Deck rigging

I finally got around to putting the deck rigging on. I had made the wooden pieces a few weeks ago, from cherry scraps I had in the shop. The beads came from the skinboat shop. I gave them several coats of polyurethane to keep them from weathering. 

I opted to put grab lines the length of the kayak, so if I end up swimming, I can hold onto the kayak and the wind doesn't take it. 

Covering the frame

The frame cover is sewn on with the seams on top.  A pocket is sewn at the bow and stern, with about 4" less material than the fabric would naturally drape on the frame. 

The skin is pulled tight and the frame popped into the pockets on the ends.

Cockpit coaming

The cockpit coaming is the only part not made of cedar.  A hoop of ash was bent around a form after soaking in hot water. After it dried, I took it home and drilled and sanded it. It's drilled to allow sewing the cover up to the cockpit.  The ends of the coaming are lashed together at the overlap joint.

Completing the frame

Today the frame was completed.  The floor pieces were lashed in, the foot braces were installed, the deck beams were cut, shaped and installed and the final tung oiling was completed.

The foot braces are attached with the only screws on the entire kayak.

Keel lashing and preparing floor runners and boards

The keel lashing is done through a hole drilled in the keel at each rib.

Floor boards and floor runner pieces were cut and sanded.

Lashing and tying

A total of 271 rib to keel or stringer intersections have to be lashed and tied together. A box lashing is used.

The stringers were tapered down at the bow end.

Ribs and keel

Today the shape of the hull was formed.  The keel was cut and installed and then 5 key station ribs were put in. The stringers were put on these ribs and then the remaining ribs were fit into this structure.

Finishing deck assembly

Day 5 had a variety of tasks getting ready for ribs tomorrow.  The rest of the frame to gunwale lashing was completed, the first coat of tung oil finish was applied, the stringers were prepared, and the pulley was put in.

The stringers were made from square stock run two passes through a shaper to make a round (to the left of the frame).

This pulley will have a rope installed so you can pull your baggage or flotation bag up into the bow.

Deck frames

I put in the remaining deck frames, using a sight, scribe, cut, fit, shape, dip, drill and peg process. A careful marking and sawing with a fine toothed Japaneese saw are critical to this process.

After installation, the frames are drilled and lashed to the gunwales.

Gunwales

The start of something that looks like a boat happened today.  The gunwales were cut, smoothed out and routed to accept the ribs later. The gunwales are cut to the overall length of the kayak minus 26 inches to account for the bow and stern assemblies. In my case, the overall length is 15' 8", so the gunwales are 13' 6". Mortises are cut to accept the ribs every 4 inches.

Once the gunwales were prepared, they were assembled to the bow and stern to form the frame of the kayak. A temporary spacer was used to set the width, and then the first deck frame was cut and installed.

Stern assembly pegged and lashed in place.

Bow assembly pegged in place.

Frame with first deck frame installed.