Blancadog

Technically a FROSH I suppose, but I liked the animal theme. Kayak Resting On Water: El Vado Reservoir, NM. Thanks to everyone who helped, knowingly or not-

Jeff- I cut that forward lashing and spent a little time playing with a straight edge and batten. I think a number of things are contributing. The effect is mostly symmetric, but the two stringers are not. The change in grain you noticed in the picture is a scarf in both stringers, but that's actually pretty far forward of the frame (looks much closer in the picture), so I don't think it contributes. I think there's a little grain weirdness in one side, and a substantial amount of optical illusion. Some areas that look completely crazy turn out to be fair curves or even straight. The only thing I found that made the stringers look definitely better was pulling them to the center but allowing them to float 1/2-3/4" above the keel. I may experiment a little with lashing them to a spacer block which in turn is lashed to the keel. On the other hand, that might be introducing worse problems than it fixes. Long story short, since you've confirmed that I secured those stringers in the proper fashion, and the tee-shirt test didn't reveal anything bad, I'll re-lash the stringers and continue with all due speed. Thanks for your help-

Thanks Jeff & Dave for the helpful suggestions. I'll be starting on test panels as soon as I cut off some excess fabric. To be clear, "Rustoleum" is nothing more than the oil-based "Rustoleum Protective Enamel" I see at my local hardware store, correct?

I've searched through the forum for information on paint. I've found several comments about paints that are apparently incompatible with Kudzu's current 8oz polyester, but no obvious solution. A broader web search came up with claims that paint issues with some other 8oz polyesters were due to too-thick coats. Are there any paints that are known good with the 8oz poly? Thanks-

Finished my short shot frame, and was a little surprised when I turned it over. Between the last forward frame and the bow assembly, chine #1 makes a sharp inward bend, with a corresponding outward bow on the other side of the frame. I had assumed that chine #1 at the bow was treated like chine #1 at the stern, i.e. cut off a little ahead of the bow/stern assembly and lashed to the keel. That's evidently wrong, so how should the forward end of chine #1 be handled? The picture is from the bow, looking aft. Thanks-

Hello world- I'm building a Short Shot from plans, and have run into a dilemma. With all the frames, the keel, and the gunwales installed, the gunwales meet the bow assembly about 3/4" below the top edge of the bow (see photo). Most frame examples I've found on the forum show the gunwales flush with the top of the bow assembly. I can certainly make that happen by clamping the gunwales up (2nd photo), but then the bow assembly goes out of plumb- it tilts forward about 1/4" due to the stiffness of the gunwales. I don't see how I can get the gunwales flush with the bow, and keep the bow station vertical. So, I can either: 1. force the gunwales into alignment, and ignore the final position of the bow station, or 2. make the bow station vertical, and lash the gunwales into place where they naturally fall I'm leaning towards choice #1: when I pull the gunwales into position, they wind up nicely parallel with the top of the bow, which makes me think it's hitting the actual design. The rocker is a little less than in choice #2, but I don't see any oilcanning along the keel. I think I'd lash the gunwales and all the chines to the bow frame, and pull the gunwales into position as the last step, which should keep the bow frame the most vertical as it fights against the downward force of the gunwale ends. Everything else in the frame fits well and looks fair. At the stern, everything kind of popped into place, with the gunwales nearly flush with the top of the stern assembly, and the stern station vertical. Anyone have any suggestions or experience with a similar issue? Thanks-