Rolling my kayak

Finally got round to rolling the kayak this weekend. I was pretty happy with how it handled and looking forward to many hours getting wet in it.

Lines and toggles

And now for my final post. The last detail on the kayak is some Lines for the deck and some toggles to be able to tension the lines.


First making the toggles. I made them out of some juniper I found
at the summer house in the winter. It was then a process of measuring,
cutting to size and a lot of rasping, sanding and finally some oil.


And finally the deck-lines. There are many combinations but I
have gone for 2 lines behind the cockpit for recovery and three
lines in front for holding down gear and paddles. And finally a loop
at each end.


The lines behind the cockpit.


One of the loops. I made two bowline knots so that each end
would fall inwards when not in use and have some play when
more room is needed.


A final look in the bow end.



And the stern.


I also made a travel-cover to stop it filling up with leaves and
insects. Based on the instructions at the brilliant site by
Anders jonsson plenty of good kayak and other extras to
make there.


An a final look at the finished kayak.

This is the final post, I am proberly going to make a sea-sock
but nothing I am going to post about.

Thanks to everyone for your kind words of encourgement and advice, and to the very helpful guys over at qajaqusa.org, they must get the same questions over and over again but they always give a helpful answer.

The main thing I have got out of this is apart from the joy of having a beautiful kayak, is that you can plan and read about doing some thing you want to do but, if you dont trust in yourself to pull it off your never going to do it. It was a great experience.

Painting and a first paddle

Well after deciding what to coat the skin in, "Coelan" with a white pigment I got going over the may-day weekend.

Coelan is an incredibly expensive coating but only requiring a few coats and its amazing elastic abilities its looking like a good choice at the moment.


The layers went on quite painlessly, and apart from the incredible stink it wasn't to much of a pain to apply.


Here is it is with the final coat applied.


And now time for the final test... will it sink?


It sits like a treat in the water, I am really happy with how it
handles and surprised how stable it feels.


Don't get to over confident :)


Well, I suvived it its in one piece so I must have done something right.

All thats left now is to add some decklines and toggles that I am in the process
of making now and this build is finished.

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 :)

Frame Oiled and ready

The final chapter on the frame is to coat it with some Tung-oil to give it a little water proofing and keep the rot out. The coaming ring continues, the main ring went really well and steamed a treat, but I am having less luck with the lip wood for the coaming, I am on my 3rd piece of ash not much fun...

Paddle finished

I have really kept up with the paddle progress but I have been
working on it when the weather was bad or I wanted a break from the kayak.
The final stage sanding with some 200 grit paper.



And then finally some Tung-oil to seal the surface, I am pretty
happy with it.


Next up Oiling the frame..