James Barros

Yeah, the more I think about it, the more I think this gate is going to turn into box making practice and some really nice cedar puzzle boxes for friends, and some fresh cedar (at much lower prices than when I started this during the pandemic) might be what makes it into my boat.

Hi everyone, I'm making a curlew. I recently came into a brand new mis-cut gate, lined with 5/8" thick cedar planks. I want to use these planks, but they've been "well fastened" and there are screw holes across the planks. Given the thickness of the stringers, I am significantly concerned that a screwhole will be a significant weakness. Should I plug them with epoxy? something else? Or give up and just go buy new cedar? wood isn't so expensive that I'm willing to jeopardize the work I've put in to be cheap, but it would be a neat story if I could have made a portion of the boat from a left over gate, so if I can reasonably do so, I'd like to. Please advise? Thank you.

Thank you for asking, and @Hirilondefor your reply. A friend just told me he has to "throw out" a cedar gate, because it was made 1 foot too small, so I just got all my stringers

I have a billing code for the time I spend filling out paperwork. It looks like there are a number of us retreating to wood and cloth. Why on earth would I own a TV? You forgot to mention what sold me on skin on frame... I was down at an estuary in the evening, and there was a guy in a skin on frame, and he had some lights inside the kayak. The entire thing glowed a beautiful amber. I don't think you can do that any other way, and as much as I love old wooden sailboats, I've never seen a more beautiful man made thing in the water than that.

Yeah, I'm not cutting the parts for the stringers yet at all. I want to cut my stringers first then use a small piece of stringer to set my marks for cutting, (and as you mentioned, go small and work up to a proper fit) @Scott Pettigrew also... today I learned there are plywood specific jigsaw blades, so I think this weekends cutting will go better. THANK YOU.

Well, I have no skills and I'm only getting tools together now. This feels like an attainable project, but it's definitely a challenge for me. I started with a harbor freight jigsaw with u-shanks that spit out blades at random. That was pretty terrifying. I have a Ryobi t-shank jigsaw and decent blades now and am getting better at cutting to the lines. I've had to cut everything a few times as I snuck up on the lines (I'm now fairly decent with a jigsaw, but certainly wasn't when I started) I'm an apartment dweller, so setting up shop in the parking spot takes about 1/2 an hour, as does tear down. and then I'm good to cut for a few hours before I get too sunburnt and exhausted, and as I mentioned above, I think I'm making 3-4 cuts for every cut as I try not to destroy my poor ($130!!!) sheet of plywood. (which is just maple ply, as I can't get anything from Russia out here. I'm really hoping it will work, but it has no voids. ) My next step will be using a trim router I've never used before to round off the edges, so that'll be some time practicing on scrap, then going over all the pieces. Once I've got them done, I'll make the scarfing jig and get my local lumber yard to plane the stringers down for me before I begin. I don't expect that will take too long. I'm having an absolute blast at this, but I am certainly slow. Hopefully my next build will be faster. (I'll probably make templates) (and yes, I will send over the second boat fee )

This is more a question of curiosity, as I recognize my own build time is going to be "long". I initially thought I'd get it done in 3 weekends. This speaks more to my ignorance than having any grand ideas about my own skills. Luckily, the plans are solid, the videos are a godsend, and while I am now trying to get it done in the next 3-6 months, I have no doubt I'll be able to complete the process, provided I go slow (which seems to be the fastest way to get these things done) I'm a month in and "almost" done cutting the frames, but I'm enjoying the process way more than I thought I would, and really hope my kayak is any good at all in no small part so that I'll have an excuse to build more for my friends. So, just out of curiosity, how long did you anticipate your first build to take and how long did it end up taking?