NY_Rocking_Chairs

The only feedback I have is they were used every day for a week (inflated before going out on the lake and the valve opened when putting it away, they performed as expected. They felt heavy duty to me. I stuck a nail into the end of a broom handle and used that to push the airbags up into the bow and stern as far as they could go (they come with grommets pre-installed in the ends for this purpose). My wife complained a bit that she had to manually inflate them, but that only lasted a day and is no reflection on the quality of the bags

Scored a set of canvas pliers at the local arts store down-town, $10, so couldn't argue with that. Cut and carved my greenland paddle today, total cost was $2.50 for a douglas fir stud...so even if it doesn't hold up it was a good prototype build: Got a better picture of the breasthooks after putting on the first coat of varnish today:

Rustoleum Safety Red with black strips along the sides highlighting the stringers. Took inspiration from those pics of the class' canoes Jeff posted in another area (blog I think).

Will do, got a couple art supply places to try and find them local...othwise they look easy enough to mock something up real quick using an extra pair of pliers.

Just got Jeff's 2nd book and read about attaching the fabric to the bow and stern if using the protective metal bands, man, now there is no sewing on this boat...I almost feel cheated. Just waiting on the staples to arrive, tracking says Friday. That and applying as many coats of oil between now and then as possible.

For joint perfectionists: After using a rasp to get the stringers close to being perfectly flat against the bow/stern frames, place a piece of sandpaper between the stringer and frame, and with the sandpaper side out towards the stringer, hold the stringer against the frame, pull the sandpaper through the created joint. Do this a few dozen times to get a perfectly mated surface between the stringers and frame. Use at least 60-grit or larger (smaller number).

Here are the pics up to date for my Stonefly build. Frames are 1/2" baltic birch stained black walnut. Stringers, gunwales and keel are western red cedar. Thwarts and breast-hooks are black walnut... Day 1 framing: Doing the gunwales I had almost every clamp I own on the boat: Frame ready for thwarts and breasthooks: Thwarts are cut, sanded and first coat of oil applied: Bow breasthook, took this outside and it kind of haloed. Will have to retake on a nicer day with the good camera: I don't know why my camera phone keeps ghosting when doing these outdoor shots...FOG:

Every day for the week we were there, she then signed "us" up for kayak lessons back here at home. I think those are in August.

Suggestion for the forum would be for a pinned topic "tips and tricks". The cutting/searing of the fabric is a good example where people have developed different techniques (soldering iron, torch, hot knife). From my bag of tricks: When doing the lashings, I found the flat-blade screw-driver was marring the wood a bit (and now my screwdriver disappeared from the shop) so from necessity I tried using the curved needle to pass the sinew behind the lashing for the tie-off. This went easier, faster and didn't mar the wood like the screw-driver. At the beginning I have to pass behind one side of the lashing, come out and then pass behind the second half of the lashing to ensure I get behind all the sinew and didn't split any of the fibers. The needle is also sharper than the screw-driver so easier to get it between the lashing and the frame without splitting fibers. When trying to get the last figure 8 stopper knot in place I found I could again use the curved needle to hold the knot in place by holding one of the loops up tight against the lashing, as I pulled the loose end to tighten the knot, the needle held the knot close to the lashing and as the knot tightened, just pull the needle from the knot. With a bit of practice and figuring out which loop to grab with the needle, I could consistently place that stopper knot within 1/8" of the lashing every time. I was also using the straight needle to pass the sinew through the holes for the Y lashings when lashing the stringers to the bow and stern frames. After using the needles for lashing I found them covered in wax, so to clean it I just used a lighter to heat it up and wipe it off with a paper-towel.

First thing was to throw it in the pool and make sure it didn't leak: Then we put a live person (my wife) in it, she couldn't paddle very far... Then we took it up the Cranberry Lake, NY in the Adirondaks and she used it everyday...

I just cut with scissors and used a butane torch to fuse the edges (the kind used for soldering copper pipe fittings). That was on a Curlew, on the Stonefly I will be using the soldering iron tip to avoid scorching the gunwales.

Thanks Jeff, once the frame is together and I feel more confident in how much I need, I will be ordering it (hopefully next week). Last night I scarfed all the pieces together so tonight is sanding, routing and oiling of the frames and stringers. One suggestion for the web-site/store: Add a table or Bill of Materials list for each boat design being offered. It would help give people a better idea of what they will need, total cost, amount of fabric to buy, etc. Maybe even put together a "kit" in the store that allows the buyer to pick a boat design, add options like the needles, sinew, thread, foot/back-rests, plans, correct amount of fabric, etc.

Any idea when this will be available? The store says only 4' is available, I need to order some for my Stonefly soon.

Not to worry, I have calibrated hands and know not to torque down on the ratchet straps past 32.5 ft-lbs.

The long-term plan is to get a small utility trailer (need one for plywood sheet goods and lumber now that we down-graded the truck to a mini-van) and add racks to the trailer. This coming trip should just be a one-time thing with it on top of the van, about a 4-hour drive each way. Picked up the hood loops and installed those (had to get longer bolts and fender washers as well so $7 total) and I was able to get a strap to pass between the sliding doors and van body so happy with that. Need to get longer racheting straps today for the stern to tow-hitch and across/through the van. If the foam does slide around I think I have a solution to that, I still have a left-over roll of the rubber mat that is meant to go in the kitchen drawers and on shelves to keep things from sliding around. It is literally little soft-rubber beads meshaed together and should create an anti-slip surface if the foam isn't enough friction: http://www.containerstore.com/shop/kitchen/drawerOrganizers/drawerShelfLiners?productId=10030018&ci_src={ifpla:17588969}{ifpe:27500988}&ci_sku=10051461&srccode=cii_17588969&cpncode=33-308715886-2&utm_source=channelintelligence&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=google

I was leary of the screws in the gunwale being strong enough as well. I am planning on running two straps across the top of the kayak (one in front of and one behind the cockpit coaming with the boat right-side-up) and those pass through the rear windows and through the van. Unfortunately the mini-van has sliding doors so cannot pass the straps between the door and body of the van. This might mean the windows cannot close all the way so we will have to engineer as we go...

What about the bow/stern handles themselves? Did everyone drill holes through the top gunwales and pass a loop of rope through them? I was also considering the idea of SS hardware (kind of looks like conduit clamps) that would wood-screw into the gunwales and then can just tie the bow/stern handles to those as well as the hood/rear tie downs of the vehicle. We are taking our first car trip with the Curlew next weekend so I need to get this sorted out by then. Will be going on top of a Honda Odyssey (mini-van) with no roof rack. I am planning on cutting some of the closed-cell foam to size and running lots of straps as usual.

Brian, I just built a Curlew using the 11-ounce and the double corded stitch. I didn't run into any major problems and the DCS looks really nice. The 11-ounce will not shrink very much (I used a heat gun and IR thermometer) so try and pull it as tight as you can during the stitching., but the fabric is tight enough that you can really crank down on the stitching without worrying about the weave opening up. I found that keep the cords about 1" to 1 1/4" apart when initially stiching and then pulling tight was just about perfect for pulling the skin tight without opening up the weave. One thing that I found is that stitching from the cockpit outwards I was able to follow the top-center spar as a good guide to keep the stitch centered on the boat. However, that spar doesn't run the entire length of the boat and I found my stitch getting off-center, so I backed it out and taped an extra piece of wood in place to keep a center reference, then pulled it out once I got to the bow and stern plates. I used Rustoleum as the sealant and have no experience with the Dura Tuf so cannot comment on that. Good luck. -Rich

Just my two cents worth...the main page is organized with several sections:Welcome to... Tired of lugging... Building a... Oh yeah, they are tough... Perhaps add a section titled "Where to buy" and add an additional link there. Note: I found the store link pretty easily but it is the smallest button in the middle of the row of buttons.

This is why we need a bigger truck...

Actually, the rule is: 1. If all the leaves are usually broad and fall off once a year it is a hardwood. 2. If the leaves (or needles) fall off in a rotation, looking like they never fall off it is a softwood. It was observed that for the most part deciduous trees are harder than evergreens. So this became the differentiation. Not a very scientific differentiation, but that is how the terms hardwood and softwood were arrived at. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardwood http://www.diffen.com/difference/Hardwood_vs_Softwood Very cool. I didn't know that. I always stick with the hardwoods for furniture and stuff unless a customer specifically wants a soft wood. Or it's a boat

Cool, will be putting them on my April order. Thanks for doing this!

Soft maple is not really that soft. Compared to hard maple it is slightly softer. Rule of thumb is if you can make an indent with your thumb nail by pressing into the wood it is a "soft" wood, otherwise it's a hard wood. I consider soft maple to be a hard wood.

I used Mahogany, came out really nice looking. I didn't steam or soak and used a heat gun but if I were to do another coaming I would build the steamer.

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.