From: aol.com!MrTay@imagelan.com
Date: Tue, 2 May 1995 16:23:23 -0400
Message-Id: <950502162105_104252061@aol.com>
To: baidarka@imagelan.com
Subject: MrTay Builds a Kayak
MrTay Builds a Kayak
...part 1
After much consideration, speculation and rumination (a little too much, in
fact), I finally broke metaphorical ground for the edifice that is to be my
first homebuilt kayak. To put it bluntly, I finally started the damn thing.
It all started months ago following the purchase of my Folbot two seater.
"Those can't be too tough to make" I thought, scheming even then on a
project. A little research - and a few terms like "strip-built",
"skin-on-frame" and "stitch-and-glue" - later I settled on a kit. In this
case a skin-on-frame Greenland single. The order was made, and soon a
smallish cardboard box sat on my porch, way too small, I thought, to contain
the fixin's for a 17' boat.
Thus, came the adventure of finding suitable long wood in a surprisingly
woodless town. I discovered my fair city (population: a scant 3 million) had
plenty of house wood, plenty of fence wood and a fair supply of exotic
hardwoods, but very little in the way of decent clear-and-long kayak wood.
Nonetheless, persistence won out, as a laconic lumberyard guy sorted through
the employees-only pile-o'-16 footers and found a few good ones for me.
Planks ripped to size ("rip cust to spec" as the ticket said) and strapped to
the top of the Soobie, I was on my way.
It's true, the first cut was the toughest, but once I had chunked a few rib
slots out of the gunwales, the going got easier. I flew, with newfound
confidence, through the gunwale preparation, the addition of the risers and
finally the spreading of the gunwales. Jeekers! All of a sudden, the thing
looked a bit like a boat.
One of the best parts of this early going was a fortuitously timed dinner
visit of friends. They arrived just as the gunwales had been spread, and I
was ready to peg the bow and stern. I received enough "wow"s and "cool"s to
keep me going for weeks.
Next time....
Masiks, deckbeams and windlasses....friends or foes?
MrTay
Comments, advisories, admonitions and premonitions welcome at: Baidrk@aol.com