[Flump]

Right lets try again with photos uploaded directly to the forum.

Well, as promised in my introduction here's the next DIY kayak post. :shock:

Firstly the design. I downloaded the Carlson Hull program, which BTW has loads of standard designs and one of which was for a SOT. I modified this to my own requirements to produce a kayak shape that is 4.5 metres long, with a beam of 720 mm. Once I was happy with the design I imported it into the Freeship software package (also freely available on the net). The Freeship package creates the plywood plates and stations required to build the kayak by clicking a button. All of this information was the exported to an AutoCAD file. From this Autocad file I printed out all of the stations and worked out all of the offsets, which were put into an Excel spreadsheet so that all of the plates could be laid out.

I had to know what the kayak was going to look like so I made a 1:10th scale model. See Photo 1.

This gave me a vague idea that the plates and stations from the freeship software was OK and gave me a bit more confidence in what I am building.

I decided to build the kayak out of 3 mm plywood and only needed a total of four sheets. I've bought Lauan ply as it was very light, but seems strong and of fairly good quality, but I guess only time will tell. The kayak will be built using the stitch and glue method with fibreglass tapes on the seams. I will probably end up coating the bottom in fibreglass cloth and epoxy resin for extra strength for a bit more security.

I will be using the HT9000 epoxy resin system and here's the first ever pot mixed up! See Photo 2.

First job was to join four sheets of plywood into two long sheets so the ends of the sheets need planing to give a good scarfed joint when glued with epoxy. Note to self: Don't cut through planer cable again!!! See Photo 3.

Here's the finished planing not looking too bad. See Photo 4.

And the glued joints. See Photo 5.

Another word of warning here for all potential boat builders. I used cling film food wrap to prevent the plywood sheets sticking to each other or anything else. Don't quite know how this happened but the cling film ended up in the middle of one of the joints (only discovered after 24 hours curing) so the joint had to be recut :evil: :evil: . Another valuable lesson learnt.

Next is setting out the plates on the extra long lengths of plywood

 

[YakAtak]

Hmm, fun, had to laugh at the planer lead, gotta love power tools. Good luck with it mate, and keep the photos coming.

 

[Flump]

Right, I'm really getting into this now and have been doing things most nights, past two weekends and Anzac day.

One thing I realised was that to glue two sheets of plywood end on end I needed a longer room to work in. This involved me having to partly demolish a dividing wall 8) . The house I'm building the kayak in will be demolished completly in a few months as we are planning to do a knock down rebuild, so I thought what the heck. See Photo 1.

Okay, so its still not looking like a yak yet as the next stage was to create the design on the plywood sheets. I kind of made another mistake here as I plotted the kayak out on the fair face of the plywood (generally plywood has two faces, one really nice and smooth and the other rough as), which means that I will need to sand out all of my pencil marks :roll: . Well heres the marked out sheets. See photo 2.

As the markings are on the fair face and knowing how crap my jigsaw is I sellotaped all of the markings to try and get rid of poor edges which seemed to work.

Next was to start cutting out. See photo 3.

Couldn't resist stitching the base of the kayak together at this point to get a feel for the size and shape of the yak. Holes were drilled at 100 mm centres and steel wire 0.7 mm thick used to stitch the plates together See photo 4

Next was to cut out the form stations. See photo 5.

 

[Dodge]

Flump look forward to following your progress in the construction

 

[Flump]

Can everyone see the images? They were coming up before, but aren't coming up on my computer anymore!

 

[Jake]

I cant see them...but I thought it was only me!

 

[PeterJ]

Nope ,no piccies i see

 

[Dodge]

I've looked twice tonight. pics the first time but not the second visit

 

[Peril]

Flump is using Geocities to host the photos. Too many photos means there has been too many download requests so Geocities has blocked access for a period.

Might want to rethink where you put the photos Flump.

BTW, great start. Better still I'll get to see the finished product in the flesh. Looking forward to that

 

[Flump]

Thanks for that Peril, I'll try and host them some where else. Never had that problem before.

Photo problem now solved, all posts edited to upload directly to the forum, sorry about that technical glitch . Anyway, the story continues............never ending storyyyyy, tra la la la la la la la la..............

Next photo is the cut out of the bulkheads. See photo 1

The stations were setout on two doors (stolen off the cupboard in the room) that have been screwed together to form a nice flat platform. See photo 2.

Next will be laying out all of the plates and stitching everything in sight. I've already done some of this but the memory card on my camera was full so you'll all have to wait until tomorrow for the next update! 8) 8)

 

[andybear]

Me not able to see pictures either, perhaps the quota resets after a while, will try again tomorrow!Thats one good thing about us fisher folks, we are just soooo patient, hmmm. hmm. mumble mumble. :shock:

Cheers all

Andybear

 

[BJT]

It's looking great, Keep up the good work!!

Cheers BJT

 

[hairymick]

Hi Flump,

Good on ya mate. The fun really begins when she starts to take shape.

I will be very interested in this. I have never seen a boat made with male and female stations combined. I am thinking it might be a very good idea.

Mate, If you don't mind my asking, why are you going to all the trouble of doing scarf joints?

 

[troppo]

Great effort, Flump. That wood is looking good already. Can't wait to see it getting finished.

You had to remove a wall to build it. Does that mean you have to remove the roof to get it outside?

 

[Flump]

Right, next installment.

Q's first - Mick, after much deliberation the male & female stations don't seem to work so I've reverted to the inner stations only. I think that filleting will be much easier that way. I decided to scarf the joints because I think it looks much cleaner and the ply seems more willing to bend, however butt joints are probably just as good.

I've managed to get all of the plates wired together now. I then decided that the cradle was gonna be too awkward to work with so ended up wiring in the centre stations and removing the cradle.

As it was nice and warm on Sunday I had to check to see if I could get the kayak out the house without more demolition (thanks Troppo for the reminder). Well it was a bit of a tight squeeze, but out she came 8) .

Everything is now wired with the exception of the two ends. I'm having some real trouble getting the four plates to meet, even with triple wiring :shock: :shock: :shock: . Think it might be time for the Jigsaw to come out again for some 'trimming' if I can't solve it tonight (anyone any ideas?).

Just been out and bought my fibreglass cloth, I'm using 6oz, along with 50 metres of 50 mm tape for the inside of the joints.

If I can get the ends together I'll be starting on the filleting (woohooo) later tonite 8)

More photos:

 

[Flump]

Mick, forgot to add about the scarfing, its dead easy if you have an electric plane. Took about five minutes per joint, of which four minutes were lining the plywood up correctly, then three passes with the plane. Took another 15 mins to mix and spread the epoxy and glue the sheets together. Seemed pretty easy to me and really strong (except for the one the glad wrap got into ).
Nick

 

[hairymick]

Hi Nick,

Bloody good job mate. Thats looking really neat. Thanks for the tips re scarfing. I have been mesing round with a scarfing jig but still haven't got it right. I believe a scarf joint is stronger, I just have been having way too much trouble with it.

re the gaps in the ends.

I had the same problem with my swampgirl for the centre seam, I wound up using lots of dobled up ties and sheer brute force. working from tie to tie, working in to the joint.

I had exactly the same problem with the first chine joint also. I had to trim some of the edges to get the ends to join up. just make sure to take the same amount off each side.

A point to check before you start removing timber. Check your rocker, to make sure it is what it should be. If your rocker is still right, the rest should be OK.

As you get the ends to come in, make sure they join up in the centre of the boat and are verticle. You will probably have problems getting then to join up neatly too. (i did) What I did was to drill a hole through both panels and put a long 6mm bolt with mudguard washers and just wind them in till it lined up. Mate some times you just gotta do whatever it takes.

Persevere mate. that is a sweet looking hull and when done, you will have something truly special.

 

[Flump]

Cheers Mick, great advice. I did do some work last night and everything seems to be closing up nicely now. I've wired 3 mm tile spacers into the joints with up to three wires so the joint is now looking really neat and tidy. I've attached a detail showing what I mean. I've got the other end to wire up in a similar manner. On reflection I think that the plastic ties are probably the best way to go as I've broken about half the wires I've put in trying to twist them too tight.
Cheers
Nick

 

[Flump]

Disaster Strikes :x :evil:

Well after all I'd read up on how you can manipulate plywood into all sorts of different shapes I decided to exert a bit more pressure on the back of the yak to get the joints to close up. I must be a bit too strong as all I heard was a sickening crack. Ouch! :shock: :shock: The plywood snapped about 350 mm from the end. I immediately thought "total disaster". But after a bit of thought I think this may turn out to be a blessing in disguise cos I needed to take the Jigsaw to this end anyway to get a half decent fit.

I chopped out the damaged section (and the mirrored section) and cut new sections to a slightly different shape. These have been wired into place and seem to come together much easier. I will be butt joining these new sections to the main bits of ply once I start filleting so it shouldn't be too bad. 8) 8) 8)

Another very valuable lesson learnt the hard way! Photos below.

 

[Jake]

Flump, You're a legend mate, and doing a really great job from what Ive seen. Between you and Mick there is nothing we cant build.....

Now...if I was to send you some plans for a nice little brunette number....