After a day of misc. prep work it’s time to spread the gunwales apart with spreader forms and start building the deck. The 25deg angle on these forms is a slight departure from the original gunwale angle, which appears in photos to be closer to 27 degrees. I choose to build at 25 so the forms and jigs can be used any of my other kayak designs. This angle projects a slightly boxier section as well, which adds a bit of stability.
With the ends of the gunwales kerfed and pegged and lashed together, I lay out the deck beams and start the marking process for cutting the tenons. I typically use a slightly wider spacing for my deck beams than the original kayaks for the simple reason that the closer spacing gives no structural benefit and adds extra work.
The system I use for making tenons is a clever marking and cutting sequence that lets first time builders create accurate compound mortise and tenon joints quickly. Unlike most fine woodworking it’s actually beneficial to the kayak if these joints are slightly sloppy, which really helps to ease the intimidation factor here!
With the tenons cut and the deck beams fitted, I peg the tenons vertically with small dowels and then diagonally with larger dowels. This deck beam to gunwale joint was lashed in the original but I prefer the diagonal peg (usually seen on East Greenland kayaks) because it is fast, strong, and stabilizes the area in tension and compression.
There is no need for glue or locking wedges anywhere in these joints because again, it’s actually valuable if things can slip a little under the extreme loads that these joints can encounter, especially if the kayak is used in the surf.
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