More Kayak Progress

Next step was to use some card to create templates for the bow and stern plates:

 

This is a bit of a black art. Yost gives some guide lengths for the gunwales, chines and keel but says that you have to judge where they are happiest coming together then set the rake of bow and stern by eye according to what looks best to you.

This took several attempts by trial and error, until I had a couple of templates that I felt were OK:

These were use to mark out the oak planking bow and stern plates, which I then rough fitted in place and shaped up - again by trial and error:

Bow:

Stern:

More frame work to follow ....
23rd FEBRUARY 2011

A bit more on the ups (and downs) in the life of a backyard kayak builder ...

The next task is to measure up and cut the deck ridges to size. There is one running from the Masik to the bow:

and 2 aft of the cockpit connecting frames 4 and 5, which will support the flat rear deck:

all of them are notched where they fit over the frames so that they will lie flush:

The frame itself is temporarily screwed together (using thin 50mm drywall screws through predrilled holes in the gunwales and chines at every junction with the frames):

and the finished result gives me some idea of what I should end up with:

Now for the gluing up the gunwales and chine 1:

with copious use of F clamps, G clamps, spring clamps, quick clamps and Spanish windlasses. I've thickened the epoxy with colloidal silica to make a good glue mix (hollow laugh !).

I left everything for 24 hours, then removed the screws (so that they didn't set permanently in the epoxy) and left things clamped up - but removed the windlasses. I was away from home for the next 12 hours or so. On checking when I got back, I had one of those Oh S**t ! moments that I'm sure are the fate of all BYBBs at some stage:

The glue had given way at 5 of the joints in the bow and 2 at the stern. I think that this happened because of a couple of things:

- my workshop is cold (we have been having seasonally cool weather for the last week or so) and even with an oil-filled heater going full belt, it barely gets up to 12C. This slows things right down and I was probably too fast in removing the screws & windlasses - though everything held when I removed them.

- There may have been some epoxy starvation in the joints as it soaked away into the end grain of the plywood frames:

After taking emergency remedial action to stabilize the whole framework, I then got everything back in order and prepared for re-glueing. I'm also going to glue in the keel so have taped up the support brackets (where the keel goes through under frames 1 & 5) with packing tape:

and all the blocks and wedges used to support the keel in position:

so that the epoxy doesn't stick (I hope !) to places that I don't want it to.

Glueing up again: 

with screws at all joints and no less than 5 Spanish windlasses holding it all together:

The weather is a bit warmer now and I've managed to get the shop up to 19C. I'm going to walk away now and leave things be for 48 hours (may be a couple of visual checks - but no touching).

Next up, glueing up the bow, stern and chine 2 ....