Andy's Building Things Blog

Capsize

2009-12-24T19:37:00.000-08:00

Well I guess it had to happen sooner or later. It a beautiful sunny Christmas day here in Godzone. The whole family went to the beach earlier for a cool off in the sea. I took the kayak and both Bridgit and Sam had their first paddles while I swam alongside and coached them. I was careful to warn them of back paddling too hard as it really seems to unsettle the boat. A little later I had another go myself and as I came back in to the busy beach a child dived in front of me. I franticly back paddled to avoid hitting the kid, and over she went. I popped straight out, and though in standing depth, thought I better practice my re-entry technique. After I quick bail I managed to clamber astride the stern, shuffle forward and swing my legs into the cockpit. It felt very wobbly, but thanks to the calm water I managed to get back in.

The previous day we'd been down for a swim and I noticed one of the old boats on that usually sits on a mooring just outside Island Bay was tied up to the wharf. A guy was in a dinghy lashed to the boat, scraping away at the layers of oysters, barnacles and weed that were attached. He told me the story as he worked, his parents had bought the boat after it had finished 4th in the 1977 Auckland - Suva race. When his father became ill his brother took charge of the boat but was too busy to use it or keep up with the maintenance. He had decided to save the vessel and was working hard to restore the 38' ferro-cement cruiser-racer to its former glory and get the boat back in use as a live-aboard that would cruise the Hauraki Gulf. I wished him good luck and merry Christmas.

Building momentum

2009-11-09T14:27:00.000-08:00

Getting the various hull parts stitched together has provided a bit of impetuous, and I'm trying to maintain the momentum with short bursts of activity. The boat currently sits with all the main seams joined by epoxy fillets and all the cable ties removed. This week I hope to get the glass tape run on the inside seams and the bulkheads cut-out, epoxy coated and fitted.

Distractions keep coming along though. On Friday I was invited to crew on the race boat again, an offer I always find hard to turn down. The coming weekend will try to through more diversions no doubt, with my son's sporting commitments and the ever-improving weather making a day spent on a beach somewhere look more and more likely.

Photographic Evidence of Progress

2009-10-29T04:06:00.000-07:00

Here's the Dart 16' kayak bottom panels, joined by hog and cable ties and trussed up with various ropes and ratchet straps to force the roundness into her bottom. It looks brutal, and it is.

Overnight, one of the screws holding the panels to the hog burst out, leaving a nasty kink in the panel. I managed to get some 60 grit paper in through the gap and cleared away as much semi-cured epoxy as possible. I then drilled a 6mm hole through the centre of the affected area and re-packed the gap with fresh resin. Finally a 6mm bolt with a big washer on the back and a spreader of 9mm ply on the top forced the panel back into shape.

I've just finished planing the fair curves to the chine edges of the bottom panels. Next I need to drill all the holes to stitch in the side panels. I've also cut out the bulkheads so the next week should see some big changes. I'm close to finishing the footrest for the 14' Dart kayak, a little work is required for the rail it will be mounted on and then I'll be ready to reveal the design.

Coming Together

2009-10-26T04:23:00.000-07:00

The Dart 16' design has a round bottom unlike the 14' single kayak, which is a shallow 'V'. To achieve this roundness it has a hog in the bottom, a sort of flat keelson that only runs from about one quarter from the stem to one-quarter to the transom. It caused much consternation because I couldn't decide whether I needed it and how to accommodate it with my previous building experience.

I'd made the hog out of 10mm pine. It is supposed to be half-inch (approx. 12mm) but I couldn't find that size of timber ready cut so decided to go lighter in the interests of keeping overall weight down. To compensate, I covered one side (that is now the bottom) with glass tape to help strengthen the wood and also prevent it from splitting as it is screwed in place under considerable stress.

As always, I should have just trusted my instincts and got on with the job. A tip from an experienced builder in Melbourne, Australia who knows the Dart 16' design clarified the process and as usual, once into the job, although strenuous, it wasn't as bad as I had anticipated. The tip came from the Selway Fisher Designs Builders and Sailors Yahoo Group, a valuable resource. Other such groups exist for many other designers that market to amateur home builders.

It's been a long weekend and I've also managed to make much progress in the landscaping of the garden and I've almost made an adjustable foot rest for the Dart 14' kayak. Photos to follow.

New Tool

2009-10-03T18:46:00.001-07:00

Between boats I took time out to read the Gougeon Brothers on Boat Construction: Wood and West Systems Materials. The Gougeon Brothers are the guys who invented, market and continue to refine West System epoxy resin.

In the book they suggest splitting up a foam roller sleeve and attaching pieces to sticks with a slot cut in the end and using them as resin applicators. Well I tried, but obviously I had the wrong kind of foam roller, so I tried again with pieces of closed-cell foam from the end of a camping mat, and two pieces of 4mm play bound together with tape, and individually bound with plastic parcel tape at the foam end to allow re-use.
It works really well. I'm able to get a far more even spread of resin than when using a chip brush, and the cost is considerably less as well, not to mention the waste. I'm hoping that using better application methods, I'll make a much tidier job and therefore a faster, better build than with my first kayak.

If at first you don't succeed...

2009-10-03T18:34:00.000-07:00

...Try, try, try again.

There's no hope of getting in the garden today, the wind is wild and the rain is lashing down. I got the side panels cut out and planed down during the week, so today was a scarfing day. I laid the bottom panels out on offcuts of exterior ply covered with polythene sheet and screwed down the new centre section. I then screwed each of the remaining parts of the original bottom panels to each end. I did the same with the side panels, but in this case there is only one join to make.

I also put the sheer clamps back in the scarfing jig I made. On each side there is a long piece of 2x1" (50x25mm) to act as a straight edge and these and the bottom are again covered in polythene. Down the centre is a strip of mdf about the same thickness as the sheer clamps. I use offcuts of the 4mm ply covered in plastic parcel tape to bridge from one sheer clamp piece to be held over to the centre piece of mdf scrap. A screw near the sheer clamp end provides the clamping pressure but still allows a slight amount of adjustment until I'm happy everything is properly aligned.

False Start

2009-10-03T18:15:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks after beginning the second kayak build, I undid all of the work and started again. We had a couple of fair weather days at the weekends so I took some time out to make walkways around the vegetable beds before Bridgit started planting up all of the seedlings. In the meantime, I tried to scarf all the kayak pieces up during the evenings.

I was not happy with the results, though. I was getting air locks in the hardener pump and once batch of epoxy just didn't go off, even after 72 hours. I'd used it to scarf the sheer clamps and also to repair a patch of the glass butt joint on the bottom panels that had air bubbles in it.

I decided to take drastic action. I cut out a section of the bottom panels 9" (225mm) either side of the 'bad' join and put a new 18" (450mm) section of ply in the gap. I also decided that supposed speed methods (applying glass to both sides of the join at one time) was actually sloppy, messy and would use more time in cleaning up and making good later.

Boat Building Again...

2009-09-17T04:23:00.000-07:00

Well, the Mini has been turfed out of the garage and now sits at the top of the drive under a gazebo awaiting a paint job. I've readied the garden beds ready for the new season of vegetables and on Saturday I gave the garage a really good tidy up. In the week I managed to pick up some more epoxy resin and hardener, and tomorrow a work appointment takes me close to Glass Fibre Supplies so I can pick up more tape.

On Sunday I started the build of the Dart 16' two-man kayak by scarfing some pieces of softwood together that will become the hog, kind of a part-length keelson. On Tuesday I got home early and marked out the bottom pieces on a sheet of ply. On Wednesday I cut the pieces out with a jigsaw and this evening I jointed the pieces to make two full length bottom panels. The plan is I will be able to stitch and glue these together, with the hog, over the weekend.

It's great to be building again. I was a little bit cautious at first but after donning the gloves and suit again this evening while spreading the epoxy, I already feel back in the swing of things. I just need to be careful though, there are quite a few design differences between the two kayaks. I must keep checking the plans and reading those instructions.

North Shore Heritage Festival

2009-09-17T04:19:00.000-07:00

The local council is throwing a Heritage Festival throughout October. A flyer in the free paper this evening includes details of an event to be hosted by the Devonport Yacht Club from the 4th to the 11th: Boat Designers of the North Shore. The club will be mounting a display of plans, models, photographs and half-hulls.

My only concern is that when I tried to find a link to the event, there was no mention of it in the online material on the council's web site. I'll call the number tomorrow, and if it's on, hopefully I'll be able to post a report on my blog.

UPDATE: I've just spoken to Colin Tubbs at the Devonport Yacht Club, and the exhibition is definitely on, featuring the work of Des Townsend, Bruce Farr and others. The club is located at 25 King Edward Parade in Devonport and the doors will be open daily from 10am to 4pm starting Sunday 4th October until Suntay 10th October; admission is free.

Hot News: The First Island Bay Dory is Built!

2009-09-17T04:15:00.000-07:00

I've just logged into the blog for the first time in a little while to find a message from Rob Buchanan of
Greenport, Long Island, USA. He is the first to inform me that he and his family have built a version of my Island Bay Dory design. Hopefully he'll mail me some pictures soon, and with help from the comment he made on his build, I'll be building an Island Bay Dory with my son in the coming weeks.

Building on a small scale

2009-07-02T15:57:00.001-07:00

While I get some other jobs out of the way (mainly restoring the Mini that is lurking in the background in all the garage shots of the kayak build) I am building on a smaller scale in the house during the dark winter evenings.

I'm trying out the Selway-Fisher Rhum plans at 1:10 scale before trying it for real. The reason for this is I want to change the internal layout, moving bulkheads and fitting permanent side seats, and I want to make sure it all fits. Even small boats are fairly complex 3D shapes an it helps to make sure the visualisation I have in my mind will actually work for real.

Last night I swapped around the bulkheads and made the forward one, the one the mast step and partner are against, full height. This will allow a small foredeck to be fitted, with storage underneath.

I think this will be a really usable little dinghy and I'm quite excited about the build. I just nee to keep the end in site and make sure I don't add so much unnecessary stuff that I can no longer walk the boat down to the ramp. Pictures will follow once I've got the deck fitted on the model.

Oh, and I've pretty much decided that the boat will be named Hope, after this amazing instrumental by Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson.

Blowing away the midwinter blues...

2009-06-21T20:35:00.000-07:00

I went round to see a neighbour on Saturday. I took my Rhum dinghy plans and the 1:10 model that I've made of the hull. He has a Sunburst dinghy and I wanted to check dimensions of his side seats to see if a similar layout was possible in the Rhum. It turns out that the slightly stretched version I intend to build will be identical in length and beam to the Sunburst. Not only is this good news for the layout of seats, it also means that I can potentially buy of-the-shelf spars and sails for the Rhum rather than get a custom set made, possible saving a few dollars along the way.

While I was round, Daniel invited me out on his big boat for a race the next day. So Mid-winter's day I was on a 33' racing/cruising yacht reaching at 8.5 knots in a 20 knot southerly blow around Auckland's harbour. There were only 2 boats in our none-spinnaker class, but we won on the line and on handicap. We also beat 3 spinnaker boats over the line, and they had a 5 minute advantage at the start. It was a beautiful clear and crisp day, and putting up with the cold was well worth it for a great day out on the water.

The Island Bay Dory

2009-06-09T05:24:00.000-07:00

So here it is, my one sheet dory design. I've only made a model of this boat so far, but I hope to make a life-sized version with my son in a couple of month's time. I'll probably use chine logs and glue and screw technique, rather than stitch and tape as documented here in the instructions. I'll document that technique as I build the boat.

If you want to have a go, please read the disclaimer and be realistic about this boat's ability. It's very small and has little load carrying capacity. The flare can be experimented with, more will add stability and buoyancy, but at the expense of freeboard, so its a smooth water only boat. Also, the flare adds rocker, so this boat will probably nod around. Perhaps a small amount of ballast in either end will help overcome this. If you weigh much more than 75Kg then be very careful getting in, I estimate that with that much of a load, the boat will sit around 150mm deep, leaving less than 150mm of freeboard amidships.

I had to post the instructions as JPGs because unfortunately the blogspot software does not allow such pleasant attachment types as PDF or DXF. If you build an Island Bay Dory, real or model, please let me know via the comments box.

More Projects

2009-05-21T04:32:00.000-07:00

I've not got much further with the proa plans, the basics are laid out in a CAD drawing but I need to refine my ideas before I can publish anything there.

Meanwhile, I read a book on DIY projects for the owners of cruising boats and saw a nice little 1-sheet dory style dinghy. I like the idea of trying something like this with my son, since he is light enough to float in it. I wasn't too keen on the shape of the boat in the book, but I liked the concept. I've worked on it some more and my second attempt came out nearly right. A little more refining and I'll have the plans available for the plywood part. It's not a true one-sheet boat because it will also require some wood for the seats and gunwales. And in fact to avoid exposing my lad to epoxy, I'll probably try making it with gluing batons planed to the right angles, polyeurathane glue and stainless screws.

Finally, I've also sent off to Selway-Fisher for plans to build the Rhum 11'6" dinghy in which I hope to learn to sail.

Proa Model

2009-04-14T03:25:00.001-07:00

OK, so here's the model proa I made. Its made in 1:10 scale, the real boat would be 4.8m long and 2.7m wide overall.

Not so amazing in itself, but there are a couple of things I was trying to prove. Firstly, I wanted the hull form and rig to closely mimic the White Heron, a Kiribati sailing canoe that is on display a the New Zealand National Maritime Museum in Auckland. Secondly, I wanted the design to be a modern translation, in plywood, with very simple shapes to minimize the need for complex lofting and also to use the fewest possible number of sheets.

I have a CAD drawing of the panels required to make the waka or main hull. It is possible to fit them all on 3 standard 1200x2400mm sheets of plywood, and I think 6mm ply would be sufficient for the job. The outrigger (ama) could be fashioned from a 100mm square fence post, 2400mm long by sawing crude point and then refining the shape with a coarse sanding wheel on an angle grinder. The spars could be akas (beams holding the ama) could be bamboo and the same possibly for the mast, but the spars I'm not sure on at the moment. To scale they are 4.5m long, sop probably scarfed and laminated softwood is looking the most likley. Softwood stock would also be required for gunwales, gluing battens and the mast and spar steps. The sail would be poly tarp.

Now the only problem is, I can't attach the PDF file I created from the CAD drawing, its a limitation of blogspot that I can't post attachments that aren't photo or video file types. This means I'll have to add more dimensional information before publishing them as jpegs, to allow others to lay out the panels. The great thing is, the shapes are so simple that I could almost manage a written description of each piece instead.

I'm not sure I'll ever build the real thing though. I've gone through the shunting process in miniature and its easy to imagine a disaster trying it for real at sea. I think the next step will be to develop a smaller version of the hull, 4 metres length at most, and equip it with a tipping Gibbon's rig.

Boats and Boat Names

2009-04-02T20:19:00.000-07:00

The kayak doesn't really have a name. I have jokingly referred to it as 'Bullseye' and the double that is to come as 'Double Top' in reference to the design name of Dart and the cult but awful British darts quiz show. I don't think kayaks are boat enough to bare a name though, but that's not the case with subsequent builds.

Currently I have half-hatched plans for a 16' 3-ply sheet proa. I've got a model made that proves the shapes I have designed end up looking like a boat of sorts, I've just the rigging to add. Because I intend to make this boat for very little money, most of the materials will be sourced from large DIY outlets, and so I thought the name 'Big Shed' appropriate. I'd like to have this in Maori, or even better, what ever the native tongue of the Marshall Islands is, but I'll have to be careful to get a good translation and not rely on Internet tools of questionable validity.

Since starting the model, I've been thinking about the difficulties of shunting the real thing (changing the end of the main hull at which the sail is tacked and changing the direction of travel while keeping the outrigger to windward). One solution is to go for a sail with no lower spar and the upper spar hoisted from its mid-point. Such a rig is tipped from one end to the other and is called a Gibbon's Rig. I think it would suit a smaller, single-handed proa and would have to be called the 'Funky Gibbon'. I think it would have a large silhouette of a brachiating gibbon painted on the polytarp sail just for good measure.

These are side projects. I really want to get going on making a dinghy over the winter so I can learn to sail in my own boat. I've decided on another Selway-Fisher design, the Rhum. It will be light enough to trolley down to the beach, can take a small outboard for a spot of fishing and can be rigged with a Gunter rig, similar to the UK Mirror dinghies. It will need a name and I've been thinking along musical themes. I've been looking through song names by my favourite bands to some up with something less in jest than the proa names. Likely candidates are 'Hope', 'Spindrift', 'Red Barchetta' (but only if I paint it red, which is unlikely because its a notoriously difficult colour), 'Working at Perfekt', 'Born of Frustration', 'Anthem', 'Earthshine', 'Beautiful Machine' and 'Pacifier'.

'Pacifier' is likely to be reserved for a bigger boat, should I not like the name it comes with. I like the idea of its relation to Pacific, as in the ocean and the calming affect that messing about in boats tends to have. Rather than building a camp-cruising boat, I'm on the lookout for a good trailer-sailer with sleep-aboard accommodation for 4. This needs a bit of preparation work, firstly I need to learn more about sailing (hence the dinghy build) and secondly, I need to prepare a space on the driveway; more landscaping work.

VESPER

2009-03-18T16:58:00.000-07:00

While out on the water the other day I couldn’t resist the temptation to paddle over to the flat bottomed schooner ‘VESPER’ that caught my eye on my first trip of any length in my kayak.

I’ve determined enough to categorically state that she is not the scow that I first suspected. On my last visit to her mooring I took photos but made no attempt to gauge her dimensions. On this latest trip I manoeuvred my Dart carefully in the strong outgoing tidal current and judged her to be only 2.5 Darts long and not quite a Dart wide. In more conventional units, that’s a waterline length of around 35 feet and a beam of around 12 feet. This is roughly half the recorded size of the scow ‘VESPER’, and even allowing for the somewhat rudimentary means of measurement, I don’t think I could get it that wrong.

I’ve learnt a little of the maritime history of the region over the last few months though, mostly by the power of the internet. The story begins back in the 1860s when the first scows appeared around the Auckland coast. These were flat bottomed boats with square ends and lee-boards fitted to allow them to be driven by a fore and aft topsail gaff schooner rig. Typical dimensions of the early boats were 60 feet in length with a beam of 20 feet. The design and construction is thought to be directly from scows of the USA and Canada, there use being initiated by immigrants from those countries.

The need for heavy cargo boats of shoal draft comes from Auckland’s location. Situated on an isthmus the city is squeezed between the Manukau Harbour to the south, which opens into the Tasman Sea on the West coast, and the Waitemata Harbour to the north, which opens into the Hauraki Gulf to the East. As the population of the region grew and more of the land was settled, so resources such as timber for building and livestock to feed the city folk needed to be sourced in larger quantities and from further afield. Scows weren’t used exclusively in the Auckland region by any means, but for a while, they were the lifeline for this burgeoning community.

Soon the trading scows were refined to include a pointed bow and a centre board or boards instead of the lee-boards. This improved the sea worthiness and speed of the vessels, as well as making it easier to load cargo. Typically the vessels were sailed into a harbour and almost beached at low tide to be loaded with all manner of livestock before floating of on the incoming tide. Pens on the decks held the beasts, and sand was spread to help them keep their feet during a rough passage. For the timber carrying vessels, huge kauri and totara logs would be rolled onto the deck and lashed to either side of the masts.

Whether it was racing that led to the refinements in hull form, or that because of the refinements racing seemed like a good idea has probably been lost in the mists of time, but race they did. The serious racing sailor’s of the day poured scourn on the idea that these barges should be given their own race on the programme for the Auckland Anniversary Regatta, but by 1884 the class was well established and in that year was won by ‘VIXEN’, a 69’3” long, 18’8” wide scow built by Charles Bailey Snr. of Auckland for Captain Biddick as a cattle scow in 1883.

The sailing scow 'VESPER', taken around the turn of the 19th to 20th Century

Captain Biddick commissioned another vessel of similar design, this time 76’8” by 21’8” and built by Bailey and Lowe in 1902. She was called ‘VESPER’. The picture from Anthony Flude’s site on Auckland history show a far more refined shape than the smaller ‘TED ASHBY’, a reproduction of an earlier design with the more modest dimensions of 57’ by 18’. It was the refined lines in this picture that gave me hope that the ‘VESPER’ I had seen was the same boat, but the dimensions rule that out. Incidentally, the scow VESPER’ was last recorded as being used as a mussel barge in the Marlborough Sounds in 1992 according to Mike Subritzky’s book ‘Subritzky Shipping’.

The 'TED ASHBY' at the National Maritime Museum, Auckland

So I still don’t know the origins of the flat bottomed, gaff rigged schooner ‘VESPER’ that is moored in the Upper Waitemata Harbour. I’ll send my photos off to the National Maritime Museum and see if model maker and scow enthusiast I was talking to has any clues...

References
Papers Past - The Auckland Star, 29th January 1884
The Days of the Sailing Scows by Anthony G. Flude
NZ Scows from Mike Subritzky's 'Subritzky Shipping' compiled by Koeke Junction

Lots of projects, but still got time for a paddle

2009-03-17T09:21:00.000-07:00

I've so many little projects on at the moment, and none of them complete.

I'm doing a little landscaping along the back fence, but that's bogged down with digging up a stump that's in the way. I've been playing around with a few proa models, trying to figure out a way of making a replica of the 'WHITE HERON' using no more than 3 sheets of 6mm exterior ply, some softwood and a poly tarp. While I was studying my photos of the original at the National Maritime Museum, I noticed that the length given on the information plaque of 24'4" seemed way to long. I paced it at around 14', and 8 foot overall beam, which is as the plaque stated. I e-mailed the museum, and sure enough, it was a typographical error, the real length is 14'4". Anyway, the model is coming along but I think I may need to change a couple of features. I've also been reading up about scows to determine the origin of a vessel I saw moored up in the harbour while I was out or a paddle.

The Mark IV trolley was never tested. One project I did complete was adding a wider axle and rubber tyred wheels, while reducing the overall height in a quest for stability. I'm pleased to report that the trip to and from the ramp with the Mark V trolley was event free, everything working as it should. I went for a 6.5km paddle, nosing around the various boats and ships moored between Island Bay and the entrance to Hellyers Creek. The water was flat and win d was negligible, so it was nice to paddle in relatively straight lines, although a very strong outgoing tidal flow gave m some challenges.

From this last trip out, I think I'll make a rudder the very lowest priority of things to fix. The two main things I want to fix is the paddle (its too short and the blades a little too flexible) and the making of a spray skirt. The first attempt at the latter failed due to my hopeless skills with a sewing machine, so I have a new plan that will be less stitch and more glue.

Off my Trolley

2009-02-19T13:21:00.000-08:00

The kayak trolley has been providing me with lots of headaches, and the kayak with lots of scratches.

The Mk I version was hopeless, so I angled the bunks a bit to provide the Mk II, which also shed its load on the way to the beach. The photo shows the more elaborate Mk III with wide, raised bunks set further forward on the boat to help with balance, and the bungee cords replaced by nylon cam-lock straps. This also failed while taking the kayak down for a quick paddle out to 'VESPER', a schooner moored about 1 km away and which I originally suspected to be a remnant of New Zealand's fleet of trading scows. I know now that it's not a true scow, but need to research a little more to see if there is any link at all to the scows of old. Either way, I ended up carrying the kayak back, along with the trolley and was nearly late for a night out as a result.

The Mk IV trolley is sitting in the garage waiting to be tested, but as I write the rain is torrential and a gale warning is in force, so it will have to wait in the garage a little longer.

My building and boating activities have been somewhat curtailed of late. For the last 4 weeks I've been acting as full time tour guide to my parents, over on a visit from the UK. I did manage to get away yesterday evening however, to take part in a race on board my friend and neighbour's Beale 33' cruiser/racer. Winds were up 15 - 20 knots and with only two of us on board, it was quite exciting. We didn't do well, but that was mainly down to confusion at the start when the skipper accidentally reset his stop watch and so we had only the 1 minute gun to go by, crossing the start over 30 seconds late. I learned a lot during the race though, and also managed to use some of what I've read over the past few months, all good practice for when I build my own boat.

Saltier by the Day

2009-02-04T02:38:00.000-08:00

I think I'm turning into an antipodean Gavin Atkin. For those few of you who read these pages and don't know who Gavin is, then I suggest you get over to intheboatshed.net immediately.

I must admit that I like the idea of not only building my own boat, but also designing its lines. And through reading Gavin's blog, I've developed a respect and increasing interest in older boats and ships.

While I was paddling round the upper Waitemata Harbour at the weekend, I was fascinated by the many boats I saw moored up along the way. One of these I suspected to be a converted sailing scow, a commercial vessel from 100 years ago, essential in the development of Auckland as a city.

Today I went with my parents to the National Maritime Museum. We took a look at the racing boats and sponsor's yachts and launches, here in town for the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series and then headed for the museum. They wanted to potter around and enjoy the waterfront, but I was on a mission.

I took lots of notes and photographs of the exhibits in the Hawaiki hall, especially of this Kiribati canoe. It is a proa, that is it does not tack but shunts, the outrigger stays to windward and the lower point of the sail is moved to the other end of the boat and it 'reverses'. This is in fact a western prejudiced way to think of it, for in this type of boat the axis of symmetry is shifted 90 degrees and there is no front or back, but a windward and leeward. Anyway, I want to build one so I thought I'd examine an original rather than use plans of a western interpretation.

I also wanted to check out the Ted Ashby, one of the few remaining sailing scows still working for a living, albeit as a harbour cruise distraction for the paying visitors to the museum.

Between the Pacific craft in the Hawaiki hall and the quay where the Ted Ashby and other vessels are moored, I came across this beautiful rowing boat. It spent its working life in the Auckland Islands, 300 km south of the main New Zealand land masses. It appears to never have been used though. It was stationed on the islands along with cashes of food and clothes in case of ship wrecks.

I intend to deliver more on each of these vessels. I'll digest my notes and try and define the critical forms, structures and mechanisms of the sailing canoe, determine whether the boat I sighted was indeed an original scow (with the help of a volunteer and model maker at the museum) and publish more photographs and details of the boat and the castaway station on the Auckland Islands.

More Sea Trials

2009-02-01T02:16:00.000-08:00

After the launch I went away for a week to the Coromandel. While there we (me, my parents, partner and son) went on a sailing excursion that I highly recommend to anyone in the area.

The day after I got back I went out for a quiet paddle. The boat seemed to be moving well so I continued across the entrance of Island Bay and carried on up the west coast of the North Shore until I got to Beach Haven point. I then made a bold move across the harbour to the boat ramp used to beach Sunderland and Catalina flying boats at the old Hobsonville airfield. I then tried to cross diagonally back over before hugging the coast again for the last couple of bays, but the boat was catching so much wind I ended up straight-lining the route to the home beach.

I think I'd like to fit a rudder to help steer the boat while I paddle a steady rhythm. Instead, I was making 3-4 strokes on one side for each stroke on the other to compensate for the wind. Towards the end of the trip the sea got quite choppy and a bit of water was coming in, so that spray deck is also looking quite essential. I've now dismantled part of the trolley. It needs the bunks to be properly aligned with the angles of the hull, and in future I'll secure it to the kayak with some nylon cam-lock straps instead of bungee cords.

Launch

2009-01-21T22:45:00.000-08:00

After picking my parents up from the airport, I quickly finished making a trolley for the kayak while they got freshened up. There was a very high tide today at 5:00pm, so at 6:30 there was still plenty of water over the oyster shells for a safe launch after a quick trundle down to the beach.

I went out about 100m, rounded the wharf and paddled into Island Bay (which completely empties on a low tide) and then back again. The boat was very stable but quite a lot of water came over the bow. A spray skirt will be necessary before I cross any rougher water. Also, the paddle could do with being about 200mm longer. I may achieve this by adding an aluminium section to the middle and making it a two-piece paddle.

Completion

2009-01-21T22:41:00.000-08:00

Here's a couple of pics of the finished product, sitting on the driveway on Wednesday evening awaiting launch the following day.

Quick Update

2009-01-18T01:12:00.000-08:00

The launch date for the kayak is scheduled for 22nd January, this Thursday afternoon.

My parents arrive for a month long visit from the UK, and I'll launch in the afternoon after I've picked them up from the airport.

The kayak is mostly painted, just some black pinstripes and a couple of areas to be touched up. The seat is painted, the paddle is varnished and I've made and painted a toggle for the bow line. Final touches will be some foam rubber mat cable tied to the seat and the forward deck beam (to protect my shins).

I still have top make a trolley to take it the 200m or so to the local boat ramp and beach. I'll probably end up carrying it because I also have to paint and fit foot grips to some bolt-on sidesteps a friend fabricated for the Land Rover a couple of years ago.

Its going to be tight, but a Thursday launch it is.

New Year, Same Kayak

2009-01-08T05:30:00.000-08:00

Well, that's Christmas and New Year out of the way.

I was really busy getting ready for Christmas, then we went camping for a few nights and got back on New Year's day. I went back to work the following Monday, so tried to spend the weekend doing fun, family stuff rather than sanding.

I finally got around to sanding the first coat of primer and adding a little knifing putty to some of the less well prepared areas (the ones that only show up once its all the same colour). I did a big session of sanding last night and got it close enough. I'm brush painting the top coats so once the minor scratches and edges in the filler are smaller than a brush mark, I don't see the point in spending any more effort getting it better. I will, however, be asking for a random orbital sander for my birthday.

So this evening I put on a second coat of primer. I'll flat it off with a quick rub of 220 grit paper, with a little more attention being payed to a few inevitable runs and drips. It was around 25 degrees Celsius when I was painting in the early evening, and the water based paint was drying as fast as I could brush it out, keeping a wet edge was nigh on impossible.

In the background, between coats, I've also prepped the seat for top-coating, rubbed the paddle down ready for a final coat of varnish, and spray painted some deck hardware in satin black enamel after etch-priming (its all galvanised steel).

A Momentus Occasion

2008-12-22T11:02:00.000-08:00

No not the launch, not quite.

I finally got some paint on the hull. The sanding of the first load of exterior bog was completed last week, and the second fill on the underside was hard enough to sand at the weekend. I made a start, but was otherwise engaged and so am now a little more behind.

Sunday was spent fixing a couple of things on the Land Rover to get it through the 6-monthly Warrant of Fitness certification that is required in New Zealand. The relatively straight forward job of changing the power steering belt became an epic due to seized bolts. The other job I knew had pitfalls associated with it. I learnt so much in the process of completing the drop arm ball joint fix that I posted my findings here in the hope of my experience being useful to others tackling the same task.

Anyway, last night I finished sanding the second fill and then I started preparing to paint. I washed the bottom down with a warm solution of liquid sugar soap to degrease, remove the dust and any amine blush (a waxy emission from cured epoxy), then rinsed with plenty of water and allowed the boat to dry.

I then applied a coat of Taubmans UnderProof Acrylic Primer Undercoat. This is a water-based acrylic with what smells like an amount of latex added to prevent bleeding through to the top coat. I'm going to be using Taubmans Living Proof Indoor/Outdoor Acrylic Enamel Gloss as the top coat. The reasons to use house paint rather than marine enamel like I tried for the cockpit interior are twofold. Firstly, the marine enamel requires 24 hours between coats, whereas the acrylic enamel requires only an hour or two. Secondly, the smell of the marine enamel was awful, even with the garage door closed it could be detected on walking passed while the boat dried inside.

Obviously there is a Christmas break coming, and we are off on a family camping trip until after New Year's, so the launch will definitely be in 2009. I'm also pretty certain it will be in January of that year.

No Longer Without a Paddlle

2008-12-10T11:01:00.000-08:00

At the weekend I finally plucked up the courage to cut the flats on the end of the paddle loom. The profiles don't match exactly and one is cut a little too deep where the ply blade is supposed to come up flush to the loom, but its too late now as the parts are stuck together with waterproof polyurethane builder's glue and its all cleaned up ready for varnish. Its not the thing of beauty I had in my mind's eye, but should be good enough to ensure forward motion is maintained. Lets call it the paddle Mk I.

Last night I finished the main fairing compound application to the hull. I'm now out of epoxy pretty much and have developed a loathing for mixing thick fairing compound; it takes longer to mix than it does to spread over the boat.

So I can spend a couple of short evenings painting the seat and vanishing the paddle. Then, at the weekend, its out with the power sander and I can turn all that laboriously mixed and applied fairing compound into dust.

Meanwhile, in the Garden...

2008-12-04T01:24:00.000-08:00

Here's a little mini-project that I did on Sunday while a load of epoxy was curing on the boat.

We had a few sunflower seedlings that needed to be planted up, but really had nowhere in the garden prepared for them, so they had to go in pots.

We also have a good number of strange, octagonal, terracotta pipes in the basement, 400mm long with a 100mm diameter circular bore.

I closed of the bottom end with a disk of tanalised timber, nailed through 4 holes drilled around the bottom end of each pipe. I added 10 metres of thick sisal rope and 10 metres of thinner sisal cord and this is what I came up with.

Sorry for the fuzzy image, it was pitch black on the viewfinder and a bit too dark for the autofocus it would seem.

Coaming Lip

2008-12-04T01:17:00.000-08:00

Although I don't have a spray deck, or know how to Eskimo roll, I want to include a lip on the cockpit coaming to hold a spray deck in due course. If I'm to try and cross the Rangitoto Channel in this home built contraption, then I really don't want to get swamped half way across.

To this end, I made a crown of pins all around the coaming and balances a length of 8mm knitted synthetic rope on this, with the odd extra pin tensioning the rope. The rope had first been dipped in straight epoxy resin to soak it.

The pins are now removed and I've started the lengthy process of smoothing (or fairing) the outside of the hull in preparation for painting. There is nothing to add to the kayak now really, just filler and paint. I need to paint the seat and find some closed cell foam to pad it, and I still haven't got round to making a paddle yet.

Cockpit Coaming

2008-11-27T01:15:00.000-08:00

So after the deck went on the last real job of building was to cut out the cockpit hole and line it with a coaming strip. I wasn't looking forward to this part too much because while it is woodwork, its not the orthogonal, easy-to-measure joinery that I'm more accustomed to.

I made a template for the hole by turning one of the plan sheets over and on the plain back marking the centre line, deck beam positions and the run of the cockpit stringers. I joined the tapering lines of the stringers with the curve of the dustbin lid at the aft end, and to an upturned bucket at the forward end. I transferred the curves to the kayak by punching through the paper with an awl. A little adjustment by eye was required to get a more pleasing line on the forward end before the line was followed by the jigsaw.

On the same day I prepared some pieces of ply, 120mm wide and 700mm long, cut across the outer grains of the ply (the way it bends easiest). I laid these pieces on the driveway with an old towel over the top and soaked them with boiling water. A few minutes later I filled the bucket that had acted as a template with sand and the wrapped the pieces (all stacked together) round the bucket and held them in place with a ratchet strap.

Two days later the ply was mostly dry and so I started to lay the curved pieces up on the kayak. I was originally going to make the coaming out of two thicknesses of the 4mm ply on end, wrapped aroung the inside edge of the cockpit cutout. This looked a little clunky though, so after mulling it over for a couple of days, I abandoned the inner layer.

So tonight I trimmed up the pieces with a jigsaw. I marked line parallel to the deck with an offset block then partially flattened out the curved end pieces to trim them. The straight side pieces were then trimmed to fit between the ends from ply with the outer grain running length ways. For the bottom edge, I marked the back of the coaming where it was level with the bottm edge of the cockpit stringers down the sides, and with the bottom of the deck beams on the fore and aft centre line. I faired a curve between the straight sides and the mid point and then cut it out hoping it would look OK when curved back on the boat. This shape has meant the a very deep section to the coaming at the aft edge, which was the intention since there is no real provision for a separate back rest in this kayak.

After a dry fit test I mixed up the epoxy, pre-wet each joint surface and primed out any parts that would be no longer accessible. I then added plenty of microfibres and used this to bong in the coaming. I held everything in place with temporary screws, and on the end joints between the side and end pieces I used broad packers (covered in plastic parcel tape) under the screw to cover the edge and keep the faces flush. The leftover epoxy and any squeeze out was then stuffed back into the gap between the deck and coaming to form a small fillet and improve the bond. Its definitely warming up here now and for the first time I noticed the pot of epoxy getting really hot in my hand as the curing reaction started to happen.

To finish the coaming of I will trim the edges into a fair curve and fit a lip the the upper, outer edge to take a spray skirt. I was going to use some steamed pine for this, but I think the curves are too severe to even bother trying. Instead I'll soak some 10mm rope in epoxy and pin it in place, then fair it in with filler while fairing the rest of the outer hull. And that's really all that is left to do. Tape the deck seam, fair it in along with the other external tapes and then sand and sand and sand, and then paint.

Oh, and there's also the small matter of making a paddle...

Fully Decked

2008-11-21T02:47:00.000-08:00

Progress has been slow, its been hard to grab much time in the last week or so.

I have managed to get the deck on the kayak though. I did this through last week, and at the weekend I planed of the excess around the edges and sanded any epoxy that squeezed out of the joint.

On Wednesday I managed to get into the garage for a brief moment to fit the PVC pipe ends that I'm using for hatches. I stuck 3 small, curved face blocks around the underside of each of the holes to increase the gluing surface and held these in place with a small screw each. I then added plenty of epoxy with microfibres to the glass tape the I had previously bonded to the tubes with PVC cement. The fit in the holes was tight enough not to require any tape, pins or clamps. I'll remove the temporary screws, clean up the excess resin and fillet and fill the deck/hatch transition when I'm ready to tape the deck/hull seam.

Finally, here's a shot of the copper pipe that I inserted in the bow to hold the toggle rope.

Improvisation

2008-11-10T01:38:00.000-08:00

For me, part of the fun in making my own stuff is in finding alternative uses for everyday items, or alternatively, finding an everyday item to use out of context as a cheaper alternative for the 'proper' part.

The toggle eye I mounted into the bow of the kayak serves two purposes. Firstly, it must reinforce the hull and prevent the pull on the toggle rope from deforming the hull or pulling loose. Secondly, it must separate the hole through the hull from the airtight chamber formed ahead of the forward bulkhead. For this purpose, I employed a short length of 15mm copper pipe. I carefully marked the angles after boring a hole with a 16mm spade bit and cut the ends with a regular hacksaw. I scuffed the surface with 60 grit paper to allow the epoxy to key into the copper. The pipe is encased in a large block of epoxy/microfibre blend, which once cured, I filed back the ends about 1mm each side to be flush with the hull.

Kayak hatch covers are available from lots of outdoor, marine and specialist kayak shops, but the cost in the region of $100 upwards each. I don't need to use the airtight compartments ans storage, I just want to make sure they are dry, and if not (epoxy isn't totally waterproof, although it does take lengthy immersion to get any noticeable absorption) I need to be able to sponge out and air the compartments. To this end, I purchased a couple of 90mm storm water pipe covers. The consist of a short length of 90mm PVC pipe (about 70mm long) with one end open and the other covered by a removable, threaded cap. Again, epoxy wont bond to PVC and I didn't want to rely on simply scuffing the surface of such a large join. I think I read of the vague details of this process, but I made up the details myself.

Firstly I cut a length of glass tape just long enough to wrap round the pipe. I then cut it length ways down the centre. I laid 2 long strips of masking tape, sticky side up, on the workbench and stuck a half-width of glass tape to each, keeping the edges as straight as possible. I then piped a generous line of PVC solvent down the centre of each piece of glass tape. This was then wrapped around a piece of pipe, keeping the 'good' edge of the glass tape parallel with and just below the bottom of the threaded section. The masking tape keeps the glass in contact wit the PVC and allows pressure to be applied so that the solvent is partly absorbed in the glass weave. When I come to mount the pipes in the deck, I'll then add epoxy to the glass tape which will get a good bond with the part of the glass that is not already embedded in the PVC cement. The pipe and caps are grey, but I'll spray the caps with black enamel and any pipe showing above deck will be faired in with an epoxy fillet, primed and painted the same colour as the rest of the boat.

Catchup

2008-11-10T01:24:00.000-08:00

I seem to be falling behind with the blog entries. I think the main reason is that I want photos to help describe a process or an idea, but either don't take them (because I forget or the process is too messy to involve an expensive digital camera) or because I get a bit fed up with the whole download - crop - resize - rename - upload process involved in posting them.

So here's a text only catchup...

On Wednesday I managed to screw the remaining forward portion of deck in place and I removed the still-damp towel to let the wood dry whilst in its new curve.

On Thursday and Friday I was too tired and did nothing - sometimes you just need a break.

On Saturday I only had a couple of hours, so I marked out the position just ahead of the forward bulkhead where I wanted to mount an inspection hatch and then I unscrewed the deck. This took a while. I then trimmed the deck up to within half a carpenter's pencil width of the hull with a new neat cutting jigsaw blade. I then swapped to the thin curve-cut blade and cut out the inspection hatch hole. I also prepared a piece to become an eye for the bow toggle - more of this later.

On Sunday I epoxied in the toggle eye and primed out the underside of the deck with plain epoxy. This was a hassle because it was very windy and all sorts of dust and leaves blew into the garage entrance and stuck the the tacky deck. Also, the wet of the resin caused the deck to try and curve back in the opposite direction of what was required. I quickly mixed up some epoxy and microfibre blend which I applied to the inwales, cockpit stringers , forward deck beam and forward bulkhead. Then it was on with the deck and in with all those screws again. Earlier my son Samuel had helped me take all the screws out of the scrap pads, put shiny brown parcel tape on one side of the pads and then put all the screws back in again so screwing down the deck could be achieved whilst the epoxy was still workable.

Torture Chamber

2008-11-04T12:56:00.000-08:00

The main method of construction on the kayak up to this point has been stitch and tape. Pieces of plywood have been cut to shape and stitched together along there edges with cable ties before a permanent fixing of glass fibre tape and epoxy resin was applied. Another related method is called tortured ply, where compound curves are forced into the plywood. Its relatively easy to get a sheet of ply to bend in one direction at a time, so boats designed for this method of construction have panels shaped as sections of cones or cylinders. But the deck on the kayak is convex across the beam but has a concave sheer, the profile of the top edge of the side panels.

Last night I started putting on the deck on the forward end of the kayak. I screwed an oversize sheet in place at the halfway length of the cockpit. this allowed be to strap the middle section of the sheet roughly and draw an outline to trim the sheet to - still oversize but now by 30-50mm all round.

More screws were placed along the inwales working from the midships forward, and the stresses on the screws got greater as the curve was formed. I used scrap ply packers under each screw to prevent the deck springing back and popping all the screws through. As I approached the forward bulkhead the gap between the inwale and the deck was getting bigger and something needed to be done. I persevered for a while with a couple of ratchet straps holding things down, but it wasn't going to work.

At this point I took of the ratchet straps and then rearranged 3 straps over the top of an old towel that was soaked in hot water. The idea is that the warm and wet environment softens the fibres of the ply and makes it more agreeable to the compound curves being forced upon it. Wooden packers over the inwales concentrated the ratchet straps' force in the right direction while rags protected the deck and hull from the heavy metal hooks and ratchets. While tightening all this lot up, holding the ply with one hand and most of my body and tensioning a strap with the other hand, there was a pinging noise and a sharp pain in my shoulder. The torture victim had fought back.

I don't know what the outcome of all this was, I dared not look in the garage this morning so I'll conduct the post mortem tonight.

How to find time...

2008-10-30T18:26:00.001-07:00

Its taking a little longer than expected to build this kayak. Partly this is because I have to squeeze time in between other commitments, especially family, and partly because I'm learning how to do so many of the tasks involved.

When I get around to the 2-man version that is to follow, I think I'll be quite a bit faster. Although there are significant differences in the design and construction, many of the basic processes are shared, and I'll now be able to tackle those with the kind of confidence that only comes from experience. I'd like to think I won't make so many mistakes; for example I know now to be tidy when using the epoxy to avoid hours spent scraping and sanding to clean up the mess. It will also be down to less procrastination. Over-thinking a practical problem, such as how to shape a piece or attach it, is a time wasting exercise. Some of the parts I've worried most over have actually been very easy, and its amazing how often the solution springs to mind just for being in the workshop, tools in hand.

But I will still need to spend some time making it, and where will that come from. Well apparently the average UK adult spends 24 hours per week in front of the television. That's 1/7th of their life! Its not much better in New Zealand, where the average is 20 hours per week (but then programming is nowhere near as good). The other day I slipped into an old habit and picked up the TV guide. It was October 28th and the guide was still folded back on the pages for October 2nd. It's not that I've not watched any TV, but not much. I no longer browse the channels looking for entertainment, I just sit down to watch the three of four shows a week that I actually want to watch. I think 20 hours of TV per month is far healthier than 20 hours per week. And once I've got a kayak to paddle it'll be healthier still.

Paint!

2008-10-30T01:15:00.000-07:00

Today I decided I was done with the filling/sanding cycle on the interior. I washed down the cockpit with warm soapy water and tidied the garage while the kayak dried in the sun. After dinner I went back to the garage and applied the first coat of one-part marine primer. I was expecting all sorts of blemishes to appear once the colour was evened out, but I'm actually pleasantly surprised how smooth it all looks.

There won't be much progress now until the 2 coats of primer/undercoat and 2 coats of top coat are on, unless I do a bit to the paddles. I've shut up shop for tonight, but at some point over the weekend I'll post details of the paints I'm using and where exactly I got them from. It looks like the primer will be enough to do the outside as well, but I need to get hold of some different top coat; bright orange me thinks...

Tow Point Reinforcement

2008-10-27T21:21:00.000-07:00

Here's the tow point reinforcing with the bracing still on while the epoxy cures. The brace is a strip of wood running along from the centre of the deck beam to the centre of the aft bulkhead to ensure the top of the reinforcement stays at the level of the underside of the deck. The main piece is screwed to the brace and the 'knee' is taped to both to stop it sliding during the cure.

And this is it without the tape and bracing. The top needs a little cleaning where some epoxy that squeezed out of the joint ended up along the sides of the brace. I covered the brace with brown, plastic parcel tape to prevent any bonding between the temporary brace and the permanent reinforcement. This part isn't in the design, but I'm keen that the kayaks should be able to two one-another, and background reading suggests that a tow point is best mounted immediately behind the cockpit.

Finally, all the sanding of the cockpit is taking its toll on the rest of the garage contents. I'll try to do the exterior sanding outside I think, otherwise the camping gear may get wrecked.

Last Cockpit Details

2008-10-26T19:32:00.000-07:00

Today's a public holiday, Labour Day. I've been spreading myself pretty thin between family, household chores and making progress on the kayak. However, I got the second fill sanded back and added the final details to the cockpit before painting.

The first fill used nine pump's worth of epoxy, the second fill used three, and the last fill applied today used only one and there was heaps left over. I know the finish still won't be perfect, but its as good as I'm prepared to do for the inside of a closed cockpit kayak. It should take less than half-an-hour to sand out tomorrow, so I can wash down and get some primer on.

I also primed the seat panel on one side with plain epoxy. I popped the washers out and sanded them with some 240 grit and then forced them back into the recessed holes with the resin in the hope that they bond in place.

I also cut and bonded in the cockpit stringers, as well as priming them on three faces, leaving the top bare ready to bond to the deck. Behind the aft deck beam I added a couple of blocks, one cut to a curve to fit snugly under the deck, the other a small knee style brace between it and the deck beam. The purpose of these pieces is to reinforce the area immediately behind the cockpit so I can bolt an eye through there to mount a tow line.

Pictures of progress

2008-10-23T21:05:00.000-07:00

Here's the 6 paddle blade blanks waiting to have their edges rounded and be joined onto the looms.

This is the forward bulkhead, as viewed from the cockpit. A fair bit of sanding still to do.

This is a closeup of the seat, showing how I recessed a washer into the ply using a 16mm spade bit. This gets the head of the screw close to being flush while reinforcing the hole, necessary since the screw head doesn't have much of a shoulder.

A bit shaky since it was taken on a pretty dull day, but even so I think you can see the sleek lines of the kayak in this shot.

Paddles

2008-10-21T13:19:00.001-07:00

I made a start on the paddle blades last night. I made a template out of a rough piece and got it as symmetrical as possible before using it to mark out the others. To check the symmetry,I measured a centre line and marked it in both sides of the template, drew a corresponding line on a board, then drew round the template with the centres aligned. Then I flipped it over and re-aligned the centres and checked the curves had a similar profile as those drawn on the board.

I cut the paddle blanks oversize from 4mm ply off-cuts. I then planed them close to the line before putting 4 pieces (2 paddles worth) together and finishing the planing and profiling as a stack to get them all alike. The other two blanks were marked to match the slightly narrower loom and the profiles adjusted accordingly. I then trimmed about 15mm from the ends to just make them that bit smaller and more manageable for Sam.

Th next challenge is to make a jug to get the correct profile in the ends of the looms, and to get the profile faces at exactly 90 degrees to each other on either end of the loom. I'm still thinking about that one. Meanwhile I'll get a bit of sanding done tonight, and take some photos too.

I'm favouring making a really neat job of the paddles. Partly because I want to prove I can, and partly because I think it might be less work to finish them bright (i.e. wood grain showing through layers of sealer and varnish).

Sanding

2008-10-19T18:18:00.001-07:00

I sanded on Friday night for about half an hour, and things looked encouraging. On Saturday afternoon I sanded for about 1 and a half hours, and I was less enthused. It looks like another hour or so will be required before a little more filler is added to the cockpit area, maybe another hour of sanding after that and then I can paint the cockpit.

I think this is the stage where it will be very easy to get demoralised.

On Saturday morning I went to by some timber for a garden project, as well as some kayak bits. I bought some nice straight pine for the cockpit stringers and 3 lengths of pine dowel, 2 at 30mm diameter and one at 28mm diameter. These will be the paddle looms, the smaller one will have slightly undersized blades and should prove a little easier for Sam to use at a similar stroke rate to an adult using a full size paddle. I'll work on the paddles while I'm waiting for resin to cure or paint to dry.

On Sunday I turned the other bits of timber into raised vegetable planters to make our garden a little more productive. I worked with Bridgit, which was mostly fun, and by the end of the day we had the planters correctly spaced and levelled ready to be filled with topsoil and brick pavers to be laid around and between. I don't know when it will all get finished, but it had better be soon because we need to get some vegetables planted now, really.

Nearly ready for paint...

2008-10-16T03:13:00.000-07:00

I got loads done today, nearly five hours on the boat, which is pretty incredible for a week night.

I started by sanding round all runners to smooth of the fillets I'd run and get rid of a couple of minor dribbles. Then I made some seat risers. The plans say to glue the seat in, but I'll leave mine mounted by screws to the bonded-in risers. That way I can take it out to recover it should the closed cell foam I plan to use for a cushion start to break up. It will also allow access to the area underneath, which if starts to deteriorate would otherwise go undetected. I screwed these risers into place and sanded down the interior to provide a key.

After dinner I went back out and had a monster session with the epoxy. First up I bonded in the seat risers and screwed them down until the resin sets. Then I primed out the entire interior to seal the wood. Some areas under glass tape was already done, but the centre area of each panel and the lower and inner edges of the inwales all needed to be done. Finally, I mixed up several big batches of low density filler to fair in all the tape edges.

All that will need a couple of days to go off before sanding, so if I do any building at all tomorrow (Friday) it'll be starting to make the paddles. They're $80 each in the shops, and I reckon I can make all 3 (one for this kayak and two for the tandem that is to follow) for less than that. On the other hand I might just kick back and have a beer or two, we'll see.

Things I've Learnt So Far...

2008-10-15T17:16:00.000-07:00

The whole point of building the kayaks was to learn a little about the boat building process before tackling something bigger and more expensive. I've read extensively on other blogs, on boat designers web sites and in books borrowed from the library and from friends. Some of the snags I've encountered I've read about previously, because they seem to catch everybody out. I guess that means the first lesson is "There is no replacement for experience. Read all you like, but you don't know until you've done it."

So what are these common problems. The biggest surprise was handling the epoxy resin. It was also the area I had the most apprehension about. A common mistake, apparently is not mixing it thick enough when filleting or bonding. Now I've done that too. The epoxy by itself is about as viscous as maple syrup. It will run pretty much anywhere where its laid deep enough to not get soaked up by the wood grain. To make fillers it is mixed with small, low density spheres that bulk it up, thicken it and make it easier to sand. The spheres actually flow better than the resin, so it takes an awful lot of them to come up with a mix that defies gravity and stays where it is put. For bonding, the spheres are replaces by fibres that are so fine and short they look like dust. These thicken the mix more readily, but again I didn't use enough of them in the early stages. Its quite disheartening to watch that beautiful fillet that you've spent all the allotted 'wet' time shaping start slumping down the bilges into the bottom of the boat, just as the epoxy starts going off into its gel stage where it's no longer workable.

Tools I think I've got just about right. My two planes and my jigsaw get lot and lots of use. My cheap screwdrivers also seem to be getting a fair bit of use, usually while bonding up parts with epoxy, which now covers their handles, so its a good job they were cheap. I'm getting closer and closer to the dreaded sanding stage ready to paint the first boat. This may see some further tool expenditure in the form of an orbital sander. I have a very basic 1/3 sheet sander but it's so poor I usually find it quicker to put a 1/4 sheet round a cork block and use some elbow grease. Watch this space on the verdict of whether a power sander is worth its cost.

On timber, I think I got it right with the plywood, or if anything I maybe bought better than was required or the kayaks. That's by-the-by because anything bigger and of greater value would get the full-on BS1088 Marine Ply spec treatment, its silly to scrimp on the small difference in price per sheet between good ply and the best ply.

Where I got it wrong was with the finger-jointed softwood moulding I bought. Its OK for the inwales, they're really only there to provide a glue surface for the deck. The problem lies when I try to shape the stuff. Its very hard to plane a length of wood when the grain direction changes every 300-450mm. Because the grain changes direction and density, you can't use it to form a fair curve. It would be no good, for example, in forming a batten that was used to hag a plank off to derive the plank's shape. Again, I should have known this because I've read about other builders having trouble with finger-jointed softwood not curving well. Also, its not very strong. The same builders who can't get it to form a fair curve have also had it fail when bending over a tighter radius. I think I'll get some continuous lengths of 18mm square pine for the cockpit stringers before I put the deck on. After all, I've read the warnings from others and I know these parts are under stress when climbing in and out of the boat. It'll be one mistake I'm happy to learn from others making.

Running Strakes

2008-10-14T16:34:00.000-07:00

I'm unsure as to what the correct name is for these parts, runners, strakes, false keel and bilge strakes, whatever. The point of them is to protect the thin-skinned kayak bottom from hidden nasties when launching and beaching. This is especially required since the beach most local to me is covered in oyster shells just below the high tide level.

The plans call for simple bevelling of the ends to provide a bit of streamlining and to please the eye a little more than a square-ended piece of wood. I went to town a bit while shaping the centre runner at the weekend, and had more fun with the two bilge runners.

To get them looking right, I only tapered their outer edges, leaving a straight line on the inner edge to run parallel to the longer centre runner. I paired up the pieces and planed them together to ensure good symmetry. Before stopping for dinner I managed to screw them temporarily in place, using a small offcut to get a constant distance from the centre piece. All the screws were placed from the inside, except on the aft ends of the bilge runners where the wood was too thin, so a round-headed screw and washer was used to hold down the end against the considerable curve of this part of the hull.

After dinner I went back to the garage and unscrewed the pieces to epoxy them on. The mix I used to fix the runners was a good thick microfibre blend. I glued and screwed each part back on to the boat before making some mixes of filler, part microfibre and part micro spheres, to fill any gaps between the edges of the runners and the hull. I also ran a tiny fillet against each edge to improve the look. By this time is was very dark, so sorry the photos are so glary, all were done by flash. I discovered, working at dusk in a lit garage, a benefit of the all-over Tyvek suit is it gives the mosquitoes very little bare skin to bite.

A Little More Progress

2008-10-12T19:40:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday I got in a bit of time to tidy up and sand back the filling done on Monday. Some of the deeper filled areas had sunk where the super-absorbent end grain had sucked all of the epoxy out of the filler mix, lowering the fill level.

On Thursday I got in a good session and taped all the outer seams. I got the tapes good and tight with no wrinkles or kinks. I went easier on the wetting out on top of the tape and was confident of a cleaner end result.

On Friday I finished shovelling the earth and chopping down the old pergola posts.

On Saturday Bridgit helped me to clear the overgrown shrubs by the fence and we moved the trampoline into its new position.

On Sunday I cleaned up the outer side of the hull to get rid of the drips. Despite the care I took not to put excessive amounts of epoxy on the tapes on Thursday, there were lots of run lines on the side panels where the gradient is steepest. I cleaned these up with a bit of planing and lots of careful scraping with the tip of a very sharp chisel. I can see now why a cabinet scraper is such a useful tool to boat builders. I also used some 60 grit aluminium oxide paper to rough up the tapes ready to receive more epoxy.

Finally, I managed to shape the false keel that will act as a running strip to prevent wear on the thin panels of the hull. The plans suggest a simple taper cut on each end, but I went to town a bit with a fairly blunt fore end and a finely tapered aft end. I screwed this in place temporarily from the inside to use it as a centre marker. The next step will be to add another couple of rubbing strips on the bilges and the centre false keel will act as a datum to ensure everything is perfectly symmetrical.

And finally, some boat building

2008-10-06T03:20:00.000-07:00

I got home on Monday evening and was determined to spend a few hours in the garage on the kayak. It was raining quite a lot, so that ruled out digging clay, but I had to wrap things up early to go to the Land Rover Club meeting.

There was just enough time to sand the outer joints and fill the gaps and any remaining stitch/screw holes with a micro fibre mix of epoxy. I'm getting more confident with the stuff and made a good thick mix which went almost entirely where I wanted it to, and hardly at all where I didn't.

I also had a good go at the twisted keel line at the stern with the block plane and got rid of most of the twist. After I've taped the seem I'll add a little more filler to one side than the other and no one will ever know...

Photos from the Weekend

2008-10-06T03:11:00.001-07:00

This is a giant weta. Its a fairly common group of insects in New Zealand, and this one, the biggest live one I have seen, had a body about 60mm long with antennae about 3 times that. It was hiding in one of the joints of the old pergola I took down. I'll have to make a pile of old wood nearby to re-home it.

Here's the trampoline that has taken over the garden...

...And this small pile of clay is covering the last part of the old concrete patio that the trampoline will be moved to. On the left you can just see...

...The monster pile of clay retained by the old pergola timber. There's just enough room left to fit the small pile in with this lot. The frame on the upturned table has rusted out and it will be going to the tip shortly.

A Weekend in the Garden

2008-10-05T18:51:00.000-07:00

We decided that it was time to do a bit of work on the garden. The new border that we created for the olive trees still wasn't finished, and we wanted to tidy the place up a bit before summer really gets going.

So on Saturday we went and loaded up the Land Rover with 180 litres of bark chippings and some more plants to finish thing off. I let Bridgit (a qualified seamstress) lay out the weed matting while I followed behind tucking it in to the edging strip. Once the last few plants were in and the bark was on, the whole lot looked much improved. So that's the view in one direction from the living room sorted.

In the other direction, we look out on to a huge trampoline that was gifted t me by a colleague. Sam loves it, and I have a quick bounce every now and again too. But its killing the grass and taking up too much space. We discussed the possibilities and decided that it would be great to move it over to a corner where an old rough concrete patio exits. Fine, apart from a spoil heap from a deck I built over a year ago currently fills the space.

I spent Sunday dismantling the very wonky pergola over the patio and recycling the wood into some temporary retaining. I then shovelled about 3 tonnes of soil and heavy clay from one side of the L-shaped concrete area to the other. I finished at about 7PM, totally exhausted but still with another tonne to move before the trampoline can be moved. And the weather doesn't look too clever for the next week, so it'll have to wait while I hide in the garage and get on with the kayak.

Photos to follow.

Another slow week

2008-10-02T19:01:00.000-07:00

I've only managed to get dribs and drabs of time on the boat again this week. Mostly its been tidying up after the weekend. I had about 4 dozen screws to remove from the inwales, and various drips and runs to try and clean up.

On Thursday I got out of work a little earlier than usual, but decided to go and get more supplies on the way home. I went to the Glue Guru on Wairau Rd, Glenfield for some cheap brushes and some West Systems 410 low density filler to add to the epoxy. So far I've used 411 blended filler that is slightly more dense and therefore harder to sand. Since the main use for it now is as a fairing compound to smooth everything out, I think ease of sanding is very important.

I got home and planed a bit of the boat. To get more room I took it out of the garage and up to the deck. It was he first time in a while I've seen the outside lines, and it does look very sleek. I've noticed a slight curve to the centreline in the last foot or so, as the chine angle increases to make the stern almost fin like. I suspect this will impart a fair amount of natural curve to the boats travel, so I need to do something about it. The problem was a less than perfect alignment of the ply panels before they were joined. A combination of planing down one side and filling on the other might remedy the situation to a degree.

I think, on balance, I prefer the time I've spend shaping the wooden pieces to the time I've spent in a one piece Tyvek suit, gloves and goggles, smearing gloop over the pieces of wood in an attempt to stick them together. I've got a few ideas that will make building the sister boat, a two man version of the Dart, easier, less frustrating, and hopefully more refined. Some of the woodworking tools have become firm favourites, especially the block plane that is a delight to use. I'm thinking a ply lapstrake boat like the Rogue will require plenty of shaping so the wood to gloop, joy to misery ratio should be higher than with the kayak.

I had to stop early on the Thursday to have a kick about of the rugby ball with Sam. Besides, the clouds were gathering so I couldn't have stayed outside much longer anyway. While he was waiting for me to pack up and play with him, I got Sam to take this picture. Bridgit obviously feels left out and sought to remedy the situation by getting in on the act, but she may regret it when she realises that her pushed-up nose on the window is on the web for all to see.

Inside Taping

2008-09-28T03:20:00.000-07:00

Saturday morning I rushed out to finish taping the inside joints in the hull. I had a little over half the length of the boat to do, for three seams, the centreline and the two chine seams. I also had to tape in the transom. I had to rush because at mid day we were going off to watch a rugby match. I was just soaking the last bit of tape when Sam's friend came round to come with us to the game.

We went to North Harbour Stadium in Albany where we met up with neighbours who had also 'borrowed' an extra child to watch the match. We went to see our local side, North Harbour, play Auckland in the Battle of the Bridge, the local derby in the NPC competition. Unfortunately North Harbour were beaten 22-29. On a positive side though, all the kids got an autograph and a chat from All Black Joe Rokocoko.

When we got back the weather had closed in and we spent the rest of the day indoors. Sunday was a different story though. Over night it had officially become spring with the introduction of daylight saving time, and outside it was bright and warm.

The first job I tacked was to glue on the inwales. I mixed some epoxy with plenty of micro fibres for extra strength and to fill any gaps. Once the hull was spread with a line of epoxy along the top edge, I screwed the inwales on using the holes I made when dry fitting, and added a few extra to pull everything in line where there were gaps.

With all the seams on the kayak taped up, I adjusted the corners on the bulkheads to account for the epoxy fillets under the tape and dry fitted all the athwartship pieces again. After a little fiddling I had all of them fitting quite snugly apart from the forward deck beam, which wasn't as wide as the boat any more. This I made right by pulling the boat together by a webbing strap attached to temporary screws in the top of the inwales.

Again, a micro fibre rich mix of epoxy was made up to glue the deck beams and bulkheads in place, making especially sure that there were no gaps left around the bulkheads. These will seal off an air-tight compartment at each end of the kayak, which provide flotation in the event of the boat getting swamped. Some of the pieces were wedged firm in the hull, others I added a couple of screws or tacks to keep firm while I added fillets of epoxy with low density micro balloons added before adding glass tape and neat epoxy to strengthen the joins.

Finally, I added pins to the centre of all the members, and to the point of the bow and the centre of the transom and ran a line to check everything was straight. There's a good line running right down the boat, with only the forward bulkhead out of line by maybe 3mm. Hopefully this will be reduced when the webbing strap comes off, and failing that, I should be able to pull it straight when fitting the deck.

A Busy Week

2008-09-27T09:20:00.000-07:00

Sam's school production, Roald Dahl's Goldilocks and the Three Bears (it's a court case attempting to bring Goldilocks to justice for rampaging through the bears' house) was on this week. It left very little time in the evenings what with practising lines and ferrying Sam to the theatre at the local college. And of course on Thursday we had to go and see the show for ourselves. Then on Friday I had the annual work's dinner so was only home long enough to wash and change.

So no work on the kayak all week. I did make up some flat pack storage cubes to try and help Sam tidy the inside of his play house (seen in the background of the strawberry planting scene in the previous post). I also made up a desktop out of pine boards to go across top of two of the storage units. Oh well, the clocks change at the weekend, so perhaps next week will be more productive.

A Busy Weekend

2008-09-21T12:00:00.000-07:00

Bridgit went away with work friends on a fishing weekend to the Bay of Islands, so I was on full-time child minding duties. Work on the kayak was restricted to a few minutes here and there tidying up the runs and lumps in the resin from when I taped the forward end of the boat. At least its ready for the aft end to be taped, and I'll try had to make a neater job of it. Advice I've read, and now have experience to trust and emphatically repeat is 'epoxy is a nightmare to sand, keep it neat and tidy in the first place, its way easier than cleaning up afterwards.'

The previous weekend we bought half-a-dozen strawberry plants for Sam to look after. On Saturday we went out to buy some timber to make a planter, some compost to plant them up into, and some straw to mulch them with. We got everything but the straw. I bought 150x19mm fence palings 1.2m long and some 40x60mm wooden pegs, 600mm long. I kept the design simple and got Sam involved marking and drilling the clearance holes for the nails, a bit of nailing (but he's a lousy aim) an generally letting him know what was being done at each stage and why. He got busy with friends in the afternoon so we didn't get the strawberries planted until Sunday evening when the sun was off them.

On Sunday morning we went over to Takapuna so Sam could pick up a library book he'd reserved. We took a mooch around the market while we were there, and I found a gem on a second-hand tool store. I got a curved sole spoke shave for $20, in good rust free condition. They are $87 new, and I was reluctant to spend that much on a tool that won't see huge amounts of use. I cleaned and sharpened it and gave it a try. All seems well and it should be good for shaping the cockpit hole one I get the deck on in about a week's time.

Steady Progress

2008-09-18T17:40:00.001-07:00

I got a couple of hours on the kayak yesterday. I laid fillets of epoxy thickened with micro balloons laid down the joints. These fillets are not so much structural as to provide a gentle transition from one panel to another. I did all three seems on the forward half of the boat.

Once the fillets were in place, I laid lengths of the glass tape on the still uncured fillets and then wetted the tape out with straight epoxy.

I'm finding the epoxy part of the process quite a challenge, and although I'm learning lots, I'm afraid that the kayak won't be too pretty when I'm done. I'm gaining confidence in mixing the filleting or jointing additives thick enough not to run and slump, but getting the tape to sit nice and flat is also a problem. I'll not worry too much about the seams that will be hidden in the fore and aft air tight chambers, but I suspect I have a lot of difficult epoxy sanding and smoothing to do to the mid section that will be seen through the cockpit opening. I hope I can make a neater job of the outer seams.

A Few Photos

2008-09-16T14:08:00.001-07:00

I went out to do a bit of preparation last night, and was already to lay some epoxy fillets and glass tape over the hull seams. I went in for dinner and by the time I was done the night had chilled off too much for the epoxy to safely cure. In the meantime, here are a few pictures of the details covered over the weekend.

The above shot shows the difference in the profiles of rear bulkheads MK2 and MK3. The latest (the one that fits) is on top, and shows a much steeper vee to the bottom panels than the one taken from the plans.

This is a closeup of the scarf joint in the inwale, nailed to a a board but with a layer of builders polythene between the inwale and anything else wooden. This is so that I stood half a chance of separating the items after the epoxy over run had cured. Even so, pulling that nail out of the joint took some effort.

Finally a view of the epoxy tabs that allow removal of the cable ties before laying the fillets and tape. I've prepped up the forward half of the boat and its still in one piece after removing about 3 dozen cable ties.

Rear Bulkhead Version 3.0

2008-09-14T20:50:00.000-07:00

Sunday morning was taken up with a trip to the library and Kings Plant Barn. I returned my copies of John Welsford's Backyard Boatbuilder and John Gardner's Dory Book and got some books on sea kayaking to make sure I 'll be prepared by the time launch date arrives. Since my partner, Bridgit, has suddenly decided to go all Earth Mother on us, we were at the garden centre to buy some olive trees and tomato plants, and Sam got some strawberry plants which no doubt he'll fail to look after.

When I finally got around to looking at the kayak, I decided it was time to address the rear bulkhead, the second version of which I failed to make fit while i was tweaking the lines of the hull on Saturday. It seems that as drawn, the transition between the steep vee of the transom and the relatively slack vee of the bulkhead less than 3 feet further forward is just too much for the 4mm plywood to take. In attempting to make the piece fit I was forcing the seams of the boat apart.

The solution, I decided after much pondering, was to make my own bulkhead according to the shape of my hull. I used the top profile of the existing part and carefully measured the width across the inwales, the width at the chines and the depth from a line between the chines and the centreline of the boat. These details were transferred onto a piece of cardboard, and when that fitted snugly, the shape was transferred onto 9mm ply and cut and planed to shape.

To finish for the day I took of the inwales and laid them out on a plastic covered board to scarf joint them with epoxy. I nailed the epoxy joint tight while it cured, and then used up the rest of the mix putting little dabs on all the hull panel joins, so that when I come to fillet and tape the seams I can take out all the cable ties first. The first mix was a bit too thin and worked OK on the centreline but it tended to run down from the chine joints. A second batch was made much thicker with extra microfibres and it all looked good when I closed the garage door on it for the night.

Stringers

2008-09-13T20:36:00.000-07:00

On Saturday I lost a significant chunk of the morning while waiting in line for a haircut with my son at the Birkenhead Corner Barbers. Once shorn, we took the Land Rover down to the Birkdale Timber World to pick up the softwood for the stringers and running strips. I didn't want to waste more of the day going further afield, and my friend Simon works there, a fellow Land Rover nut.

After talking Land Rovers for about 15 minutes, I selected some fairly cheap 18mm square finger jointed softwood. Its not great stuff, but since the designer had e-mailed me back with some details about its purpose in the boat, I decided that it was more than up to the job. Basically, as in any true stitch and tape boat design, the plywood monocoque provided the boat with all its strength, and the stringers are there primarily to provide a gluing surface where a more usual epoxy fillet and glass tape join can't be made, i.e. in fitting the deck to the kayak, where no internal access is possible.

The rest of the day was spent tweaking the kayak hull and fitting the stringers along the top edge with screws, ready to be epoxied on later. I also spent a while planing the bottom inner corner of the stringers. This will remove a little bit of weight, since the timber I'm using is slightly over sized from the original specification.

While sanding one of these pieces, I had a bit of a mishap. My ring finger got caught in one of the accessory holes in the top of my portable workbench. It's ripped a lump of finger-tip away, I managed to stick it back down with a plaster and stem the blood, but it was very sore. I was using sharp tools all day, planes, saws, chisels and the jigsaw, and I managed to wound myself on a blunt work bench!

Stitch That!

2008-09-11T00:03:00.000-07:00

So tonight it was out with the drill and the cable ties and time to stitch the panels together.

It was a fairly easy process, I marked out the chine edge on the bottom and side panels with a straight off-cut of ply, following the curves so that the holes would match up. The instructions say to start at the stern and work forwards. This made for wobbly initial progress, 14' long thin ply planks have a mind of their own.

The last part to go on was the transom, after bracing the gunwales 610mm apart. All of a sudden this loose and floppy mess held its shape and I could see how it could become a kayak. I kept the stitches fairly loose, I won't tighten them until I've made a few adjustments and got a good test fit of the deck beams and bulkheads.

Tomorrow I'll buy the softwood for the inwales, cockpit stringers and runners and get everything aligned ready to start filleting and taping the main seams. I'll also add photos to this post, I can't seem to do it from home since changing ISP.

See, I told you it was a kayak I was making!

A Slow Day

2008-09-10T04:38:00.009-07:00

Unfortunately I had to do some real work this evening so no real progress on the kayak. I spent a few moments trimming the excess glass and resin from the glass strap butt joints, ready to start stitching, and that was it really.

I also made room for the assembled kayak by moving the Mini over to one side of the garage. Pushing it was made easier by pumping up the flat front tyre, and I then steered it close to the wall, but annoyingly I couldn't get the back end to tuck in as neatly. The solution was to grab the rear of the car by the wheel arch seams and pick it up and shove it over. Job done!

Taping the Other Side

2008-09-09T14:09:00.000-07:00

Last night's boat building went very smoothly compared to the previous few days. The planks were all warm and dry in the garage, so it was simply a matter taping the other side of the join.

Where a lot of resin had soaked through from the first side I sanded with some 150 grit paper to give the new epoxy a surface it could key to. I'm fed up messing around with food wrap, its very difficult to get the wrinkles out of, and any wrinkles cause an impression to be cast into the resin. Instead I laid the planks over an offcut of thick builders polythene sheet.

I used lots of epoxy to soak into the glass, making sure it all went nice and transparent. This indicates that there are no dry spots or air bubbles. After an hour, by which time the cure should have been well into the gel phase, I went back to check it all looked OK and locked the garage door on it all for another 24 hours.

I've just had a reply from the designer regarding a couple of points with the bulkhead and bottom runner sizes, thanks Paul. Since I should be ready to start stitching the hull this evening, I can also now go and buy some softwood, the last structural components of the kayak. It should be looking boat-shaped by the weekend.

The Day After the Storm

2008-09-08T03:16:00.003-07:00

What a nightmare - I put the 'tent' up over my kayak pices on the east side of the house. Its the most sheltered side and usually bad weather comes in from the west. Last night we had a howling wind and lots of heavy rain from the east, and it blew against the side of the house and down the back of the tarp. One of the planks got wet. It was mainly at one end, and the joint appears to be OK. I lifted all the pieces and put them in the garage, under the mini. I'll take a better look after work tomorrow and hopefully tape the other side then. At this rate it'll be Friday before I'm ready to start stitching the hull together.

Epoxy Again

2008-09-06T19:51:00.004-07:00

This Sunday is Father's Day in New Zealand, so it was a leisurely start after a nice breakfast out at Verran's Cafe (French toast with bacon, berry coulis, grilled banana and maple syrup, if you're interested). When we got back to the house I lifted the tarp at the top of the driveway and un-piled the bricks and boards from the ply. What I found didn't look good, it was almost like a continuous bubble had formed between the ply and the glass, and I was able to lift the glass off with nothing more than a firm pull.

I got myself appropriately dressed and protected and sanded off all the epoxy from the previous day and then set about preparing to re-do the job. Knowing that the wet time and the cure time are two totally different things, I wanted a place that could be left undisturbed and where I could shelter the parts from the weather. As it happens the bit of deck outside the back door is just wide enough for all four planks, and is mostly covered by the house's wide eaves.

I laid down some flat boards, covering the centre one with food wrap, and then laid out and aligned the parts. The far ends I held in place with boards and bricks as before, but near the join to be made I used ply off-cuts nailed down through the board below. Before getting on with the epoxy, I lashed the four 8' fence posts to the deck rail to hold a tarp up when I was done.

I was almost better prepared this time, wetting out all the parts with neat epoxy before adding the microfibres to get a gap-filling strong bonding agent. Then I realised that I'd forgotten the glass tape, so I charged down to the garage, past a bemused neighbour (I was in a white chemical protection suit, dark glasses and medical style disposable gloves remember) got the glass and was back again in less than a minute. I cut generous lengths of glass tape and laid them over the wetted joins before squeegeeing the thickened epoxy over and into the tape and joins. When I was happy that all the tape was properly wetted, I laid another board covered in food wrap over the top and then piled on a few bricks to try and get the ends of the fairly springy ply to sit flat and level.

This was a fairly frantic process, and I carried on by putting the tarp over the fence posts and tidying up before stopping to get the camera out. But you should be able to see that I negated any chance of the ply moving until I decide its time. Hopefully this join will be good and I can turn the pieces over and tape the other side tomorrow evening.

Saturday Afternoon - Epoxy Time

2008-09-06T04:29:00.000-07:00

So there was no more putting it off, it was time to use the epoxy.

This is the bit I am most wary of. The most careful woodwork could easily be trashed by carelessness with the stick stuff, and I could trash a load of other things too if I get too messy.

The first thing to do on the kayak with regards to epoxying is to join the fore and aft pieces of the four hull panels to their full 14' length.

My plan was to lay out the master parts that I cut on day one of the build, tape and epoxy them, lay plastic food wrap over the join and then lay the other panels on top to get their alignment spot on and then tape and epoxy those. That plan turned out to be far too ambitious. The ply, even at only 4mm thick, has quite a spring to it, and as soon as I lifted some of the weights, the joints lifted on one side, bringing the tape with them. I quickly weighted it all back down again and went to do something else.

My son has a little basketball hoop that clips over the top edge of his bedroom door. The only trouble is that when its in place, the door doesn't shut and then the door frame blocks half of the basket. After I decorated the hallway I promised him I'd make a permanent backboard to mount the hoop on. While I waited for the epoxy to cure, I cut the backboard from 10mm MDF and then measured and drilled the hoop mounting holes. I masked up and sprayed the lines using some left over black enamel, then gave a clear lacquer coating to the bare MDF. Mounted up I think it looks pretty good, and Sam was really happy with it.

Well, it was time to check on the epoxy. A test piece in the garage still hadn't gone into the final cure state, although with the increased volume and therefore exothermic heat, the leftover epoxy in the pot had gone rock hard. Although it was a beautiful warm day, its only just getting in to spring and it cools off quite quickly. I suspect that out on the driveway under the boards and bricks, the kayak panels still won't have cured by the morning. I covered them with a polytarp and more bricks round the outside, and we'll see what the morning brings.

Saturday Morning - Tidying

2008-09-06T04:09:00.000-07:00

Before any more work could be done on the kayak, I needed to tidy the garage. Apparently, the key to working with epoxy is being organised and tidy. I wanted a store to keep the epoxy containers with their pumps mounted that I could use and pack away with the minimum of fuss and the minimum of risk of getting resin all over things it shouldn't.

To this end I cleared a space in the corner of the garage near the door. For my epoxy storage unit, I used an old heavy duty plastic document container that I had previously made a lid for to use as a tool and recovery gear box in the back of the Land Rover. I chocked it up on blocks and screwed through its base into the block wall to keep it stood on its side. I used a piece of scrap board as a false floor, packed up at the front to bring the tapered box side back to near-enough level, and used a bit of redundant flat-pack computer desk to make a shelf over the top. The bungee cord closing was the same as had been used in the Land Rover, but I moved the cleat to on top of the shelf for easier access.

The beauty of this arrangement is that I just have to pull the containers onto the open lid/door to use them, and any spills should be restricted to this easily replaced piece of board. Perhaps I should cover it with some polythene sheet that can be pulled of and thrown away, allowing the door to be closed with no fear of it being bonded shut when I return the next day.

Before I stopped for lunch I went and got some safety equipment. For using the epoxy I wanted vinyl gloves (I find the latex ones far too flimsy), some good glasses that wouldn't keep slipping, a cover-all disposable suit and some masks that would be up to blocking the fine sanding dust. I went to the the Archer's Road branch of Protector Safety, where a very nice man soon had me fully outfitted for a mere $55.

Friday - a day off from the build

2008-09-04T23:38:00.000-07:00

No boat building today, but I was working at a customer site in Albany, close to the PlyMan. I took the opportunity to call in and buy the West System Epoxy components required. I got 4 litres of resin, 800ml of slow hardener, some low density filling additives and some microfibres, and the mini pump system that makes measuring and mixing simple and mess free.

I then tried to find Fibreglass Supplies to buy some tape, but got a bit lost in an industrial estate (I hadn't checked them on a map before leaving and was winging it). Just then the customer called me back on the cell phone, so I pulled over to take the call. As I was talking them through their support issue, I realised I was staring straight at the sign for Fibreglass supplies.

Although PlyMan could have sold me 100mm tape, it would have cost over twice as much as the 75mm tape I really wanted as sold by Fibreglass Supplies, and I was going to get the epoxy from the Glue Guru, but noticed it in the PlyMan when I bought the ply last weekend, and it was a good few dollars cheaper. It just goes to show how a bit of shopping around can save a few bucks if you have the time and patience.

Deck Beams, Bulkheads and the Transom - Part 2

2008-09-04T00:39:00.000-07:00

I got home from work at about 4:30 after a very early start. The weather is definitely getting better, so the first thing to do was get changed into shorts. The second thing was to make some lemonade. Take a lemon fresh off the tree (larger than I've ever seen in a green grocer's and lots more juice) and squeeze the juice into a tall glass. Add water and drink.

Fully refreshed it was time to complete the athwart ship members. The good news was that on closer inspection, the deck beam that I thought I'd stuffed up was salvageable. The only deep scoring is across the corner that will be cut out to make way for the cockpit stringers, so no real drama.

In order to finish the deck beams, I needed to fashion a rounded sanding block, since a spokeshave had failed to materialise during the course of the day. A bit of scrap timber and a minute or so with my cheapo No.4 smoothing plane followed by a minute with the block plane and a very quick sand and I was ready to go. Using this on the deck beam undersides with some 80 grit paper wasn't a whole lot slower than planing the top edges, although I cut a lot closer to
the line on the undersides, predicting this situation.

All the other pieces went quite well apart from planing the slight curves in the bottom angles of one of the bulkheads. I completely overshot the centre line and had to remake the piece. Since I had the plans back in the garage to mark out the replacement bulkhead (less serious than the deck beam since it uses a lot less ply) I decided to check the profiles of all the pieces. To my delight, all were well within what I consider to be acceptable tolerances. We shall see for real when I start stitching the pieces together at the weekend.

Deck Beams, Bulkheads and the Transom

2008-09-03T14:34:00.000-07:00

Last night I tried to get out all the athwart ship parts from a sheet of 9mm ply. Rather than using a table of offsets, these parts are shown as a full scale half-profile on the plans.

Step 1 was to hold the plans up to a window and carefully draw on the back of the half profiles, including the centre line.

Step 2 was to draw a centre line on the ply and pin the plans on top, taking care to place the pins through the centre line on both the plan and the wood.

Step 3 was to use an awl to poke marks through the plan into the wood on all the corners plus plenty of points along the curves.

Step 4 was to unpin the plans and then carefully pin them back again using the same pin holes but with the plans turned over.

Step 5 was to repeat step 3 to produce the other half of the profile.

Step 6 was to carefully join the awl marks with a pencil line. Note that although I marked the positions of the stringer cutouts, I don't intend to cut these until I've sourced my softwood since it is unlikely to match the dimensions given on the plans.

Step 7 was to cut the parts out. I only cut out the two deck beams using a different jigsaw blade to the course one I used for the hull parts. The fine blade gave a much nicer cut, but light was fading and I was finding it difficult to follow the line, so I stopped before I wasted any wood.

Step 8 was to trim up the parts right up to the line. I only did this to one of the deck beams. The straight ends I decided to cut with a panel saw to get a good, straight edge. This would have been fine if the saw hadn't of slipped and scratched the surface of the part. This was when I knew i was rushing and was getting sloppy, so time to stop work.

Given that the one deck beam was likely to be scrap now, I experimented with trimming the outer curve. The Stanley Bailey block plane made very short work of this, I love that tool.

The inner edge presents more of a problem though. Some of the concave curves on the hull parts were just about manageable with the block plane, given their very gentle curve. But the deck beams have a quite tight radius to their undersides, and for this I need a spoke shave.

All the usual outlets have drawn a blank on this front, so I'm going to check out the second hand tool stores at the Takapuna market on Sunday, keep my eyes open on TradeMe and see if I can beg steal or borrow one from anyone I know. Failing that it'll be course sandpaper round a piece of thick dowel.

I'll add photos to this post later, to show the marking out process.

Photo of the marking out process, as promised.

Day 1 of the Kayak Build

2008-08-31T05:33:00.000-07:00

So today (well yesterday by now) it was pleasantly sunny when I woke up, so time to get on with the build.

I prepared the deck outside the living room with the main tools for the day's activities, marking out and cutting the lower hull panels.

I also took over the dining room with the plans, and took a copy of the offsets so I could have them outside without fear of the master plans blowing away or getting damaged.

The first job was to mark station lines at 305mm intervals along the plywood sheets before measuring the widths for each panel edge as per the offset table. I soon realised that the pine moulding I was intending to rule these lines with was far from straight.

Plan B was to take an old flat pack wardrobe door and cut a set square, roughly 400mm by 1300mm, thus saving a good few dollars at the big shed DIY store. It save a bit of time as well, I want to plan my buying with the tasks ahead in mind and not spend half the build time going back and forth to Mitre10 or some other supplier of hardware.

So, back to the main task. I got 1 version of the four main parts measured out and then I faired the edges to get smooth, curved lines. For this I used a 3m length of PVC electrical trunking cover, pierced with a bradawl and then pinned to the ply. I also pinned both boards to the deck, aligned down one edge with a taught string, and faired over the panels.

Cutting out the parts was going to be a problem. I only have one workbench and the 4mm ply is very floppy. I decided to nip out and buy 4 fence posts, 100mm square and 2.4m long. They'll be used in a later landscaping project so its not money wasted, and they're the ideal height to keep the jigsaw blade off the deck.

Each piece (bottom panel fore and aft sections and side panel fore and aft sections) was used as a template to draw and cut a duplicate. The matching pair of parts were then clamped together and put in the workbench. I used a block plane to trim the edges and get the two pieces as similar to each other as possible. The planing process also fairs out any kinks in the edges introduced by less than skillful handling of the jigsaw.

That was enough for day one of the build. I'll do nothing tomorrow because of the Land Rover Owners Club Auckland meeting, but on Tuesday I hope to 'get out' (proper boat-building term that) the transom, bulkheads and deck beams.

Dart14

2008-08-31T04:37:00.000-07:00

The plans I decided upon were the Dart14 single seat and Dart16 two seat kayaks from Selway Fisher.

These are relatively simple designs, although the 14' version looks somewhat more basic in its construction than the 16' variant, so it is the singlekayak that I shall make first.

I ordered the plans online and the arrived a week later. I read over them a few times and then got on with a few jobs around the house to clear the way for the kayak project. I also rang around for a few quotes. I'll post links to the suppliers as I actually purchase materials.

First off is the plywood, which I bought yesterday. I went to the PlyMan in Albany. It seemed an obvious choice because the stock is good, they comes recommended by John Welsford, the designer of the Rogue, my ultimate boat building goal, and they advertise on the radio, so I'd already heard of them.

I bought 6 sheets of 1220x2440x4mm Meranti Marine Bond B/BB ply, and 1 shhet of 1220x2440x9mm. Its beautiful looking stuff and a shame I will have to paint it, but I don't think my first-timer skills will be up to producing a bright finished work of art. Besides, I've already decided that orange will look best to compliment the Land Rover's shade of green and also look suitably safe and nautical.

Talking of the Land Rover, here it is, complete with roof bars after picking up the ply. I had to unload in a hurry because it was starting to rain.

There's enough space to store the ply in the garage, but I think most of the build will have to take place outside. Roll on spring.

Why a Kayak?

2008-08-31T04:24:00.000-07:00

I grew up in the East Midlands of England. Now I know the UK isn't the hugest of countries, but all the same, I lived as far away from the sea as it was possible to get on the island that is known as Great Britain. When we moved to New Zealand, it was obvious that we would be closer to the sea, because Auckland is on an isthmus, squeezed between two great harbours.

What I didn't know was that we would end up living in clear view of the sea, with a 200m walk to the nearest boat ramp. So we have a fantastic recreational resource right on our doorstep, but no way to use it. At first I was just going to buy a couple of kayaks, the only kind of boat I have any real experience of, but then I started thinking, and planning.

I really would like a bigger boat, but they are so expensive. A friend at work was talking about wanting to make a boat, and at first I thought it was an idle pipe dream, but I soon realised he was serious. I started looking into the possibilities and decided that a Rogue was the boat for me.

However, back in the real world, I need to gain experience of using epoxy resin and fibreglass tape, and of working with plywood and power tools. So I went back to the kayak idea and started looking for plans that would get the family afloat.

AnalogKid? Eh?

2008-08-31T00:18:00.000-07:00

Its my user name for the Land Rover UK forums, I've been a member on there for quite a while and picked up lots of useful advice. I just thought I'd stick with the one online identity, any more would just get too confusing for me.

The name comes from a song by my favourite band, Rush. I've been a fan since the age of 11. The song was on the 1982 album Signals and follows the dreams and aspirations of an adolescent. The end theme of 'When I leave I don't know what I'm hoping to find, When I leave I don't know what I'm leaving behind' fit well with my recent history. In late 2004 I left the UK with my family to see how things would be in New Zealand.