My last post was supposed to be a video !!! After fighting with it for over two hours, I give up. Instead of a video, you will have to make do with still photos.

Click on the photo to enlarge.

Finishing up the deck

It's been three weeks since my last post. I have been working hard and making good progress. The Guillemot deck is almost done. I have spent a lot of time building a strong back for the Petrel at the same time as working on the Guillemot. I also spent a lot of time building a dust collection system and getting it hooked up to all of my power tools.

This photo is supposed to be a video. I guess we will see if it is or not.

deck progress

I have made good progress but it does not look like it in the photos. My deck pattern took a long time but I got it done. Now that I have if finished I have changed my mind about how it should look. So I will cut a portion of it away and change part of the pattern. It will take me a few more hours of work but I think it will be worth it in the long run.

I met some kayak builders on the web and they came over to look at my kayaks. Rod and John both liked the man cave and the kayaks. Rod is a pilot so we did not run out of things to talk about.

Deck design

I never left the house all weekend. I worked about 16 hours on the deck pattern. I thought that it would only take about two days to complete. After two days, I only have a third of it finished. Hundreds of small wood parts and not two of them are alike. Each one is made to fit individually.

The dark wood is purple heart left over from the wood duck build. The light colored wood is bass wood.

Click on the photo to enlarge.

turning over the hull

Today I turned the hull over to start working on the deck. I was able to get a full day of work in and I got a lot done.

The deck will have a very complex color design so there is a lot of prep work to do before it starts to take shape.

whiskey strip

There is a reason the last strip is called a Whiskey strip. I can think of some other names but I will let your imagination fill in the blanks.

Tomorrow I will flip the hull over and start working on the deck.

Keel strips

I started laying keel strips on the bottom of the kayak. I am way behind where I should be in this build. Other things in life have distracted me from working on the kayak. Tomorrow I plan a full day of work. I hope to make good progress.

Gluing up strips

Like I said in my last post, gluing strips is a slow process. It would go faster if I used staples. Many people do use staples to lay strips. You do not need to wait for the glue to dry before you lay the next strip. You can lay all the strips in a weekend that way. But because I don't want staple holes all over my kayak I have decided to do it the slow way.

Glue a strip and wait until the glue dry's. Then glue another strip. I will glue a strip in the morning before going to work, another strip after work, and then one more before going to bed.

Slow progress

Things are moving very slow. Very little progress. We have had a crazy September. Lots of illness and injury with close family members. Lots of time spent visiting hospitals. And at the same time I have had to work extra hours at work to fill in for others.

I do try to work at least 15 or 20 minutes every day on the kayak. I glue a strip and let it dry. Then the next day I glue another strip and let it dry.

A few weeks ago I went kayaking with my friend Ted. He has a Chesapeake 17LT that he built himself. It's the only home built kayak I have ever seen other than our Wood Duck. It is truly a beautiful boat. It is the first sea kayak that I have put my hands on. At first I was scared that I would tip over, but after 10 minutes or so it felt great. Very fast and very smooth. The Wood Duck is a very stable platform but the CH 17LT comes alive in the water. Ted did a fantastic job building his kayak and now he is building a power boat.

sheer strip

I just installed the sheer strips. The sheer strip is the parting line between the hull and the deck. The kayak is upside down with the bottom of the hull pointing up.

You can click on the photo to enlarge it if you want to.

On the floor you can see the next strip to go on. I used two and a quarter strips and scarfed them together to get one strip long enough to go the full length of the kayak.

The five 1x6 boards are western red cedar. Look at the multi colored streaks in the wood. On Saturday I will saw them into 1/4 X 3/4 strips on the table saw set up in my last post.

The two 1x6 boards with the green painted ends are basswood. This wood is almost pure white in color. I will saw them into strips but they will not be needed until I build the deck.

The dark colored 1/4 x 1/4 strips are purple hart left over from the wood duck. They will also be used in building the deck.

Special thanks to my beautiful wife Donna who put up with my grouchy butt and fixed this stupid computer so that I could post on this blog today. I would be lost without her.

Lou

table saw

Here are some photo's of my table saw. Here it is set up in the man cave but I do most of my sawing out in the driveway. That keeps the saw dust outside and not all over the house.

Strongback & forms

This is the strongback with all the forms attached. This is a very challenging process but it makes you feel good when you stand back and look at it.

Tomorrow I will flip it over and get it ready to start laying cedar strips on the bottom.

Forms for the Guillemot

Using the lofting offset charts in Nick Schades book, I was able to draw the forms that I need for the Guillemot.

I was able to cut them all from a half sheet of 5/8 particle board.

It would have cost $375 to buy the forms pre cut. I have about $9 invested in the particle board.

I know they say that time is money. And it took a lot of time to lay out all the forms and cut them out. But I have lots of time and very little money. Besides, It makes me feel like I have accomplished something good.

Building a Guillemot kayak

I have started another kayak.

It's a 17 foot sea kayak called a Guillemot.

It was designed by Nick Schade.
He is a very famous kayak designer and builder.

This is one of his books, The strip built sea kayak. Inside is all the engineering data to make this kayak without any blueprints.

I have very little money to spend on any kayak, so this is a good way to start. By drawing all the forms my self I save $110 by not having to buy a set of blueprints.

I have found local sources to buy cedar dirt cheep so my biggest expense is epoxy and glass cloth. I will need to save about $350 to buy that.

When it is finished I will put it up for sale. I think that it might bring about $3,000 if I do a good job. It would bring much more if I can get some name recognition. If it does not sell, then Donna will have the nicest looking kayak in Linden.