oldpropfan

Thanks for sharing your work, that's definitely an interesting design. How did it paddle vs your expectations? 100 miles in 1 day or over 2? Quite the challenge either way.

Nice idea; quick, simple, and easy to retrofit to an existing coaming. Have a question, not regarding the braces though. Noticed on your flickr page that you'd built a SOF with an internal skeg. How did you seal/glue the skin around the skeg opening?

Took my kayak out for her maiden this past Friday. Everything went great, did a 5 mile jaunt and I'm a happy camper! Boat's a little higher volume than I was expecting but very responsive. Tracks well but still turns easily.

Beautiful kayak, the combination of the the colors and wood trim give it an Art Deco feel. Very nice work. No PFD's in sight though (I'm with Jeff on this one, especially after having practiced self-rescues with and without one) Harvey Golden's museum is still open, stopped by there in August, well worth a visit.

Now that our daily temps have dropped from the 100's back into the 90's I finally finished oiling the frame and installed the floors. FROG time! Was starting to wonder if I would get to this point by summer's end or not. Will install footrests this evening and then it's on to skinning. Frame weight is 27 lbs even, was a little surprised by this as I didn't think I'd added that much weight. Wood was really dry and did absorb alot of oil on the first coat; used almost an entire quart for 1 coat vs my son's Shad where we did all 3 coats from 1 quart. That and two partial stringers plus an extra frame might account for most of it.

Just a little update, only 4 lashings to go and we can come off the strongback and get to oiling the frame! Spent a long while looking at the peaked deck and decided to do something different, we'll see how it looks after it gets skinned. Love the sheer's upsweep toward the bow, which I think my new deck will accentuate. Doesn't look like I'll be splashing her by the end of the month like I'd hoped but the skinning should be done by then.

Looks good, seems like everything works. Just put in an order with no problems on my end Now you can get back to the fun stuff, like paddling!

Waiting for Jeff to comment on his coaming design also. Have been looking at aftermarket thigh hooks that you could anchor into the coaming but would prefer an elegant looking solution in wood. Been thinking along the lines of Robert about a shaped plate with minicell foam glued to the bottom. Noticed during the last kayak class I took that the spray skirt plays a large part in keeping you in the boat. Kayak I was using had thigh and hip braces, with no skirt you still popped out quickly if you went turtle. Went to using the skirt and you were in the boat till you reached forward and pulled the loop to release the skirt from the coaming. Al

When we were building Shad we found the end frames would be pulled out of vertical by the weight and length of the bow and stern pieces, probably because we mounted the brackets to 1X2 material. To compensate I braced each end about 1/2 way down the bow/stern frames with scrap to hold the end frames vertical till the stringers were lashed in. Al

Any ETA on the 8 oz fabric, noticed the store says out of stock?

Very sleek boat, looks great!

Thank you both for the info, just what I needed. On the #6 screws, are they pan head screws with a flat washer or wood screws with the cupped washers ( I think they're called upholstery washers?). Figured toggles on the back deck would be best for holding a paddle securely, will do that and bungee on the front deck. Al

Lisa's built what, 3 boats, and you gentlemen 11 and 12! Need to increase my production a little I think. Have a few hulls in mind from Harvey Golden's book I'd like to do as fuselage frame in the future but don't think I'll get over 6 or 7 total kayaks, unless other family members get the bug and want help building.

Well, a few questions actually. Looking for recommendations on line sizes and materials for painters, perimeter lines, bungee material, and the nylon webbing. Also what size screws to anchor the webbing to the gunwales. How stout of a mounting system is the webbing/screw combination? Reason I ask is my son and I took a rescue/recovery class this weekend and these are things we'll be practicing on most every outing to get our skills up in varying paddling conditions so the deck lines will get alot of use. Thanks for any help/suggestions, Al

Started putting together my kayak after a winter of lofting, cutting out frames, and scarfing stringers. This'll be my second build, did my son's Shad last year and I'm doing Jeff's Nimrod design for my own kayak. Will start lashing tomorrow and hopefully hit the water by June.

Really like the look of the foredeck and bow, can't wait to see how it looks skinned! Even gave me an idea for a modification for my own build. Al

Oiled frame after lashing with Corey's Tung Oil from Spirit Line Skin Boat Store. Quart container was enough to get 3 coats on frame and coaming with a little left over. Will probably pre-oil the frame notches on my next build but that's it, the rest gets oiled after the frame is complete. Used 8 oz poly for the skin and was able to get it fairly tight while sewing. You have to take your time and pull your stitch's through carefully to avoid getting pull holes in the fabric but it can be done. Ironed the fabric after sewing and it pulled up drum tight. Would maybe use the 11 oz on my next boat except that I like the look of the whip stitch to finish the seam line and the 11 oz fabric might be too heavy for it to turn out right. The framing stage was nerve wracking for me as I got too OCD and kept checking everything 6 times. Ended up cutting out and redoing a third of the lashings because I was convinced the bow was starting to pull to the side, my son thinks I was just losing it and had been out in the sun too long I actually found the sewing of the skin relaxing, you just get into a groove and go. Take your time and have fun. I was amazed at how well my son's kayak (Shad) turned out and how nicely it paddled. I enjoyed it enough that over the winter I've been getting the parts ready for my own build which should be starting in the next week or two. Al

You could always do what my son and I did, put a few gallons of water in the boat and see if any leaks out. We put his Shad up on some saw horses so we could see underneath and also roll the boat from side to side. After 3 coats of oil based enamel we still had 4 spots that weeped water, 3 along the keel and 1 spot 1/2 way up the bow. Could also use a drop light in a dark garage, pin holes will show up surprisingly well. We skinned with the 8 oz fabric. Al

My son and I will be glad to help. I have size 10 1/2 and I think his foot is 11 or 11 1/2, neither one of us had any problems with fit or comfort in his Shad. Al

Resistance/ease of paddling Weight Stability Speed potential Traditional appearance would be at the top of the list for me if it was an option, West Greenland single chine. Top speed not important vs. effort/ability to maintain cruising speed for longer time periods. While not an advanced paddler by any means I've quickly come to realise stability is something you grow into. When my son and I took his Shad out for it's first day on the water after about 5 minutes of padding and getting myself situated in the cockpit it felt alot more solid than the Necky Looksha and Chatham's I've taken my paddling classes in. Secondary stability felt higher in the Shad than either of the poly boats and I could lean the boat over further in a high brace without feeling like I was on the edge of going over. In weight there is no comparison, the Shad is half the weight of the poly boats.

This is how I plotted out the bow and stern pieces for my Nimrod (click on pictures to enlarge them): First marked out the points from the offsets: Connect the points: Add the line equal to the center line height of the end frame: Connect the end points: Hopefully this helps and somebody else will chime in and let us know if this is correct. I've already cut all my frames and bow/stern, fitted them together, and everything looks good so I'm assuming I was on the right track. Al

Even though it's only 90 % complete we decided to launch my son's Shad today as we are rapidly running out of paddling weather. Actually only need the deck lines and final seat installation, maybe 95% complete. Anyway, it was a fantastic fall day here in the inland PNW so off to the mighty Columbia River we went! Getting settled in: Checking the tracking while paddling backwards: Stable enough to text your friends while on the water: Just paddling along: On the beach next to my trusty, but slightly squirrely, rental steed: After 2 hours on the water, time to head back to the car and load up for home: Big thank you to my son Christopher for putting up with my quirks during the build, to Jeff for the great design and plans, and to the forum members for their help when we had questions. All the pieces for my Nimrod build are cut and ready to go for spring so we can do it all over again, can't wait. Lots of water to explore! Al

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: Some shots during the painting: 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. After cleaning off the goo then washing the hull to clean off the WD40. 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

Thank you everyone for the info, alot of knowledge and helpful people on this forum. Al

I like it except for the "piraty" Me. Not into the whole pirate thing myself, maybe some other options on the wording. 55 Lashings and stronger for it - just popped into my head, maybe with a graphic of a bare frame. Al