West Greenland Kayak Time Lapse 2: assembling the deck, total build time so far, about 14 hours.
There’s something extremely satisfying about fitting the deck beams. Over the years I developed a super efficient system that allows first time builders make these mortise and tenon joints quickly and accurately. They don’t need to be perfect and it’s actually pretty easy to fix any fitting issues by carefully sliding a saw between the gunwale and the tenon shoulder. (Just don’t cut off the tenon!)
Tip: I always make my tenons a 1/16th shorter than the mortise depth, rather than making them long and trimming them flush. Not only does this make the deck beams easier to install but it prevents flush cut tenons from pushing visibly into the skin as it tightens and compresses the frame.
After the tenons are pegged with small dowels, I peg the deck beam diagonally with a larger dowel. Traditionally these would’ve been lashings on a West Greenland Kayak, but I use the East Greenland method because I think it’s faster, easier, and stronger.
After trimming the dowels I fit the boards that will be the stems to the ends of the gunwales and then flatten the tops of the gunwales with a block plane. The curls and scraps go into the wood stove.
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This post was originally featured on our Instagram feed.
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This post was originally featured on our Instagram feed.
See the original post and discussion here.
