Making a kayak for my wife

[98EXL]

Since there is killer waterfront property 'round these parts, there are ****tons of boat snobs...but I must say, marine varnish, and other marine stuff kinda gives me a chubby. There are by no means, a shortage of crappy looking craft here, from handmade canoes, rowboats, and digny's to 20 million dollar yachts.

I still don't like port and starboard, left and right is so much easier

 

[ScubaSteve]

ALWAYS wanted to do this.....pygmy boats are a pretty good source of kits too.....good work! I'll tell ya though.....a family member gave me an old fiberglass canoe he had taking up space; I live near a lake so I was all about it.......but I've only taken that thing out one time. Guess I'd rather just build the boat vs. take it out on the water

 

[paulthenurse]

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:

OK, but I get to be 'The Minister of Fermentation.' And as my first order of business I henceforth declare the following:

Know all ye present,
that the soveirgn state known as 'The Floating Fiefdom of Fermentaville' recognizes that it's citizens are hardworking, loyal, and thirsty.
And that it recognizes that the citizens of FFF have voluntarily left their original homes and emigrated to this fair land in order to improve themselves and their lives, if not their livers.
And as the FFF was founded under that proposition that all beers are created equal,
And since wine is essential to a happy and fulfilling life,
And since running a still is as close as knowing God as any of us are likely to get;


Therefore, let it be known throughout the land,
that The Floating Fiefdom of Fermentables has offically declared,
that Happy Hour will now begin immediatly after Lunch Hour finishes.

And know that all of your bar tabs have been taken care of.

Also, TFFF recognises that Wenches, being essential to the well ordered running of any sort of seagoing vessel, are from this moment forward, to receive two tankards of Grog for every button that is unbuttoned on their blouses, and one tankards of Grog for every inch above their knee that their skirts hem lies. And any Wench who brings aboard a younger sister is excused from galley duty for a week.

So let it be written,
So let it be done!

PTN

 

[98EXL]

ZOMG that was funny...why don't we just take over an island in the keys?

 

[paulthenurse]

I'm okay with that.

 

[paulthenurse]

More pics.

I was thinking last night about the boat and decided it would be a shame to build a nice wooden boat and have to buy a metal/plastic paddle to make it go, so I stopped at the lumberyard on the way home this morning. I picked up an 8' 1x3 maple and an 8' 1x4 mahogany and ripped them into 3/4 x 3/4 'strips.'

Then I mixed up some epoxy and glued them up into a checkerboard blank.

Ya need a fair amount of clamp to do this.

And the coolest thing was I saw a Gargoyle on the way home, practically waving at me from the garden center where he was biding his time, waiting for me to come along. Some buttwad stole out gargoyle, Graneuel, off our front porch a few months ago. The police didn't exactly put out an APB for the missing gargoyle and so Graneuel was gone. But now we have a new one, who will be securely epoxied to the porch. But we need an appropriate gargoylish name. Any suggestions?


PTN

 

[paulthenurse]

Spent all day yesterday working on the kayak. Heres what I managed to get done.

Glued up paddle blanks.

Got the fore and aft decks glued on and partially sanded.

Got the coaming and coaming spacers cut out an did a trial fit.

PTN

 

[paulthenurse]

Cut out the aft cargo hatch.

Here are the paddle blanks after they dried.

I wanted to work on it today, give the deck a final sanded down to 220 grit and then glass it over but it's raining, so I'm going diving instead. Hope tomorrow is nice. I still have a long way to go.

PTN

 

[TwoHeadsBrewing]

Again, beautiful work! Can't wait to see more pics as you project comes to completion. Thanks for sharing .

 

[TCHDNSD]

But we need an appropriate gargoylish name. Any suggestions?


PTN

How about GARY

or maybe

GARGOMEL

 

[beergears]

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:

+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)

 

[paulthenurse]

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

 

[paulthenurse]

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

 

[paulthenurse]

Here's a few of the most recent.

The paddle is coming together.

PTN

 

[Sir Humpsalot]

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

 

[98EXL]

she's looking great! She float yet?

 

[paulthenurse]

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

 

[Melana]

Sounds like you are making nice progress.

 

[paulthenurse]

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

 

[98EXL]

are you painting the rack flat black?

 

[paulthenurse]

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

 

[98EXL]

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

 

[eschatz]

that is freaking awesome. inspiring!!!!

 

[MikeFlynn74]

Do you know how to do bathrooms?

 

[fat x nub]

looks very nice...she is gunna love it

 

[RoaringBrewer]

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...

 

[Melana]

Wow Paul, your creation is a sight to behold!

 

[Bolthead]

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.

 

[paulthenurse]

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

 

[paulthenurse]

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