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It only took a little over a year.....


oldpropfan

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But my son and I finally got going on our kayak builds. First up is his Shad, the plans I bought a year and 3 or 4 months ago.

 

shad4_zps49d2dafb.jpg

 

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Looks like pics are out of order, bottom one should be first. Only used bungees at the start while we clamped and levelled the frames to the 4 stations then switched over to zip ties, seems to work really well.

 

Got the last of the frames in after these pics were taken, had to stop for dinner and a band of passing thunderstorms. Now on to the lashing.

 

After we pull this frame from the strongback I'll start on my Curlew  drawn up from the offsets in Jeff's book.

 

Beautiful looking boat so far, can't wait to get on the water.

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Question about the stringer that runs from 9'9" to the bow of the boat. Is it supposed to be a straight run or is it normal to have to pull it down into the notches on 11'7" and 13'7" forming a curve from the cockpit to the bow. From the side view on the plans the curve looks correct but I just want to make sure.

 

Stringers are VG Western Hemlock, only wood I was able to find that had a nice tight and straight grain. Probably not a common choice but I was able to find quarter sawn 1x2" in 8 and 10 ft lengths with clear, straight grain. Wood is dried and very smooth finished. Not the best for rot resistance but I figure after oiling the frame and the fact that the water will stay mostly on the outside of the boat it shouldn't be an issue. Would like to hear feedback on this choice from the more experienced builders on this forum. Other choice was VG Douglas Fir but not as straight grained.

 

Thanks,

Al

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And a question regarding lashing. Any recommendation as to order, ie, gunwales first or bilge stringers, or keel? Figured we would start in the middle and then alternate frames from bow to stern to keep the tension even on the boat.

Thank you for any help,

Al

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I've been buying softwood in artisan qualities and quantities for about 20 years. I've built about 2 dozen small boats from it. Only 3 sof boats, though, excluding my yet yo be skinned freeb.

I live on the edge of the Sierra mountains and their evergreen forests.

The wider the board, generally the better quality, provided you meet RPI requirements. Because you can't cut wide boards out of little trees, which tend to be faster growing 2nd 3rd or 4th gen trees.

All the soft woods we have out here, and up the coast, are nice. For these boats nice pine, cedar, or redwood would be fine. I'm more familiar with the sequoia than the coastal variety, but redwood do be long and straight...

I'm iffy on DF. Good stuff is good; and expensive. Look for tight grain, small knots, and no sap wood. It's kinda heavy, too.

Hemlock is like DF, but never as good.

I buy wood from a small mill, an old boy up a dirt road.

Pine is 99 cents bdft, cedar and redwood 1.29. And he thinks little boats are better than yuppie cabin panelling, or fences, so he save me nice nice boards...

All that said, you were absolutely right to use what you had. Your boat will last as long as you'd like, if you maintain her.

My 2 cents.

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LASHING
I know now recommend lashing the keel first. That 'locks' the frames in position. Then you can move it around to square it up. Next I like to lash the frame to Gunwales in place. Then I go back and do any other stringers. 

 

The curve in the deck beam is right. It looks better than a straight one.

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Thank you Action Tiger and Jeff. Good soft woods are hard to find here in reasonable lengths, having to scarf 3 or 4 pieces to get a 19 ft stringer seemed excessive.

We started lashing last night and decided to start with the keel for the same reason you mention but then just worked our way up the frames. Only two frames lashed down thought so not too late to change the order. Lashing is actually kind of relaxing, surprisingly, once you get into the rhythm of it.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Lashing done except for the floors so time for some FROGS and a FRIT.

 

frog1_zps68069e53.jpg

 

frog2_zps979979b4.jpg

 

Frame In Tree:

 

frog3_zpsfc67e0e1.jpg

 

Seventeen feet doesn't seem that long when the boat is horizontal, kind of startling when you stand it up on end though. Like the look and lines of this boat so much that I've decided not to build a Curlew and drew up the offsets for the Nimrod instead.

 

Weight for the frame without floors is 19.5 lbs, is that about normal?

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Thank you, and Jeff does indeed design some very nice boats.

A question on frame finishes. Can I put a coat of BLO on the frame while I am waiting for my shipment of Tung oil or are the two products not compatible? Had to order from Spirit Line as I couldn't find any locally but I'd like to at least get something on the frame to protect it.

Al

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  • 2 months later...

post-3239-0-34948000-1408701231_thumb.jpg

 

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Been awhile but finally ready to shrink and coat. Made a paddle during the weeks our temps were running in the high 90's to over 100 deg,  turned out pretty well for a first time effort I think.

 

Weight is now 31.5 lbs., any approximations on how much weight 3 or 4 coats of oil based paint will add?

 

Question about oil based paint, how much do you thin the first coat and what's the best thinner to use?

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Rustoleum specifically calls out Acetone as a thinner.  So check the label of the paint or manufacturer's web site.

 

The first boat I did I measured it out, but couldn't remember the ratios I used so this last boat I just dumped some paint in an empty can, poured in a bit of acetone, mixed it and repeatedly added acetone until I was happy with the result.  I found the acetone evaporated out of the paint by the time I got half the boat painted so plan on getting about half the boat painted and mixing a 2nd batch.

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If you using the 8 oz. fabric, I make the first coat rather thin so that is soaks in good for cosmetic reasons. If it is not pretty thin when you look inside the coaming the color is very blotchy. By thinning it is soaks in more even and looks better, but is is just cosmetic.

 

With the 11.7 oz fabric, it doesn't soak in much so I just thin it enough to get it to go on easy.

 

You will probably come in around 35 lbs, that is about the average. I think my shad came in at 32, which surprised me a little.

 

As for weight, you will need a little over a quart of paint probably and we just weighted a quart can of latex, it weighed almost 3 lbs .  Oil based (I am guessing) would be a little heavier than latex. But we had an interesting discussion. Since this is latex, the water will evaporate, leaving behind the pigments. Take away the weight of the can and so your left with ??  I am betting a quart of paint will still weight 2+ lbs on the boat. Ali was saying 1 lb but I think that is too light.

 

One of these days I am going to remember to weight a boat before and after painting. I think someone did post this once before?

 

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  • 5 weeks later...

Twenty-four hours between coats sure drags out the painting time but after 2 weeks  of painting we finally have an almost finished product.

 

A preshrinkage shot:

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Some shots during the painting:

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After all the tape was removed we had a little tape residue problem. Tried acetone and alcohol, neither worked very well, WD40 did the trick though.

post-3239-0-37495800-1411354415_thumb.jpg

 

After cleaning off the goo then washing the hull to clean off the WD40.

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Did a leak test afterwards, it was successful as in we found some. Not too bad though, only one pinhole leak  and 3 spots where the water was weeping through the skin.

 

Thanks again to everyone for your paint tips and suggestions, really helped things turn out pretty well.

 

Al

 

 

 

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