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NY Dave

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NY Dave last won the day on October 17 2017

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  1. You're probably right. She told me that she doesn't want to wait 2 years for her boat to be finished! In fact, the whole building process has convinced her that maybe the Swift Kiwassa isn't too expensive after all. How many boats have you built?
  2. Taking advantage of the unusually warm fall we're having... I managed to get my Curlew into a natural body of water for the first time.
  3. I put the Curlew in my pool to see how well she'd keep the water out. After some additional attention the seam in the stern, she was ready for "open" water. Here's a picture of her on our 14 year old minivan. And here she is where she belongs...finally in the water. It's been a long trip but totally worth it. Now I have to decide which Kudzu Craft to build for my wife!
  4. Here's what the foot braces look like once they're attached to the blocks. Once I had that all taken care of, it was time to sew on the 11.6 oz skin that had been sitting around for 2 years. The sewing was definitely the most challenging part of the project for me...and I'm not a stranger to sewing. But sewing a 3 dimensional structure like this was a beast. As far as waterproofing, my original plan was to go with a marine varnish for that "see through" finish but after multiple sewing attempts, I realized that paint was going to hide more sins than the varnish ever would. Here's a picture after skinning. After 3 coats of BM urethane alkyd gloss enamel on the hull and 2+ on the deck, here's what she looks like.
  5. Well, I posted FROG pictures for my Curlew back on 8/12/15! Shortly after that, the frame went to the ceiling of the garage and stayed there for nearly 2 years. I wasn't happy with the fairness of the frame near the cockpit and there was an "S" curve in the keel. Luckily, SteveH ran into the same issues with his Curlew this past spring and armed with our comments, Jeff was able to figure out the problem. He sent me new drawings for the frames at the 7'0" and 11'6" positions. The new frames made a huge difference and really kick started my progress again. Here's a new FROG picture from July with the laminated coaming and the foot braces in place. The past 2 years weren't wasted however. I spent quite a bit of time working on the white Ash laminated coaming and a bunch of time deciding how I wanted to attach the foot braces. I originally fabricated a couple of aluminum brackets for the foot braces that look like this. But I wasn't happy with a couple of things about these. I didn't feel that this method of attachment was particularly robust, I didn't like that the foot braces couldn't be removed, and I just didn't like the idea of having that much metal in my SOF kayak. So I decided to make some blocks out of BB plywood and lash them to the frame. Then I epoxied T-nuts into the blocks so I could attach the foot braces from the inside of the kayak. This means I can remove them should I ever decide I need to move them to another boat.
  6. Nope, I meant the WRC. My understanding is that most of the WRC (and a lot of other softwoods) come from Canada and there's a big trade dispute between the US and Canada concerning lumber imports. The US insists that the Canadian prices are artificially low because the lumber industry in Canada is subsidized by the government. The US recently imposed a 20% tariff on lumber imports from Canada. Here's a brief snippet from an article I found on-line. Why Are Cedar Prices Going Up? Feb3by Cedar Country Lumber You may have been surprised by the recent and/or impending price increases on Western Red Cedar lately. This has been caused by a large trade dispute between Canada and the U.S. that has been going on since the 80’s on all softwoods imported from Canada. Not only is this effecting Western Red Cedar, it also affects Alaskan Yellow Cedar, Douglas Fir, Pine and a host of other softwoods.
  7. Chairs, where are you located and what stores have you tried? Based on the Matthews and Fields reference, I'm assuming you're in the Rochester area? I live in Fairport. I've purchased all of my BB and WRC from Pittsford Lumber. The last time I was in there (a few months ago) Val (one of the owners) mentioned that she was thinking about dropping the WRC due to the high tariffs but I hope that isn't the case! Have you tried Lakeshore Hardwoods in Victor or Bristol Valley Hardwoods in Bristol? I'm not sure if either of them carry it but a quick phone call should provide the answer. I've also had luck in the past with Rochester Lumber. I got a really nice 4x4 WRC post from their "off-cuts" pile for next to nothing.
  8. Chairs, will you be paddling down Irondequoit Creek or just around the parking lots and dog park? Haha Sorry, a little "flooding" humor that only those of us that live around Lake Ontario will get. I'm in Fairport BTW.
  9. Thanks Jeff. I sent you a message with my address. I look forward to getting the corrected frames. Not really looking forward to more lashing though...
  10. Jeff, that would be great. I'd love to get a corrected frame drawing once you get it straightened out. Thanks! Steve, did you have any problems with the frame at 11'6"? On my plans we found that the notches were cut about a 1/2" too shallow. I've attached the email trail that Jeff and I had back in July of '15. I figure maybe it's a good idea to post this as a reference for others who may run into similar problems. I should have had this conversation with Jeff on the Forum so that it would have been here for your reference. Anyway, concerning the keel issue, as you can see from the emails below, I ended up switching the 2'8" and 4'4.5" brackets. But that still didn't completely solve the problem so I attached the frames at the gunwales and let the keel "float" in the bracket. The keel ended up being about 3/4" above the bottom of the notch of the 4'4.5" bracket (which is actually in the 2'8" location!). See the picture. EMAIL correspondence from 7/15: Always amazes me at how a mistake can be there for years and not one catches it. On frame 11'6" the notch is to small. It need to be 1/2" deeper. You can just easily mark that and cut it. I can not find all the files for the Curlew so I don't have offsets for this one and the ones in the book wouldn't necessarly match this one. Plans are newer than the book. Jeff Horton Kudzu Craft skin boats www.kudzucraft.com Ask your questions on our forum On 7/16/2015 8:51 AM wrote: Jeff, I hate to be a pain... I switched the location of the 2'8" and 4'4.5" brackets. Something still doesn't look right. The keel really seems to be too "flat" back there and it doesn't look like the gunwales are going to fit in the notches in the last 2 frames (stern). Do you know what the distance should be from the top of the strongback to the bottom of the keel at the 1' frame position? Sorry, I don't have your book, so I don't have the offsets, I just have the plans to work from. Also, frame 11'6" just doesn't "look right". I think the gunwale notches are too small. I can't seem to get a "fair" curve in the gunwales from frame 10' to frame 13' with frame 11'6" looking like it does. Can you check the notches of frame 11'6" on the plan please? Thanks, Dave ---- Kudzu Craft <jeff@kudzucraft.com> wrote: No 11 oz at the moment. But working on a new supplier. Jeff Horton Kudzu Craft skin boats www.kudzucraft.com <http://kudzucraft.com/> Ask your questions on our forum <http://messing-about.com/forums/forum/19-kudzu-craft-forum/> On 7/15/2015 5:38 PM, wrote: Thanks Jeff. I'll switch the position of the 2'8" and 4'4.5" brackets. Different topic. Any update on 11.6oz fabric availability? I'm assuming I'll need ~16ft for the Curlew. It looks like you only have 10ft left in the store. Thanks again. Dave ---- Kudzu Craft <jeff@kudzucraft.com> wrote: I should have taken the time to go back and double check rather than looking in the book. I had forgotten these two are a little different from each other. So, just reverse the brakets, they are labeled wrong. I am pretty sure I remember this came up once before but for some reason the plans didn't get changed but I am fixing this today. Jeff Horton Kudzu Craft skin boats www.kudzucraft.com <http://kudzucraft.com/> Ask your questions on our forum <http://messing-about.com/forums/forum/19-kudzu-craft-forum/> On 7/15/2015 1:01 PM, wrote: Hi Jeff, Thank you for the quick response! That bracket being at 8'2" makes more sense form a keel shape standpoint. However, it raises a couple of other questions (sorry). There already is a bracket at 7'9" so the 8'2" is only 3" away. Also, the frame at the 8'2" location is the one without a bottom (clearance for your calves while paddling) so there's no way to attach the frame to the bracket (I believe). Should I just not use that bracket or does it still perform a necessary function? I only ask because I'm using 2x4s to hold my brackets. I'll have to rip the 2x4 down to less than 3" in order to fit it in behind the 7'9" bracket. Thanks, Dave ---- Kudzu Craft <jeff@kudzucraft.com> wrote: Found the problem, that is not 2' 8" but 8'-2"! The numbers got reversed so just relocate the bracket to the proper location. I changed the plans to reflect that. Thanks for catching that too! Jeff Horton Kudzu Craft skin boats www.kudzucraft.com <http://kudzucraft.com/> Ask your questions on our forum <http://messing-about.com/forums/forum/19-kudzu-craft-forum/> On 7/15/2015 7:17 AM, wrote: Hi Jeff, I'm in the process of assembling my Curlew (ordered the plans back in March) and I have a question about the brackets. I think that the brackets at the 2'8" and 4'4.5" locations have been switched? The 2'8" bracket is deeper than the 4'4.5" bracket. This ends up giving the keel stringer an "s" shape rather than smooth concave shape. The measurement from the bottom of the bracket to the bottom of the slot on the 2'8" bracket is 4.88". The same measurement on the 4'4.5" bracket is 4.99". I've attached a couple of pictures of the brackets. I'm assuming the brackets are just mis-labelled and I should switch them? Thanks, Dave
  11. Hi Steve, I'd say that the frame has been "wrong" since at least 2015. That's when I ordered my Curlew plans and I have the same problems. I noticed the problem with the brackets and discussed it with Jeff at the time (I'm trying to find my old emails to remember the details) and we worked out the problem. I didn't notice the issue with the frame at 7' until after I had lashed the entire boat together. It's been hanging from the ceiling of my garage for the past 2 years. I haven't skinned it yet because I don't like the "wineglass" shape of the hull in that area and wasn't sure what I was going to do about it. I wasn't even sure it wasn't supposed to look like that until I saw your post. As for why this hasn't come up before, I can only assume that either people have been too unsure to ask (like myself) or they haven't noticed or most people have built their Curlews from the lofting tables in Jeff's book instead of from the paper plans?
  12. Thanks. Yep, I've been a woodworker for several years but this is my first "watercraft". I'm sure it won't be the last though.
  13. Well, I'm still working on the laminated coaming but the frame is lashed and oiled. Time to place an order for footrests, fabric, backband, etc.....
  14. Six years ago I built a pulley system to get my 32' extension ladder off the garage floor. The only place where I could find 16' of uninterrupted wall space in my garage was over the side door. The system cost me ~$34 and consists of: 5 pulleys (2-1/2") - $14 2 D-clips - $3 4 eye lag screws - $2 3 quick links - $6 1/4" line - 100 feet - $9 an 8' long 2"x4" I had laying around and a cleat to tie the rope too. My garage ceiling is 10' - hence the 100' feet of line. I also have one of those "cheap" bike lifts but I didn't think it would hold the weight of my ladder. I'll probably build another homemade lift when it comes time to hang my Curlew.
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