The ribs are still slightly pliable for the first few hours after steaming, so I always try to tie the keel, the stems, and hopefully the stringers on the same day. Doing this helps to smooth out the overall shape and lets me know if I need to replace any ribs while the steam box is still set up.
Interestingly, the original kayak that this is based on was not lashed together but rather nailed. It’s a common misconception that no metal fasteners were used in arctic kayaks or that lashings are in some way needed for performance reasons. The reality is that the Inuit lived so close to the margins of survival that they could not afford to be dogmatic about technical solutions. From the time that Dutch whaling ships started crashing into the south coast of Greenland in the late 1600s, metal spread throughout the culture and found all sorts of ingenious uses as tools and on the boats themselves.
We see metal rub strips, wire ties, and nailed fastenings on historic kayaks. One enterprising builder even wrapped the nose of his kayak in a sheet of tin to protect against the sharp ice!
Lashings were also common and the reason that I prefer them is because it is actually faster to lash than to nail and allows for some adjustment of the stringers if you need it later in the process.
The lashing itself is made of a continuous length of flat artificial sinew, which I prefer to the round because it does not leave bumps under the skin that could wear through the cloth over time. Some people are concerned that the continuous lashings could break eventually but this rarely happens and even if it does, the skin prevents the lashing from unraveling further.
Build time on this step: 4 hours
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