Liz doing the final finishing pull on her new F1. This is a bit tricky to get right because you have to wait until the coating has set enough that you can smooth down imperfections without pulling off material, but it still has to be fluid enough that it will self level afterwards without...
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Video: Lashing the keel to the ribs
Lashing the keel to the ribs. We use a flat waxed polyester artificial sinew that is about 30% thicker than what is commonly sold. (this is available in our store). I like this twine because it’s super strong but doesn’t create bumps underneath the skin that are prone to wear like the twisted sinew. I use...
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Video: Steam bending kayak ribs
Today we are steam bending kayak ribs. The bow ribs in my F1 design take such a steep V shape that even after cutting away the inside edge of the mortise with a carving knife and I still have to literally crack the gunnels to get the right shape. I fix the cracks with glue...
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Video: Steam bending keyhole kayak cockpit coamings
The only part of building one of my skin on frame kayaks that’s actually hard is creating this steam bent keyhole cockpit coaming, and most of that is just because you need perfect quality in bending oak to make the tight bend at the apex. It’s been getting harder to find Oregon White Oak...
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List of scavenged wood for the upcoming kayak build
List of scavenged wood for the upcoming kayak build: One pair of mortised kayak gunnels originally discarded because I just don’t trust the dark chocolate colored cedar in a rock garden boat. Another pair of gunwales discarded because I didn’t wanna deal with the shake (zillions of tiny cracks). One pair of stringers cut...
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Using up shop scraps and some salvaged wood on a couple new boats this week
Starting work on a couple new boats this week and using up shop scraps and some salvaged wood in the process. After rehabbing the cracked reject gunnels yesterday, today I plugged the deck beam mortises originally intended for a flat deck F1 to be re-purposed for a normal F1. I normally advise against this...
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Repairing wind shake in cedar gunwales
Western red cedar is great stuff, but it splits easily along the grain. Ordinary cracks are no problem because you can just pry them open and floss the crack with a strip of glue soaked paper, but wind shake can be a little more annoying to deal with. Wind shake occurs when an older...
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The thing I love most about skin on frame
The thing I love most about skin on frame is how easy it is to make changes on each new boat, allowing for both rapid design evolution and customization for individual paddlers. Here are my sketch notes from the recent highly modified F1 and some pictures of the finished kayak. This was going to...
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Time lapse: Flat Deck Sailing-Catamaran F1 Kayak Build, Post 12: Paddling!
Flat Deck Sailing-Catamaran F1 Kayak Build. Post 12, paddling! Hit that sound button. Apparently time lapse kayak paddling doesn’t look nearly as good as time lapse woodworking… The idea here was to take the new boat for a paddle through some of our local urban obstacles, and show off its capabilities with some Top...
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Time lapse: Flat Deck Sailing-Catamaran F1 kayak build. Post 11: Outfitting the kayak
Flat Deck Sailing-Catamaran F1 kayak build. Post 11, outfitting the kayak. Don’t miss the music! I finally found some time to outfit the new boat with deck lines, backband, seating, thigh braces, camera mount, perimeter lines, drain plug, and rub strips. With a 12oz skin, frame reinforcements, extra ribs, and a brass bow rub...
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Time lapse: Flat Deck Sailing-Catamaran F1 kayak build. Post 10: Coating the kayak
Flat Deck Sailing-Catamaran F1 kayak build. Post 10, coating the kayak. Coated the kayak with the same two part polyurethane we always use. This stuff goes on in four layers wet on wet over the course of a single day. That’s about as close to a miracle as exists in the finishing world. It’s...
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Time lapse: Flat deck sailing-catamaran F1 kayak build. Post 9: Stitching on the fabric
Flat deck sailing-catamaran F1 kayak build. Post 9, stitching on the fabric. There’s music here. With the oil on the frame dry I was able to get to skinning the kayak. I returned to my original plan of putting 12 ounce cloth on this boat, not because I want that fabric on my boat...
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Time lapse: Flat Deck Sailing-Catamaran F1 kayak build. Post 8: Finishing and oiling the frame
Flat Deck Sailing-Catamaran F1 kayak build. Post 8, finishing and oiling the frame. As usual, there’s music here. I decided the shape of the bow wasn’t quite right so we scribed a new line and worked it in. The stern stem here is a little frustrating because with the sudden change of focus on...
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Time lapse: Flat Deck Sailing-Catamaran F1 kayak build. Post 7: Adding secondary stringers, deck stringers, and finishing the bow
Flat Deck Sailing-Catamaran F1 kayak build. Post 7: adding secondary stringers, deck stringers, and finishing the bow. Hit that sound button! Things are moving a bit slow right now because I’m finalizing a lot of decisions on the flat deck version and stopping to film the installation instructions. Today we got through filming the...
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Time lapse: Flat deck sailing catamaran F1 kayak build, Post 6: Reframing the deck and adding sailing, catamaran, and drain plug reinforcements
Flat deck sailing catamaran F1 kayak build, post 6. Reframing the deck and adding sailing, catamaran, and drain plug reinforcements. Now that I’ve decided to keep this kayak for myself and build another for my customer, the design mission for this boat changes. I’m getting rid of the heavy skin, reframing the deck, and...
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