West Greenland Kayak Build Timelapse 9: adding deck lines and seating. Total build time on this kayak, about 44 hours.
Rigging the deck lines is always my least favorite part of the kayak building process. I pull 3/8” wide English bridle leather straps through progressively smaller holes to stretch and round them, and then these days I’m burning 5/32” holes in the skin offset upwards from the underlying hole in the wood, and then summoning an unholy incantation of swear words, I somehow manage to pull the lines through the ridiculously undersized holes and tighten then. It REALLY sucks but it keeps leaks to a minimum.
All of my deck lines are tied through the inside of the gunwales because I strongly believe you should be able to tow, carry, or rescue by any deck line on a kayak.
The new seating arrangement here involves a suspended fabric seat which is incredibly comfortable while keeping your center of gravity as low as possible, and a clever little back rest that is a complete game changer for the comfort of these boats. I’ve already got a tutorial for how to make the suspended seat on my YouTube channel and I will be adding the backrest to our kayak building course in few days.
The finished kayak is striking and I will make sure to talk more about the color soon because there’s a lot to think about if you’re going to go to this dark.
I’ve been re-shooting course videos for the last week and Liz’s is working on the plans set, so hopefully this kayak be ready for release by December.
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