Stonefly Thwarts

[bobsim]

  'Morning Folks,

 

  I'm coming along nicely and will be cutting/shaping my thwarts today. I plan on two and I have a question about the location of the rear one which I would like to use as a backrest support later. I'm curious as to how the seat location works out and if anyone has had to shift their weight forward/rear to trim the boat. I'm about 6' and 215 # and can see an additional 20 pounds or so in the boat when fishing. I've noticed on some pictures the rear thwart is placed farther aft and wonder why.  Does anyone see an issue with placing the thwart about 8" behind the rear most of the two frames that locate the seat?

 

  My guess now is I'll be stowing a cooler behind me and reaching over the backrest would be easy but a thwart behind it would interfere with the cooler lid. 

 

  FWIW the gunnels worked out to be solid instead of spaced blocks and feel quite strong. I was trying to cover the tops of the frames with notched blocks then got lost in finding a symmetrical layout for the blocks....end result was a solid gunnel. A bit off the path I know but I like the look...

 

[NY_Rocking_Chairs]

Curious how long your gunwales and other strips ended up being.  I am gearing up to build the StoneFly in April and was wondering if I can get away with scarfing 8' boards together and ending up with strips ~15' 6" or go with an 8' and 10' board set to end up with pieces around 17' 6".

 

Also, how are the floor boards attached?  I don't see any lashings around them.

 

My local supply for WRC only sells it pre-milled and cut to length...

[P Doug (WA)]

Sorry, I can't answer the questions you have posted, but I can say, that is going to be a beautiful canoe.  I love the look of that one and you are doing it up proud.  I really would like to build one, just haven't figured how to break it to my wife yet!  She never understood why I wanted to build the kayak.

[Kudzu]

We about the same weight so I don't think your going to need to move the seat location. Nice thing about a single canoe is, like a kayak, it is easy to located the person in the boat. When you have 2 people with varying weight it becomes a different matter.

 

Seats are personal preference but I find I like a stadium seat with a back in mind. A Crazy Creek style chair has always looked like a good choice to me too.  I want to reskin mine and put a new seat in it soon. I want to do some fishing this spring.

[bobsim]

  Thanks guys for your input and there's nothing like a compliment on a grey day like we're having here - crazy weather. 

 

  Jeff, The picture of Stonefly on the lily pads is magic. Love at first sight for me and a pleasure to build. Hope she doesn't change too much.

 

  Mr. Douglass,  I understand both you and your wife. I haven't a clue why I'm building this one! I have no place to put her and many of our trips are in oyster country where she can't go. She's just so doggone pretty!

  I believe we have some type of disorder. 

 

  NY, That pic was a day or two old and the floors were just laying in place. I did toy with the idea of using some silicone bronze ring shanks I had to attach them. I thought it would look nice but the penetrations into the end grain didn't sit well with me and I wound up lashing them. I'll post a current picture.

 

  Here are the lengths of the pieces you asked about:

  Gunnels - 14' 1/2" outside 10' 3" inside

  Stringers top to bottom - 14' 4 1/2", 14' 7", 14' 6"

  Keel - 12' 10 1/2"

 

  Having a couple of extra inches sure made scribing the cut for the bow/stern easier for the stringers. Also these measurements are rough, give me a +/- of an inch.

 

[Deltabravo]

Cool, I like it.

[NY_Rocking_Chairs]

Thanks for the measurements. 

 

Any concerns that those floor board lashings will wear with abrasion from shoes, equipment, etc?

[bobsim]

  To be honest I hadn't even thought about that. I decided against a nail and the lashing seemed like a good idea at the time. I'm new at this and now wondering about alternative methods of attaching the floors...?  I wear old sneakers while paddling and don't see my feet being a big issue but a hard cooler on the floors could sure cause some abrasion. maybe a towel under it? Maybe a soft cooler? Maybe I should have nailed em down. 

 

  What do ya'll think? 

 

  I did get the thwarts and breast hooks cut and stained today, might have a decent picture by the end of the week.

 

  I noticed in one of Jeff's videos that oil based paint will penetrate the polyester cloth and give the inside of the boat some color. Does anyone know if this is the case with the 11oz cloth? Is the process/penetration uniform? 

 

  Thanks folks!

[NY_Rocking_Chairs]

I used the 11 ounce poly on our Curlew.  Yes, the first coat of thinned Rustoleum did penetrate the fabric layer and tint the inside of the kayak.  Where the outside was black the inside was kind of a dark gray. 

 

One possibility about lashing the floor boards is to cut grooves across the top, similar to the grooves cut in the keel to keep the lashing from pushing against the fabric and causing wear points.  Cutting grooves across the top for the sinew to lie in will bury the sinew below the top level of the board and reduce abrasion.

 

I am curious about the best way to attach those floor boards too.

[Kudzu]

For a fishing boat lashing could be a problem. Tackle box or a hard cooler 'might' damage them. But of course it would be just one spot and you can relash if needed. That is one of the beauties of these boats. If you can build it, you can fix it.  but if you apply a finish over the lashing that will help a lot.

 

If you are using baltic birch it is good enough that you can use a small screw. I did that on my Cast Away because I didn't think ahead. :-)  Lashing would look better though and when/if I redo my canoe I will lash them in place.