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 deck stringer install which included me standing on the stringers to demonstrate the acceptable deflection.
I used to peg the secondary stringers on the outside of the gunwales but I’m gluing them on more these days based on the logic that this forms a structural member that is especially useful for stiffening the gunwales where sailing hardware is going to be added. Owning lots of spring clamps is useful.
On my modern kayaks I usually finish in the ends by gluing a couple blocks on either side of the stem and then fair them in with a block plane and sandpaper. I started doing this 15 years ago when I realized that the alternate (much more time consuming) method was costing me at least 40 hours of valuable surfing time each year. It’s important to have priorities.
For this build, however, I was inspired by a student of mine and added a plate to the bow the same way that we do on the Greenland kayaks. I’m not sure there’s a function advantage here but it does look kind of cool.
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