Action Tiger

Rule number one: The audience rarely knows it's a mistake unless you tell them. But I KNOW you know that, Dave. Also, many ancient peoples deliberately included "flaws" in things they made, sort of admitting imperfection, if you will. I think you just wanted to spread out the load with a wider base... And, no, Chick. Escutcheon plates draw blood, and the Inquisiton didn't allow blood, as such. Too gruesome, I guess.

Well. I had some doubts about my coaming wood after I ripped it all to size, but I proceeded anyway. I now have three broken sticks. I was unable to get the grain oriented perfectly and they all split out, in various places. The last one made it all the way around the form before bursting with gusto at the hard bend. I MAAAY cave and laminate one, but ripping all those strips makes me itchy and sneezy. I would be tempted by the ply coaming too, but that uses up,a lot of stuff... Well, good news is I need to hit the wood lot. Bad news is, it's real hot...

Well. Coaming time. In the background is the paddle blank stuff. I had an already slightly bowed piece of 1x. The paddle style I am roughly emulating is asymmetric, having only one power face. The power face is flat, and the back side carries a ridge nearly the entire length. I thought to utilize material wisely, and to its best strengths, by laminating up a blank. The weights are to help pre-bend the otherwise straight piece on top. It sounds good in my head...

I also came to the conclusion I need to make another new paddle. The blank I started for this boat is cool, should make a great paddle, but it's a Greenland style paddle. For this baidarka style boat, I think I need an Aleutian style paddle. I'm thinking a fancy bowed paddle like I saw once. The power face is on one side of the paddle, the other face carries a ridge. The flat, power faces of the paddle curve gently forward, sort of like a bent canoe paddle. Earlier entry, flatter paddle face, longer contact, less lift, you know, all the bent paddle line. Mostly, though, it will just look "righter". And I get to carve another paddle. One I made for nothing because a board with the perfect bow in it should be cheap...

Oh, now you know someone hacked my account...

Well, the cockpit seats are all screwed in, too. The whole top covering is only screwed at this point. The boat will now be flipped, gooped, faired, and glassed. Skegged, paint, flip, and then all the real work starts...

Thanks, PAR. I may decide to go with some exotic two-pack something some day, but I just like regular old soft paint for my dumb boats. I appreciate your informed responses to these questions. With me, you can always assume a good primer, at least two coats, and at least three topcoats. Well dried and lightly scuffed between coats, or hot coated, depending on the situation. Of course, I may get serious one day and use a nice, hard two-pack paint, but I don't know. Maybe if I stick with sheathing and don't go back to naked wood. Plus, I REALLY like building skin boats, and I think poach and flow is the best for them.

Super cool. I just love canoes.

A question for the epoxies: I've been out of the epoxy game for a long time, dozen years or so. How long should I wait before I paint over this stuff? I plan to use porch and floor enamel, like I always do, and I wonder if there are any issues with applying paints too early. We're in the middle of a great weather window, and if I can get a head start on some priming, I would love to. Thanks, Robert

Just so y'all know, too, last summer it was building a new sailing canoe. This summer it's been a new 20 foot sailboat... One of these days soon, I'm going to get this kayak done. If I didn't already have 4 other canoes and kayaks, I might be in more of a hurry. Oh, my other excuse is I've been waiting for my rough paddle blank to really dry out before I finish carving it. Can't have a new boat with an old paddle! Yuck. I'm afraid to test it, so I'll assume it needs a few more days to dry. I AM taking the firefly on the fall camping trip, though...

You know, since my last back injury (a real serious one) I can't sit in those tractor style seats anymore. Something about it causes my leg to fall asleep instantly. Sad, too, because I had a few for my hard boats. For my own skin boats I always sat on the skin or a chamois pad, so I tried it in my freeb, just sitting on the seat slats on a pad. Very comfy. My experiments sitting in the firefly frame indicate my folded chamois pad will be more than adequate for the little nest of slats there under the booty. Incidentally, the chamois is also a genius swim towel and bailing rag...

Heh. When I went to plug in my steamer, guess what?

And... Presto! Aft deck, complete with hole in it. It still needs one more hole for the mizzen tube, but for now it's just screwed on to keep the boat as rigid as possible during the turn. A few more details to attend to before the flip, but it's close! Next week also promises to be ideal glassing weather. Fingers crossed. Now I'm going to work on my kayak.

The software makes all the difference; it really does handle the spammers well. It also helped when I went to my own "virtual" server instead of shared hosting where I can tweak the webserver so the forum software can do it's job without a lot of limitations. It sounds vaguely to me like you're saying something risqué. You said virtual server and tweak software in the same sentence, and we're supposed to equate that with opening a spreadsheet, or something? Why don't you throw in a few wheretofores, and a Delta or two, while you're at it? Then it may become unintelligible to most everyone. My oldest son also sees The Matrix. He's well equipped for the modern world. I am not. But, I can run pretty fast for a long time...

I usually just walk or ride my bike down to the store for stuff like that. There is nothing hard about finding welting. It isn't the rare commodity the website seems to imply.

Well, well, well. Three holes in a boat. The first pic is the aft deck framing. There will be a hatch there. Mostly to get at the rudder fittings, because I wouldn't store much in there on a boat this small. Floaty stuff. That's where I'll stow all my happy thoughts! The second one is where the window (I guess, technically, a deadlight?) will go live. It will be a piece of whatever plastic screwed from the inside. Sometimes I just follow orders. The vertical battens are to take the screws, the horizontal screws going into the stringers. I plan to trim the window from the outside with a little triangular piece which I hope will resemble glazing... The third picture is a dirty old time sailor's favorite call. An oar port. Seriosly, this boat has oar ports, which I kind of think is cool. The middle of the "u" will be cut out and have an external cover. It's simpler than it sounds. The top of the "u" is the bottom of the sheer stringer. Very galley-esque to run out the oars! I hope to get the aft deck out and fitted tomorrow. Once all the decking is fitted and screwed into place temporarily, I'll flip it and glass.

Well, I guess I should read the book. I have never had anything between me and the skin before, except for these boats, in the seat area. My steam rib boats have all been designed so my butt and heels fall between frames. I've only ever sat on the skin in these type of boats. It's like wearing waders, because it feels like you're getting wet, and you can feel the change in water temps. I like skin boats...

I just use 550 cord because I always have it, and it seems to work.

Why the floorboards, again? Also, if you want to know where the skin will be, a strap, piece of string, or scrap of cloth can be wrapped around the frame, depending on how, and how much, you want to see. That will give you an idea of the lay of the cloth when it's on. You're getting close!

Geez, and here I was feeling amazing because I placed a captioned picture into a written document... And I didn't have to ask ANYONE how to do it.

Frank, I rarely have ANY idea what you're talking about ,but I appreciate how easy this forum is to use, and I can't imagine how much of a nightmare it can be to keep operating. Thanks Robert

The pointy hole in front is covered, and the big hole in the middle has been converted into a long, skinny hole. The square hole in the back is being prepped to be covered, too. The sticks that hold up the cover are being glued up and prepped for install. All these pieces are just temp screwed to help with strength when I flip it and glass the outside. Getting close to the flip!

What is that, pool cues and cricket bats? Looking very nice, Dave. I really hope they work for you.

I learned welding in college when IT classes had no computers. I learned gas, wire, stick and tig. I've stayed current with my skills on gas and tig. I've done a lot of light steel welding and brazing. I was also pretty good at cutting, too. I have attempted to weld aluminum on a tig machine, but I would need some practice... My brazing and soldering skills are actually passable, though. I'm thinking that would be good stuff to flow into one of these super cheap leaky aluminum boats around here, or to mend the odd pontoon for some taco money. By the by, I made some pocket money in school by brazing broken cast iron stuff (you will learn flux management!) and hard surfacing ag eguipment. I don't have any equipment anymore, but my friendly neighbor does.

Oh, that muggyweld stuff looks awesome.