Going to give it a shot

[wysedav]

I've built 4 Yost SOF kayaks, we use them all the time so I've deceided to try building a stripper. I don't know how fast the build will go, but I'll post pictures as I go.

The boat I'm building is Nick Schade's Petrel

I just finished cutting out the forms. I plotted the forms in ACAD which was pretty tedious, it took about four hours. I think the smart thing to do would be to just buy the plans.

I found a wood salvage company that will supply the reclaimed Redwood and Cedar I need. I'm going to build with 3/16" strips and rolling bevels. I'm hoping to keep the build under $300 (I bartered for the wood).

Wish me luck!!

[xpxdonat]

Good luck Wysedav and happy building.
Ciao, Donatello

[wysedav]

Thought I'd give a little update. So far I've ripped about 1200 ft of 0.2" x 0.7" strips, mounted the bow and stern properly, sharpened my block plane and chisels, and installed about 12 strips. I have a 2x8x16' clear WRC for accents and maybe a Wee Lassie canoe if I ever finish this one.

I also got a chance to try out several Petrels, I'm glad that they seem to paddle well.

This was the first joint I fitted it's about 3ft long. Took about 2.5 hrs!! The other ones seem easy.

[wysedav]

Couple new pictures. I finally got the keel strips in, toughest ones yet. I'm thinking of maybe adding a swoop at the bow end of the hull. The planks in front of the swoop would follow the chine, after the swoop at a 45 to the keel. Probably add some pinnstriping to the swoop.



The alternative is to just continue with a herringbone pattern, one strip at the keel one at the chine...opinions?

[anewhouse]

How much time do you expect to spend upside down in the kayak?

I used the herringbone pattern on the first kayak, I built. When I discovered how much time and effort was saved by fitting all the strips on the bottom parallel to to keel, I built subsequent kayaks that way. It also reduced the effort needed to hold the strips firmly enough to ensure neat joins.

I think the difference in the appearance is negligible. I can't see a lot of point in spending extra time and effort on the hull. I think there are better places to spend the time and effort.

Some people consider the hull to be so unimportant that they built it from plywood panels.

[wysedav]

yeah I guess it's lot of work for the hull but it's soo easy to bend the strips into nice swoops. And I can use up a lot of scrap.

[wysedav]

yeah I guess it's lot of work for the hull but it's soo easy to bend the strips into nice swoops. And I can use up a lot of scrap.

[estep]

Nothing wrong with a swoopy kayak. The main thing is have fun building.
Dwayne

[wysedav]

Finally an update. I took the summer off, started building again a couple of weeks ago. The hull and deck are now covered. I kept it the patterns pretty simple after all, the little pieces were taking forever.

[Christian M.]

That's a lot of progress; it's looking good!

[Pulpdragon]

David... I'm curious about your internal strongback. It looks like aluminum and much bigger than a 2x4 extrusion that I typically hear about from builders.

[waxenate]

How did you like the redwood? I have my strips ready to go I just need to finish recovering from my cataract surgery to get started. What hot glue did you use?

[wysedav]

Pulpdragon, the strong back is an aluminum 2x4 made by 80/20. It has slots in it for all sorts of T-bolted fittings and brackets, it's pretty cool stuff but real expensive. Now that I've used it I think just an ordinary aluminum 2x4 would be fine.

Waxenate, I think the grain and color of the redwood is great but it's definitely stiff and sometimes it splinters when planing it. I had to use heat quite a bit to get it to bend properly. You might want to experiment with different glues, Titebond 2 leaves stains (hopefully I can sand them out). I used the wrong glue, it wasn't very strong so I had to get everything really close or the glue wouldn't hold. Lots of green tape is the key. Good luck.

[waxenate]

What glue would you recommend? I was just going to go with some gorilla wood glue.

Thanks for the input on the redwood. I got a great deal on it so I figured I would try it. I like the red look too. My design does not have a ton of tihght bends so maybe it will work out for me. Just had eye surgery so it has put me off a little but i plan to start this coming weekend. I have the strongback and forms together. Just have to pick up the wood, glue and a little finger plane! Pics should start coming soon!

[wysedav]

Don't worry about the Redwood, it will work fine, it's just a little harder to get it to fit properly. As far as glue, I'm not sure what's best/non staining. I don't think I'd use Gorilla glue, seems like a big mess to me.

I've been trying to make the cockpit recess for the last week or so with little success until now. I was using the stitch and glue technique like in Nick's book but had a tough time with the cherry veneer plywood. First I printed the patterns oversized which I didn't realize until after I cut everything out. Then after I remade the pieces and tried to bend the small piece it broke in half!! I've also been worried about fitting the premade recess into the deck, I'm pretty sure I'll screw that up. Nick makes it look way too easy. Anyways I came up with a different plan... see below.

Scraps and broke pieces from the first couple of attempts

I placed the pattern (leftover from early attempts) on 1/4" ply inside the hull, using two screws into one of the forms. This pulled it down a little into a taco shape. Using CA glue and scraps I positioned it securely in the deck.

I positioned the pattern about an 1" low in the back and at least 1/4" low everywhere else. This allowed me to use a spacer and sanding stick to bring the deck opening to about 1/4" above the template.

Once the sanding is complete, I'll pare back to the sanding line. Then I plan on laying down strips on the template to build the recess. I'm sure this will take a little longer than Nick's method but the woodworking will be much more managable.