Jump to content

Kaiyaque

Members
  • Posts

    11
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    1

Kaiyaque last won the day on July 3 2015

Kaiyaque had the most liked content!

Recent Profile Visitors

1,810 profile views

Kaiyaque's Achievements

Rookie

Rookie (2/14)

  • First Post
  • Collaborator
  • Conversation Starter
  • Week One Done
  • One Month Later

Recent Badges

3

Reputation

  1. I should have mentioned that, when I put on the skirt so I felt more comfortable putting her on her cheek in the 50-degree water, she turned fine. You're right, I do mostly paddle on the ocean, and it can get pretty rough. I have NO complaints about how the Long Shot handles in general. I would definitely choose another boat for a narrow, winding river, although the Long Shot worked well in the marsh channels I have had her in.
  2. Took Puisinniaq out for a two-and-a-half hour paddle in Plum Island Sound today for some more challenging water trials. First, we did a bit of gunkholing, going into a quiet cove to leave behind the crowd of power boats, and then heading out around South Point to try out the itsy one-foot surf. Sterling performances going through small surf and against the very fast outgoing tide. I will have to work on the spray skirt; the one I have fits the cockpit, but has way to much material. When the surf broke over the bow, about three gallons of water filled the skirt! The cove... The point at the entrance to the cove Paddling out past South Point Heading out to the dinky surf
  3. "Seal Seeker" was christened and launched for sea trials yesterday in Plum Island Sound off Pavilion Beach in Ipswich. Some mods: 1) More extreme bow overhang. 2) Bow and stern Valley style rubber hatches. 3) Grab lines along gunwales. 4) Padded seat. I used 10-oz ballistic nylon and two-part polyurethane colored with rusty earth pigment to simulate seal skin. That and the hatches added to the weight. I couldn't get the cockpit rim to screw together from underneath, so I ran the 1 1/4" screws in from above. All the screws are silicon bronze, and the staples to pull the skin taut around the openings are rust-proof Monel. After we covered a demo day at a local retailer for our September issue, my wife, who paddles an old Necky Arluk 1,8. said that she thought the Long Shot was a better design and paddled more easily than any of the bots we sampled! Her only complaint was that her hands rubbed on the cockpit rim. I said that the Long Shot was designed for big chubbies like me (and Jeff - sorry Jeff), and that she would be better off in the Short Shot. Maybe the next build...? The really depressing thing is that I am SMILING in all the pictures. No wonder everyone thinks I am an unrepentant grouch! In the last picture, you can see my "whalebone" rub keel, made from a nylon carving board. There is one in the stern, as well. The finished frame. So pretty, I hate to skin it. Hauling out of the "workshop," our screen porch. Mary Magdelene is one of a pair of Orthodox icons we got when we adopted our son, Anton, from St Petersburg, Russia. The other is John. Our 83-year-old paddling friend, Peter Moore, who came down with his wife, Alicia, to share the fun! "I christen thee Seal Seeker." Have to get that translated to Greenlandic... Wife and publisher Tammy and I share some bubbly. Dammit, I was smiling there, too! Off I go. Although you can;t tell from the photo, there is some nasty stuff, little boils and refracting waves off the point to the right background, where the Ipswich River meets the incoming tide, which is pushing through at this point at about 3.5 knots. First run. Stable, dry, tracks like a train, steers like a cow. I was hesitant to lean hard without a sprayskirt, but the boat is hard to turn It may be the bow and stern rubrails. which accentuate the keel. Tomorrow, I will wear the skirt and lay Seal Seeker right down on her cheeks. There is a line of sandbars almost straight ahead of me. 22 years ago, while waiting for a date with the lady whom I was to marry, i was surfing off them in a fog one October morning. I glanced to my right, and there was a seal surfing the clear wave right next to me! Never before or since - we were the only living beings on the water that day, And so - Seal Seeker or Puisinniaq in Greenlandic. Returning after a fabulous run. I thought I was smiling here, too. Maybe my father isn't the old grouch I thought he is...
  4. I've been building this on the screen porch for the past couple of weeks. I built a couple of stitch-and-glue kayaks for my kids, but this is my first time with a SOF. I wanted the boat quickly, so I bought one of Jeff's kits, rather than plans. After a few scary moments in the begining, it has been going together beautifully. Some of my cousins from New Jersey and beyond asked me to show them how it was going, so I set up a web site to show the progress.
  5. I have just finished my first frame, but I have been working with wood for years. One of the points of a SOF boiat, as opposed to an aircraft, I suppose, is that it acts rather like a living thing on the water, and that it is so light. For both these reasons, I would strongly suggest staying away from glue and nails or screws, and stick to lashing. As pbuckner says, it is easy, although it does take longer.
  6. This is something I'm working on right now with my Long Shot. If I come up with a good Idea, I'll pass it along.
  7. I can't begin to tell you how cool that is! Beautiful work on the boats, and the outrigger idea is brilliant. When my kids were little, we used to tootle around in a big double kayak with a center hatch. Good for distances on the ocean, but your setup looks more fun. When they got older, I built them stitch-and-glue kayaks, but that was before I knew aboout Kudzu.
  8. Really nice job! I actually like the dark color: it would make an excellent stealth boat. I just finished the frame on my Long Shot. Modified the bow to make it even more radical, and added bow and stern hatches. These add weight, but I need to be able to easily access my gear. I'm going to paint mine brownish to simulate animal hide, and all the deck lines, etc will be brown, as well. It will be a change from my hard shell, which is bright shiny red. I have a web site which follows the process here. You've all been through it, but my cousins, who live all over the place, wanted to see how it was done. I'm waiting for the skin to arrive. The finished frame:
  9. Sounds like a great idea Jeff. Glad it's not until autumn at least. Since I have no skin on yet, my Long Shot would probably not float well. Ala would be nice, though, as we say in N.E., "Yah cahn't get thayah from heeyah." I'd love to do it, but there is the added attraction of a story to put in the magazine. David
  10. Jeff: Thanks for the reply. We have some really good lumber yards around us and I was lucky to find 1X4 Western red cedar in completely clear 18- and 19-foot lengths, so all I had to do was rip and resaw the pieces on my tiny table saw, easy to do with a fingerboard I made from cedar scrap. As soon as I started to put the frame together, I discovered what you said, and have had no further problems! The frame is going together beautifully. I am carving a storm paddle from a piece of clear fir I found at the same yard. I also am planning to put in hatches front and rear, round and oval respectively. I got some display pieces from TopKayaker for cheap and will be mounting them using the wonderful directions you have online. David
  11. Working on my first SOF Kudzu boat, the Long Shot. I have read the directions, which are fairly generic. One poroblem I am having is how long to make the stringers, keel, etc. I can't find the exact dimensions anywhere. I am going out to look for wood and will overbuy, figuring on a finished length of 18'. I can always use the scrap. But a set of length specs would be nice. I have the strongback set up and am hot to get going. From a rough-up, looks like the keel is 16'3.5", more or less. David
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.