Kayak skinned

Its been a while since the last update but the nylon skin is finally on
and the coaming is also sewn is place.


After the main sewingwas done on the bow and stern ends of the kayak
it wa time to sew the coaming into place. First a plank on the inside is setup
with a plank across the coaming with a clamp to add tention and position the
ring in the right place.

Then nails were pushed through the pre-drilled holes to pull the cloth to the ring
and help spacing the tention before sewing.


And here it is in place.


A bit tight working conditions in my cellar but its a bit cold working out now
its around -6°C at the moment.


And a picture of the stern.

Well next I am going to make the lashing toggles for my deck ropes
out of some juniper. I am going to have to wait with covering the nylon
skin until I can find some where to apply it its a bit smelly so it
wouldn't go down to well if I done it in the cellar.

Cockpit Coaming finished

I managed to get the rim steamed round and glued.
Here is the process I went through to get to finish it


The first was to find what the length and width of the ring
is going to be. This is of my hips plus som fingers for the width,
and the length was the opening between the cockpit beams plus some
to aid getting in/out and bending back when I start rolling :)


Next up the form this I made from some planks
and 4 x 2's. And a strap to assist with the bending.


This is the main ring after its been steamed and
bent and clamped.


And finally after I got the outer rim in place, I then glued it
and here it is after some sanding.


And then it was time for some holes to be used when sewing the
coaming to the covering cloth.

Next up adding some of the vanish that I am going to cover the
covering cloth with. And then time to cover the frame :)

Stem Watercutters in place

Next up is getting the Watercutters in place.

First I drilled two sets of holes and lashed the boards to
the gunwales. I was surprised how stable the plates sat
after just the lashings.


Next the keel is clamped into position and a line to strung out
to check that everything is nice and aligned.


The keel is joined at both ends with doweling wedged
at both ends similar to the trunnel I used earlier. Finally
the keel is sawn and sanded to the right shape.


Here's the bow plate.


The view from the stern.


And from the bow.

Next up lashing the keel to the ribs and also
lashing/fitting the chines beside the keel.

Frame sanded and beams pegged

I sanded and dismantled the frame, and made sure the
tenons fitted the best they could. Then locked the beams in the frame
with trunnels and with the first lashing at both ends.


Trunnels wedged and fitted.



The frame clamped and the first holes drilled for the locking dowels.


Dowels in place ready for sanding.


After all the beams are locked with dowels, every other
beam is lashed against the tenon.

Next up finish the lashings.

Deck beam mortises

Next the mortises for the eleven deck beams. All the joints are mortises that sit at 17º and
together with that each beam will sit against the curve of the gunwales this sounds like the
job for a new jig.


This jig keeps the holes 1cm down from the edge and the holes at 17º.


This is what is left to clean up after drilling with jig.

Then theres a bit of chiselling to clean up and square the joint
and finished off with a file heres our first deck mortise.


One down 21 to go :)