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Abyssdncr

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Finally picked up my 4'x8' special order from Menards yesterday. Also got a sweet piece of cedar for the tadpole! Got the bow and stern cut last night and the frames cut today. Wasted a bit of time trying to entertain the boy without getting either one of us in too much trouble. I don't think he was to terribly entertained, but we both still have ten fingers and ten toes. Borrowed a basic router to help clean things up a little. Still some sanding yet to do, but many back and knees have had enough for today.

Obligatory progress pic:

0124162042_zpstmtpuixt.jpg

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 Wasted a bit of time trying to entertain the boy without getting either one of us in too much trouble. I don't think he was to terribly entertained, but we both still have ten fingers and ten toes.

Children are darn inconvenient, but then being a parent or grandparent was never meant to be convenient.  That you did stuff with him was what mattered.  That you did something with a result you will both enjoy is the best.

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It is impossible to waste time. You spend it, that's it. It's the only thing we have, really.

Not one second spent with your kids is ever wasted time.

Poorly worded... I'll gladly do it again. We're in a pseudo-foster situation right now, and the poor kid has just been completely raised on electronic entertainment so far. Doing my darnedest to engage him in some real world activities, but it's definitely a struggle... Plus 8 yr. old arms tire of sanding quite quickly, lol. Hoping he's still around to actually harvest the fruits of his labors in the warmer months, regardless of how small they might be. So far he's been the biggest contributor to the cause, but my youngest is certainly vying for some daddy time herself. Good times!

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Well, damn... Now I'm getting an appeciation for all the "work" that must go in to designing one of these. Went to dry fit the gunwales with zip ties tonight and both tips want to touch about four inches above the bow and stern tips.

Guess it's time to check and adjust the angles of the frame notches a bit...

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Got the seat slats lashed in today and cut some foot brace mounts from leftover stringer stock. Picked up some tung oil and Rustoleum at Lowes today and started baptizing the wood with the tung. I ordered some 15" Attwood footrests like the CLC kayak came with. Not particularly fancy, but definitely cheap enough and I won't be adjusting them very often, so the Sea-Lects at almost twice the price seemed like overkill.

This brings me to several questions:

The space for your feet is somewhat limited, so has anyone attempted to mount the foot brace attach wood on the outside of the frames like a stringer, but just recessed inside where the covering will sit? That would save a lot of interior room, but would require cutting notches on an already assembled frame. Pretty sure I can drill the notch corners and make some clean cuts with the Japanese saws, but it's still a little stressful just thinking about it.

Second, I bought Jeff's cheap 6 oz poly. Do I just running / whip stitch it, or try the double corded stitch?

I also opted to try a Coleman stadium seat for this boat - anyone have a report pro or con on this idea? At $13, it seemed like a very cost effective alternate to a $28 backrest + ? for a "kayak" seat. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003399114

Lastly, on the double corded stitch, how does one anchor the cords when starting the stitch?

Thanks!

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Footrests - First time I have tried to attach a picture so hope this works. 

 

If you zoom in on this photo, on the left side you can see a vertical piece that is screwed to the inside of the gunwale. The bottom of the vertical just rests on a stringer. Then the footrest is attached to the outside of the vertical piece so the footrest bracket is between stringers and outside the inner hull area. There are 2 vertical pieces on each side, front and rear of footrest bracket. On this boat the front piece is up against a cross section so it is supported when foot pressure is applied. 

Ok - looks like the photo shows up but on its side. Footrest bracket is on the bottom of the photo. 

 

 

post-3755-0-06743800-1454932305_thumb.jpg

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Footrests - First time I have tried to attach a picture so hope this works. 

 

If you zoom in on this photo, on the left side you can see a vertical piece that is screwed to the inside of the gunwale. The bottom of the vertical just rests on a stringer. Then the footrest is attached to the outside of the vertical piece so the footrest bracket is between stringers and outside the inner hull area. There are 2 vertical pieces on each side, front and rear of footrest bracket. 

 

Good idea, Rich!  I'll look at that tonight.  That'll save even more space internally.  I also like your little footrest fabric area!

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I realize now that mine is on a multi-chine design where the vertical support is screwed to the inside of the gunwale, some side support is provided by the first stringer below the gunwale, and the block rests on the second stringer below. With a single chine design some sort of support would have to be fashioned to secure the bottom of the block from being forced out against the skin. I think screwing into the stringer would work OK especially if the forward block was large enough to be contact the cross section ahead of it for additional support. 

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I think screwing into the stringer would work OK especially if the forward block was large enough to be contact the cross section ahead of it for additional support.

The Attwoods have three mounting lugs, so I think I'll use all 3 of them with a shim in the middle so it doesn't flatten out the natural bow on the stringer.

Coleman seat showed up today and it looks like it will work wonderfully. Foot braces arrive Wed. The girls are doing a great job of applying the Formby's tung oil / wiping varnish / whatever it is every night while I work on the coaming form. Hope to get that finished tomorrow evening and see it my first attempt will take the curve. At this rate, I should be sewing by the weekend!

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