Making a kayak for my wife

zoebisch01 said:

With the diverse amount of skill sets and knowledge on this forum, I think we should all just form our own sovereign state. Who's with me? :fro:

Click to expand...

+1
We need to start with an island.

There was ione for sale off the coast of Maine, not too long ago.
To stay with the kayak theme, the Elizabethan islands, off Cape Cod are private properties. we should inquire...

(it is related to kayaking in the sense that some fools kayak to these islands from mainland, IN WINTER)

I don't think either one will fly, but I'll run them by the boss. She wouldn't go for Ralph.
"That's not French!"
"Actually, it is."
"Ralph is French?"
"Yup."
"Doesn't matter, he's not a Ralph."
"How 'bout we name him after me?"
She looks at me over the top of her glasses, "Ralph's sounding better."
"Ouch! That one's gonna leave mark!"

PTN

Jean Paul,
Count me as one of those fools. The Elizabeths are a chain of islands running from Woods Hole southwestward, formin ghte eastern edge of Buzzards Bay. All but the last island, Cuttyhunk, are owned by the Forbes family and are as beautiful, remote and lonely as you can get in southern New England. Especially in winter.
Paul

Here is todays progress...

Gluing up the paddle.



I need more clamps... Actually I have plenty of clamps, they just are not the right size!



SWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET!!!!!



The hollow 'pinched' area in the foredeck where it transitions from a curved to a flat plane isn't nearly as bad as it looks in this picture. I think I can make it perfect with just a few extra coats of varnish.



I'm done for the night, the combination of sunshine and Apfelwine has done me in for the day. I'm going to sit on the back deck, drink a bottle of my Strawberry wine, listen to the Sox and hope that Alice gets home before I decide to throw the boat in the back of my truck and head to Rockport to "try her out!"

PTN

Here's a few of the most recent.







The paddle is coming together.



PTN

Wow.. breathtaking... Great work!!! :rockin:

she's looking great! She float yet?

No, not yet, there are still a few more things to do first, like varnishing, varnishing and some more varnishing. Then I need to install the seat, backbrace and hip braces. The seat just arrived in today's mail. I need to test fit Alices' bottom to the bottom, establish just where the seat needs to be for her to be comfortable in relation to the cockpit, her knees under the cockpit and the footbraces. I didn't want to use a set of the aluminum adjustable footbraces in my wooden boat out of some misguided sense of appropriateness. If it turns out that I made a really big mistake and should have gone with the adjustable footbraces I can always stuff a small boy down in there to remove the wooden ones and replace them.

However, the scheduled launching of the boat is for next Tuesday evening. We're meeting a friend of mine who is a longtime kayaker who is going to instruct us in the fine art of getting yourself back into a kayak if you happen to fall out of it some distance from shore.

PTN

Sounds like you are making nice progress.

I cut out the forward hatch yesterday morning and spent a few hours forming up the hatch covers for the openings before bedtime. This morning when I got home I added a second layer of fiberglass cloth to the front face of the paddle/shaft junction, and worked a bit on the hatch covers. I need to stop at West Marine tonight to buy a gallon of Marine Varnish. Epoxy resin degrades in sunlight so you need to cover it with varnish to protect it. I hope to have three full coats on all surfaces by Tuesday and at least 5 on every surface by 4 am next Saturday morning when we head here. I have also made a roof rack for my truck out of 1/2 inch iron pipe. I primed it and have painted it to match the truck with Good Ol' Rustoleon. I'll be attaching it over the next few days. Stay tuned.

PTN

are you painting the rack flat black?

Here she is, all ready to rock and roll. Well, maybe Alice isn't quite ready to roll this boat yet but give her a little time and she'll get it.



Paul

Paul, that is absolutely beautiful! Great job!!!

that is freaking awesome. inspiring!!!!

Do you know how to do bathrooms?

looks very nice...she is gunna love it

Wow, that thing is a beauty... literally a work of art!

The SWMBO and I have just recently got into kayaking. We are starting out with some Dirigos from Old Town. Obviously entry-level compared to something like this, but still a few steps up from the bottom of the recreational kayak ladder. They do great for what we use them for... small lakes, shallow Susquehanna river, and some Susq. tributaries.

Anyway, I really am enjoying the hobby (and so is she surprisingly - she's not a huge outdoors type of person but she is coming around to camping, kayaking, fishing even this year), and can see myself wanting to build something like this someday. Maybe after a good season or two in the saddle of a plastic boat. It will be either something like this or a nice long fiberglass boat in a couple years...

Great work on this though. I know where to come when I want to take this on...

Wow Paul, your creation is a sight to behold!

Looks real nice! I have a 17' cedar strip kayak waiting to be finished in the garage now, you should come over to help!!hehe.

I'll be over on Saturday. Whose design is it. I'm thinking my next one will be one of Nick Shrades boats.



D'oh!

Forgot, I'm busy that day!

Get out the sander, son, and get to work.

PTN

You should check out my https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f19/if-you-build-will-float-77434/ thread if you need inspiration for reasons to finish.

Paul

I'm working on Nick Schade's Guillemot cedar strip design in the garage right now. A slow process, but it will be worth it - it has beautiful lines!

Nice job PTN!