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NY Curlew finally complete


NY Dave

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Well, I posted FROG pictures for my Curlew back on 8/12/15!  Shortly after that, the frame went to the ceiling of the garage and stayed there for nearly 2 years.  I wasn't happy with the fairness of the frame near the cockpit and there was an "S" curve in the keel.  Luckily, SteveH ran into the same issues with his Curlew this past spring and armed with our comments, Jeff was able to figure out the problem.  He sent me new drawings for the frames at the 7'0" and 11'6" positions.  The new frames made a huge difference and really kick started my progress again.  Here's a new FROG picture from July with the laminated coaming and the foot braces in place.

 

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The past 2 years weren't wasted however.  I spent quite a bit of time working on the white Ash laminated coaming and a bunch of time deciding how I wanted to attach the foot braces.  I originally fabricated a couple of aluminum brackets for the foot braces that look like this.

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But I wasn't happy with a couple of things about these.  I didn't feel that this method of attachment was particularly robust, I didn't like that the foot braces couldn't be removed, and I just didn't like the idea of having that much metal in my SOF kayak.  So I decided to make some blocks out of BB plywood and lash them to the frame.  Then I epoxied T-nuts into the blocks so I could attach the foot braces from the inside of the kayak.  This means I can remove them should I ever decide I need to move them to another boat.

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Here's what the foot braces look like once they're attached to the blocks.

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Once I had that all taken care of, it was time to sew on the 11.6 oz skin that had been sitting around for 2 years.  The sewing was definitely the most challenging part of the project for me...and I'm not a stranger to sewing.  But sewing a 3 dimensional structure like this was a beast.  As far as waterproofing, my original plan was to go with a marine varnish for that "see through" finish but after multiple sewing attempts, I realized that paint was going to hide more sins than the varnish ever would.  Here's a picture after skinning.

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After 3 coats of BM urethane alkyd gloss enamel on the hull and 2+ on the deck, here's what she looks like.

 

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I put the Curlew in my pool to see how well she'd keep the water out.  After some additional attention the seam in the stern, she was ready for "open" water.  Here's a picture of her on our 14 year old minivan.

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And here she is where she belongs...finally in the water.

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It's been a long trip but totally worth it.  

 

Now I have to decide which Kudzu Craft to build for my wife!

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  • 3 weeks later...

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