Charles Treichel

Most intereting; I have had similar thoughts. Right now I am in Anacortes where I keep a 20' C-Dory on a mooring in Burrows Bay. I'm also building a SOF kayak. Used sailboats with blown out rigging are dirt cheap and may have an appropriate hull, and possible a small engine. Cut down the keel, and make a few more modifications and you may be in business. The main disadvantage may be speed. I like my C-Dory with a 90 HP Evinrude E-Tec. It goes 24knots and consumes little gas; I can raise the engine and slide into any calm beach. I would have a hard time with a boat that only goes7-8 knots.

On a previous boat I experimented with various adhesives and found that "Goop" really worked well.

I think I will be able to bend it down about 1/2" per side. Hope that will be enough.

I was looking at Jeff's boat and noticed a significant "bending" which, I presume, is to assist in the tensioning of the fabric when he removes the clamps that probably held the sides of the coming even further downward. By planing a little off the top and bottom of the coming it would be easier to bend, or I could just plane off a little of the bottom atl the front and back to make it a little easier to bend. I am not sure of what is an appropriate amount of bending or how important it is to tension the fabric.

I'm back in business, following some carpel tunnel and elbow surgury, and finishing the Poca Barta frame at my home in Anacortes, WA. Just about ready to start the skinning, and will follow up with photos and writeup when finished. Question: I am afraid my coming ring is a little too stout and will resist bending. I am considering planing it down a bit. Just wondering how easy yours was to bend.

I have a hard time using all those accumulated shorts of various hardwoods for kindling. But they were taking up too much space so I bit the bullet and here are the results.

I believe the key to safety is understanding the tools and their potential for danger. That is why I like to show novices what can happen with flying boards, etc. and the importance of keeping body parts out of harms way.

I've had too many problems with splitters and factory supplied guards, but the best bet if you are not confident of what you are doing is to use one and put up with the inconvenience. The only time I have ever had an "accident" with any of my tools (including chainsaws) is when I attemped to cut a tiny board with the blade up only about 1/4". It resulted in a nick to my middle finger. I use a variety of pushers to keep my hands away from danger. I have also demonstrated to myself and others the hazards of kickbacks and flying boards. I think this makes a lasting impression on novices learning the use of these powerful tools.

It seems that about half the shops I have visited have at times removed the blade guard from their table saw. I sympathize with them because the guard is often a clumbsy thing to deal with and frequently gets in the way. I am guilty of this myself so I thought I would toy around with devising a more "user friendly" guard that could stay in place. The guard is made from a piece of 1/4 plexy and mounted from the ceiling of my shop on an adjustable mechanism to keep it in close proximity to the top of the blade. The back flap is made from a piece of converor belt and is mounted to the fence. For a cross cut the flap can be lifted when inserting the stock, if necessary. For ripping it can be removed and the saw positioned so that a pushing aid can move the stock through the blade with the plexy offering some protection from the blade. I am not making any blanket recommendations on duplicating this until I gain some experience testing it under different conditions.

I made up another scarf jig for the radial saw This one lays flat on the table and has a groove cut to a depth down to the top of the fence. I did this so the stock could pass over the top of the fence thereby allowing the cut to be made in the middle of the stock. The angle is set so that the stock will not interfer with the column of the saw. I use this to rough cut the stock and then finish up cutting a parallel trim cut with the jig shown in the previous posting. The reality is that with a little bit of care this may be unnecessary. The guard on the radial saw has been tilted back for clarity when taking the photo. Of course you would need clearance behind the saw to cut in the middle of a long stringer.

I received a small sample of 8oz poly with about 50-60 threads/inch. I tested it by ironing and it shrinks about 10% (and even more if you get it too hot). I tried painting it with an oil based paint and it seems to nicely take the paint. I put a second coat on and believe that would seal it. But, as this is new to me, I have nothing to compare it to.. Anyway, I won't be working on my kayak until this summer when I go to Washington, so I thought doing some research might turn up something. But, now as it turns out, the supplier has run out of the material and is no longer offering it for sale.

Just wondering what the specs are for polyester. 8oz/yd? Is there any reason to go heavier or lighter? What is the ideal thread count? Uncoated. How does one tell if it is coated or not? Any other relevant specs?

Perhaps a little more than slight. The frames are finished and they come out to about 8#. The stringers should be the same weight as cedar and my rudimentary tests show them to be stronger.

I've been toying around with various means of cutting scarfs on stringers for my kayak project and here is what I came up with. I realize that space constraints may render this impossible for some workshops. I have cut several now and find that this seems a relatively easy and safe way to get good cuts. When using a radial saw the most important safety aspect is to keep hands out of harms way and to have your stock backed up against the fence. Therefore the tip of the stringer must be brought into contact with fence before initiating a cut. The clamps hold the stock firmly and the cuts are consistant. A further improvement would be to redesign the jig to allow for different angles. Hope I am not treading on someone elses idea as I imagine this has been done before.

I wasn't talking about oak plywood; for better or worse I am using real wood cut by myself from real trees. I've done some rudimentary tests and am satisfied with the results. I've reduced the dimensions of the stringers slightly so the weight will come out about the same and be just as strong. The issue of quality I was referring to was the various grades of construction plywood vs Integraply or perhaps Baltic Birch. (neither of which I decided to use) When I see sheets in a stack all warped up and am aware of all the voids and filled in areas, I refer to that as quality, which is not to say it is inadequate for its purpose, which obviously is not for boats.

Well, in any case I am not using it for the Poca Barta as I decided to go with my supply of white oak. Although there are differences in the strength of plywood my main concern is quality. Like someone said recently, most grades of plywood carried by the big box stores are junk for boatbuilding due to warp, voids, etc. Fine for underlayment of a roof though. My real question today is how this forum works. It seems that if you do not start a new thread, very few are going to bore down into a continuing old one. And if you go up to a previous thread, your new thread goes to the bottom. Is there a recommended way to create over a period of time a chain of related threads without everything that pops up in between? Is there a way to eliminate an irrelevant thread that you have created?

I have an everlasting interest in materials and their application in different projects. I am impressed by the quality of a product called "Integraply" which is a quality plywood used primarily as underlayment for tile floors. It comes in different thickness, 1/4"- 5ply, 1/2" - 7ply. exterior rated glue, sanded both sides and no voids and very economical. It seems that it may be similar to baltic birch. For fir it seems that 1 x 3 or 1 x 4 fir porch flooring is usually of high quality and in spite of the fact that you may incur some waste in resawing it, it might be a good economical choice. It might also come in southern yellow pine. Pick out the best pieces from your big box store and go to town! The same holds true for red cedar, most of it is junk, but sometimes a few good pieces can be found. I personally like the properties of white oak which I have obtained from trees I have cut on my property and cut up with a bandsaw mill that was owned by a friend. I also have a "Logosol" chainsaw attachment from Baileys. This is the Swedish equivalent of the Alaskan sawmill and is currently on sale for about $100. I highly reccomend it if you have an intermittant source of small logs. Beats turning them into firewood.

The next stage for me was making the coming ring. I decided to stick with the white oak as I have an ample supply and I really like the way it bends. I made up this simple jig from the loftings and bent an 1/8th x 1-3/4" strip around it to use as a base to clamp against. The strip refused to follow the pattern and appeared to like a slightly different shape making it slightly wider. I modified the jig to this new shape. I drilled two holes in each end of the 2 x 6 as I was uneasy about leaving the ends unclamped. In retrospect I think the 2 x 6 could have been a 2 x 4 and the 2 x 4's could have been 2 x 2's. Maybe next time. The 1/8th n oak strip proved rigid enought to allow subsequent strips to be bent around it w/o distorting the jig. I isolated the lap joint with a piece of poly and then started laminating strips around the jig, two pieces with lap joints. Subsequent piece with butt joints and the last piece a single long strip with a lap (scarf) joint. I ended up using about every clamp I owned, every 2-3". The I followed up with the rim made from 3, 1/8 x 1/2" strips. Powerplaned, hand planed, and sanded the tops and bottoms. Then filled in any cracks with epoxy and smeared more over the top and bottom of all the laminations. (I will probably also use epoxy to seal any end grain on the frames and fillet in some of the joined pieces.

I can't disagree with that. I am working on some custom guards for my table saw and radial saw to use when it is impossible to use the factory one. If they work out I will post them. On another subject I am debating what to use for the fabric and leaning toward nylon even with its tendency to stretch and difficulty painting. Nothing is available to look at locally other than the chain fabric stores which seem to know little about their products and only carry widths up to 60". I was impressed, however, by "ripstop nylon" which comes in many different colors but, of course, not wide enough. Anyone know anything about this? What exactly is ballistic nylon?

Here is a much better way to do these. I made up a jig for future cuts. Note the wood peg at the bottom and the c-clamp at the top to keep the piece from rotating. Not only safer but easier. I already have a variety of jigs for other purposes. Don't why I didn't think of it at the time.

Oops! Hit the wrong button. Here are the photos. I also wanted to add that cutting the relief with the unguarded table saw is a potentially dangerous operation and should not be attempted by someone inexperienced in its use. Note that my hand is blocked from coming near the blade by the fence and I advance the stock very, very slow. I would never try this, however, for a wider cut where the blade was not against the fence.

Here is how I started the frames. I started with 1/2" IntegraPly underlayment. This is a high quality plywood, using exterior glue, sanded, and w/o voids. However, i ran out of my supply and when I went back to Menards, they no longer carry it in 1/2. So I decided to try from my supply of white oak. I transfered to outside dimensions to stock planed down to 1/2" and then cut an 1/8 relief on the table saw for the glue joints. After glueing and clamping with Titebond III I traced in the notches for the stringers and, where necessary, sanded in reliefs for the skin. I started the notches on a radial saw, then a hand saw, and finished squaring them up with a mortiser. Using the mortisor went very fast and resulted in nice square corners. I tested the glue joins by supporting the frame on the floor and standing on the opposite member with my 200# body. No problems. Here are some photos of the parts.

Not sure of all the workings of these forums, but to continue with my log on Poca Barta. Here is the way I lofted it. (plus some photos of tools I have made for woodworking). I have a large roll of heavy paper left over from my former employment so I cut several large sheets and draw x/y axis lines and begin transfering the offsets using a square and measuring tape or ruler. The results will be saved as master copies. Next, I lay these over another piece of the same paper and transfer the points using a sharp point of a compass. I retrace the lines on these and, using a craft knife and straight edge, cut them to size. I then fill in details consistant with the materials I will be using to construct the frames. This includes internal cutouts and notches for the stringers. Because I will be not be using plywood for the frames the patterns will reflect some variations made to the them while retaining the original design profile of Poc Barta. I am not too worried about abusing these as I can readily reproduce them from the saved originals. The tools are just wood versions of aids for the table saw and joiner, plus a sandpaper cutter using a hacksaw blade and a couple of hammers, the upper one being from a discarded branch of an oak tree.

Being that this thread has sorta morphed into tales of boating on the great lakes I will interject some comments. Most of my experience started on small N. WI lakes and then Lakes Superior and Michigan. Toured the Apostles in a wooden 18' Thompson all the way out to Outer Island. Never want to do that again! Later, my outings were in a 21' deep v by Cruisers. I guess I have been to just about all those Islands including a few trip to Isle Royale - spectacular! I have been caught in bad weather on many occasions. On the great lakes, those storms can develop in less than 15 minutes. Once rescued a sinking boat off of The Door penninsula in Lake Michigan. 3 priests without life jackets who appeared to be on the verge of accepting their fate in a fishing boat up to the gunnels with water, I tossed them some preservers and towed them a few miles to small rocky inlet of a private safe harbor. Cut them loose and luckily they drifted into the inlet. Made our way back to the marina, had dinner and as the sun was setting drove back to the location where I thought I must have cut thems loose. A caretaker gave us our lines and life preservers but I never heard another word. Now my boating takes place in the San Juans, out of Anacortes, WA where I keep my boat on a mooring. It is a 21' C-Dory and has the advantage of being relatively fast and economical, and I can slide in on the numerous beachs in just a few inches of water. The weather here seems to be very predictable with very few storms picking up spontaneously. The water, however is just as cold. And the turbulance from the tide changes can be something to behold, especially for a midwesterner.