a prearranged meeting with a guy called Bill, who I had not seen since I was 8.  :-)

Tomorrow I am going to bring the kayak inside (through a window) and set it up on the dining room table and start the wrapping and stitching process.  :-)

Did I show you the insulation block I am using for a flotation device?  When I find the receipt I will post the name of the product.  It cuts OK, though gets a but flaky when using a knife.  I think the best thing would be a hot wire but I don't have one... so a knife it is.  

The insulation has a ridge on one side that enables stacking and moving, but just gets in the way for stuffing into the kayak.  So off it comes.



One great uses of the insulation (I found today) is to use it to support the kayak frame and keep it stable on the workbench, once the stringers are on and you don't want to use the strongback.  The stringers fit nicely into an existing 25mm wide channel in the insulation.  A block of teh insulation would be useful, just for this purpose alone.  Bunnings sells the blocks, one at a time, so you don't need a stack of them and it costs about $5 a sheet.  Great investment.

Day 9

Day 9 was coaming day and with about 5 minutes to spare (before the neighbours started throwing cats as me, I finished.... well sort of finished.  

Hard to believe but the day started with a walk to town to buy a(nother) tube for my bike.  Thinking back the day actually it started with the brilliant idea that I should ring the the Rasdex people who make one of the brands of spray skirts on the market.  Not only were they really helpful but they operate out of Christchurch and invited me to their factory to measure up a standard skirt.  So I did and came away with a paper profile plus good advice from Rob, the owner.  Hence the need for the tube for my bike.  

Later in the afternoon I cut out the coaming based on the spray skirt profile.  Next time I will take a little more care and not try to rush it.  The coaming will look great, once it is finished and all the crooked bits hidden.  

As the coaming is only about 750 long and the cockpit gap is about 850 long, there is a gap.  DOH!.  I therefore needed to devise a crafty way to hold the front of the coaming up and attached to the masik (profile 4).  I think the plan is for the coaming to be unattached to the frame and simply held in place by the kayak skin.  This, I felt was a bit risky and I could see myself ripping the skin two days away from civilisation and having to duck tape up the whole think.  Nope.  Another time perhaps.  Anyway my crafty plan has also provided me a small but strong 'deck' just in front of the cockpit which, I believe, will be a useful place to mount a compass.

I am following one of Tom's many coaming designs and will have a go at assembling it on day 11.

I also started thinking about the need for a paddle.  They start at about $100 which seems like an awful lot of money.   In the shop I pretended that I was really interested in the $300 ones though I am sure I stopped breathing which I checked the price tags (which are quite small).  So..... I will build my paddle as well.  I will build it based on Inuit styling though, by the time I am finished, it will be unrecognisable compared to the original.  

So.  Day 9 finished with the coaming cut out and the kayak frame added to so that the coaming could be attached.

A couple of views of the bottom two section of the coaming, set up on the frame.  I have set it up so that it sits on No5 profile (at the rear of the cockpit) and the extension piece from the No 4 profile at the front of the cockpit.  Also note the two little thingies at the side of the cockpit to give extra support to the coaming when entering or exiting.  They are attached to the gunwale and first stringer down.

It was dark when I finished for the evening and I was working by the light of a street light.  It is quite handy when the garage has no roof or walls to restrict light.  :-)

Day 8

Was just a tad frustrating.  My main problem was trying to decide on the size to make the coaming.

My method was to visit Kayak shops and get the sizes of spray skirts (ie what size coaming they would fit) and then build a coaming that would fit the standard size.    I visited two kayak shops and neither "got" what I wanted.  The way it works, it seems, is that the spray skirts are designed to fit various size cockpits on brandname kayaks.  Rather that have a size (ie 70x40) I had to look at the kayaks on sale and say "that looks like about the right size" and then they would show me an appropriate spray skirt.  

In the end I decided that a 70 x 40 cm cockpit size was about right, which lined me up with a $149 spray skirt.  Silly me.  The 70 x 40 would work for me if my coaming was part of a plastic kayak.  But I needed to reduce the size by a further 50mm to allow for the timber thicknesses needed for my construction method.  So there I was, putting a tape measure across my middle and thinking to myself... I am not going to fit in there!!!!!.  (I know... some of you, dear readers, will suggest that now is the time to visit Jenny Craig but I am going to resist, this once.)

There must be an easier way to do this.  Tomorrow I will go back and measure up for a larger sized cockpit so that there is allowance for my timber coaming.  (I suppose I could just buy the spray skirt and build the coaming accordingly... but all the kayak web sites tell me that I should but the spray skirt after I have the coaming.... bah).  I have even thought of making my own spray skirt but perhaps this is a step too far.... today.  :-). 

Now.... if you understood all that then you are doing better than me.

On the positive side I purchased some more ply, for the coaming, and some polystyrene insulation.  I am using the insulation to full between some of the profiles, as a buoyancy aid in case of an on water disaster where the skin fails and the kayak fills with water.  Mother will be pleased.  

I also found a great book, the name of which I have now forgotten, (I did not buy it, silly), which described some great ways to add features to the kayak.  

The fabric is now due Wednesday.  I am OK with this as I do need to sort the coaming first.  I am not happy with the bow either, so will take the plane to that as well.  

BTW.  My little experiment of bending water logged ply into a 200mm circle, worked a treat and it gives rise to a cunning plan.... so cunning that if I told you... I would have too... well, you know the rest.

Finally, I wrote to Tom Yost (the bloke who published the kayak design I am (ab)using).  He was very helpful with his replies.  Told me that he may be coming to NZ this year for some kayaking.  It would be fun to catch up with him.  Give him a good laugh anyway when he sees my effort.  :-)

Tomorrow I intend to sort out this coaming business once and for all!!!!!!!!!

Adding the Polystyrene.  This was the first block (actually this a  added.  I will also add a block to the next space forward and the two most forward spaces.  The polystyrene is cut from a block used for insulation in houses.  It was cheap.  Next time I will look for something free from the throw out bins behind appliance stores.  :-)

Day 7

I would have to say that I am really enjoying this kayak building lark.  There is something immensely satisfying about building something that you will paddle that should keep you on the sunny side of the water line.  However... down to business.

Not a huge amount done today.   Built a prototype of a small coaming (hatch size rather than body size) by cutting a 800x 40 mm length of 3 ply (7mm) plywood and giving it a bath for a couple of hours.  The result was a very pliable piece of ply which I could bend into a 200mm dia circle.  This is now drying and I will see if it is any good tomorrow.  However, I had another look at Tom Yost's web site and found this http://www.yostwerks.com/SBCoamingA.html which shows, in some detail, how to build a coaming from 13mm ply.  Not for the purists mind you (and is a bit wasteful on plywood) but will work for me very nicely.  Tomorrow I will visit the kayak shops to get the measurements for a spray skirt so that I can build this object d'art to the correct size.  Then down to Bunnings for some more ply and time to have fun the the jigsaw again.  

Since writing the above I have been all over Toms web site again.  He has a whole pile of construction methods for coamings, all of which could be used for my project.  My guess is that I will do the plywood method outlined above simply because it is easy.  However, I particularly like the method he suggested using 18" quilting hoops.  Nice one Tom.  :-)

I haven't heard so I guess the polyester wont be here till Tuesday.  dang.

Did I say that I want to do some multi-day expeditions in the kayak.  That means taking a bit more care about including some multi-day features like...

1.  Extra stowage.  I am going to create stowage space behind the cockpit but, as it is quite narrow, I think I will only get the tent, food items and utensils in there.  This means that the seat will have to be removable.  I will try Velcro as my seat sticking down mechanism.  I will also create a hatch cover between profiles 2 and 3.  There is enough room for a 200mm hatch.  Inside the space I will have a dry bag big enough for my sleeping bag, bed roll and dry clothing.  These stowage areas will have a ply floor to ensure the packages to not touch the fabric skin.

2.  Extra grab lines (I am sure there is a technical name for these) around the kayak edge.  

3.  Easy reach waterproof bags for things like maps, navigation and communication equipment.

I am looking forward to that part of the fitout.

BTW.  Looks like I can get a source of block polystyrene which I can cut into shape and stuff into the bow and stern, to act as a flotation aid in case of 'on water' disaster.  

Tony Calvert posted a great discussion piece on various design architectures for Skin on Frame kayaks.   If he is OK with the idea (I need to ask first) I will post it on the blog at some stage.

Anyway.  Sorry.  No pictures today.  Tomorrow should be lots of fun and Tuesday even better.

Day 6

Well... it is Saturday... so whats the hurry, I say.  Again it was a leisurely start to the day followed by the almost mandatory trip to the local Bunnings (hardware store for the uninitiated) and there to buy epoxy (to slop around the joints so as to add some water proofing to the glue) and a timber coating.  But first I had to visit the bike shop, as one does, cuz I really need a new tyre, some new spokes, a new tube and odd sundry bike stuff.  

Back to Bunnings.  I ended up getting a nice bevy of stuff including ADOS Epoxy All Purpose Resin; CD50 made by Churton Pacific Limited as a timber coating and preservative, some rubber gloves (you should have seen the mess I made of my hands with the Gorilla Grip glue) a couple of very cheap paint brushes and some sand paper.

So I....

1.  Sanded the timber bits with particular focus on any sharp edges that may impact the covering fabric.  

2.  Resin'd up all the joints.

3.  Coated the entire kayak frame with the CD50 stuff.  This took about an hour and 15 plus clean up.  

The end result was a kayak frame that I really don't want to cover now, because it looks so nice.

The building process has become a bit of a tourist attraction, so much so that I might just ask Tourism NZ for sponsorship.  Besides the various neighbours who, in their own way, have all had a look, I chatted to a Mr Chin.  He is Chinese of indeterminate age (but something over 60 I guess).  Between my bowing and arm waving pantomime and his chinglese we communicated quite well, I thought.  He bought is daughter in law and grand daughter back today to check on progress.  Then a bloke called Graeme wandered in to have a look.  He was highly impressed with the speed of construction, which was nice of him to mention.  Also had a old pommy guy and his wife stop by and tell me that they have been watching progress on a daily basis.  They were wondering when I am going to the Olympics.  :-).  Nice people... don't you think?  Anyway... if you live in Christchurch and are coming down Papanui Road toward the city, look left as you pass the St Albans Church.  Then drop in and have a chat.  If nothing else you will have some good stories to tell the folk back home about a mad kiwi and his kamikaze kayak.

No word of the fabric so I guess it will turn up on Tuesday.  Bother.

I was too chicken today to attack the coaming, so will start that tomorrow.  I am going to see if I can build it out of 7mm ply.  Why?  Cuz that is what I have.  If it does not work then I will go to plan B... which I will make up should it be required.

There are some photos below of the ingredients and me sitting in the darn thing. 

Applying the CD50.

Which looks like this.

The epoxy resin was this brand

I sat in it... of course I had to.  All of a sudden the Kayak felt very small and I felt very big.  I only just got my legs under the No4 profile (near my knees in the photo).  And this was after I had already added about 1.5cm to the opening height.  It will be fun when I launch it just to see how much freeboard I actually have.  I am guessing not much.