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Nimrod build


msaxton

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Starting build real soon and will take lots of pics and document it here.

I was searching for an affordable small shop to rent in order to build as I cant and dont have a garage where im at. Searched for two weeks and came up empty, but, Thanks to my awesome boss, I now have a free space in a heated walk out basement, I just had to pay for the materials to build the walls seperating it from the rest of the basement and do the electrical. Got the walls about 95% built and the electrical about 90% done today, will finish up tomorrow. The shop area is roughly 33 feet long by 11 feet wide and the door will be a straight shot directly out the basement door about 30 feet away.

Got the patterns lofted onto paper a few weeks ago and cut them today, BB ply should be here Monday, picked up cedar for the longitudals a few days ago on sale cheap, picking up strongback material tomorrow, so hoping to get started scarfing cedar 1x2's on Sunday and cutting frames early next week . Still debating whether to cut the scarfs on the chop(miter) saw or the table saw.(Boss has a bigger chop saw then I do, so leaning in that direction)

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Did you order your plywood online?

No, they had four sheets at my local Menard's store that was a special order that didnt get picked up, but i waited a few days to get it cause i didn't have room to haul it in my van at the time, and it was gone so i had to special order it from them, good price 4x8 sheet for $54.99 they are the only ones i know of that get 4x8's, supposed to be here Monday.

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Got the shop all finished today and built the strongback, will get pics tomorrow of the strongback as i didn't have my camera charged up today(wasn't really planning on building the SB till tomorrow) Used the Blitz sawhorse brackets for it, those things are the cats meow for a strongback. It ended up extremely solid!

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Set up jig on 12" mitre saw, cut real nice angles, glued up a sample to torture test tomorrow.

 

Got all my 1x2 cedar ripped today, just needs a little planing.

 

Strongback built with shelves underneath, clamps all laid out and ready to go as soon as I get my ply and cut out the stations. (I know, never too many clamps, more clamps on the way soon :)

 

One problem i have noticed, even though the strongback itself is real solid with no flex, found out today that the old poured concrete floor is really uneven, So will be doing some shimming at the feet of the SB, and will just need to be meticulous about getting the stations mounted to the brackets real level.

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As I progress through the build and document it here, I will also be fully documenting it in a word doc with photos, including any tips learned, and trials and tribulations encountered. would be happy to share it with others when complete if they think it may help them. I have built a cedar strip canoe in the past, so I do have some boat building experience and years of carpentry experience.

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Cut out the stations today, still need to cut out the center of them, glued up keel and gunwales,

Set keel in place and put all the stations on just to get a visual, kinda looked like the start of a kayak, will start actually putting it together tomorrow. Pumped!

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Cut out the stations today, still need to cut out the center of them, glued up keel and gunwales,

Set keel in place and put all the stations on just to get a visual, kinda looked like the start of a kayak, will start actually putting it together tomorrow. Pumped!

Hmmm, not sure we can believe you.  I don't see any pictures.  :P

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Finished cutting all of the stations, got them mounted and leveled on the strongback and the keel and gunwales on. Am having trouble with station 82 not being the right size, been questioning that one all along. Not sure if it is a wrong offset or if I screwed up lofting and cutting, will find out tomorrow. Will be taking the gunwales and the non bracketed stations off to do some planing and sanding, but just got anxious to see it put together. As you can see by the pics, my shop  floor has some water seepage from the spring melt, hopefully it has no effect on the wood.

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Got all the stations and stringers lashed together over the last few days, actually have a few to relash that im not happy with, had trouble getting the knots right at first.

Bow and stern on, you may notice that in addition to glueing and lashing the stringers to the bow and stern, I also put one brass screw in each stringer too, just made me feel better about it. I did not do any cutouts in the bow or stern, Im ok with the little extra weight  and keeping them more solid.

 

Only thing left to do framing wise is to put braces on where the center is removed for the hatches, but have to wait till the hatches get here to know exactly where to put them.

 

Put a rub coat of fruitwood stain on it, like how it looks on the cedar, but it didn’t really stain the BBply much darker. Will be covering with varnish soon.

 

Got started on my simple one board cedar West Greenland style paddle today.

 

Waiting on hatches and footrests from Jeff,  Really need to get going on the coaming too.

 

Really pleased with how it is coming along, next time I would be more patient and spend more time finer sanding the boards and form edges.

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Boat looks good. Looks like you are going to be the first one to show me a finished Nimrod. Keep in mind, this is not a beginners boat so if this is your first, it's probaby going to be a little unstable feeling!

 

Now about that paddle. I can't tell bu tit looks like you have flat blades? If so that is not a GP but just a board. It is ver important that the blades have a diamond shape to paddle correctly. It will work flat but I have heard people complain about their paddle to find out they were paddling with board, not a GP. ;)

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Its my first kayak ive built, but have kayaked alot before. Can tell by the shape of it that it will be a bit different handling. I will definitely get used to it in calm water before I take it out in the big lake (Lake Superior)

About the paddle, Yep, it is just a board right now, it will have the diamond shape, but just got started. It is the Chuck Holst one here I just cut the other profile first as I am going to use a power planer to get down to the diamond shape instead of running it through the table saw.

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That is the same plan I use for making paddles, it is a great way to shape them.  I suggest a hand plane instead of a power hand plane though.  Maybe use the power one to remove some material first, then go to the hand version to finish it.  I don't bother as a good sharp hand plane is very fast with practice and easier to control with or without practice.

 

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Yeah, thats what I meant, power plane for the bulk and then hand plane and sureform the rest. I'm lacking a good hand plane, mine suck. might have to pick up a new one today.

Im going to start out keeping  the loom a little thicker, I kinda got big/long hands, and try it out before i finish it to check for fit and if I need to take more off.

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Im going to start out keeping  the loom a little thicker, I kinda got big/long hands, and try it out before i finish it to check for fit and if I need to take more off.

That is a good idea. The old saying: "I cut that board 3 times and its still too short" can easily be modified to planing down.  The only down side is that the best way to get an oval  that is fair the whole length of the loom is to make a rectangle, bevel the corners, then round.  Making the oval smaller will be hard to do uniformly.  I find the most comfortable size  is where your thumb and fore finger can just touch when you grip around the loom.

 

I also use a draw knife, especially for the transition from the shoulders of the blade to the loom.  A spoke shave would work too.

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So, the hatches and footrest came from Jeff, quick shipping! I got the framing beefed up around where the hatches are going, just didn't seem right to eliminate the center without adding something. worked on how to mount the footrests, but didn't decide between a couple ways yet. Couldn't get pics today as my sd card got damaged in a copy centers computer, grrr.  I better get going on that coaming, as I will be ready to skin real soon. I see the coaming as the hard part, so guess Ive been procrastinating that one a bit

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