Subject: Re: baidarka Skinning the bow and stern
From: wayne steffens (wsteffen@mr.net)
Date: Fri Mar 31 2000 - 22:58:04 EST
I'm not the best person to answer this because a bow and a stern are the
extent of my sewing experience, but I havent seen any other answers yet.
I just did it as described in Wolfgang's book, and didnt find it too hard.
I chopped off the tip of the lower "jaw" at the same point where the upper
jaw ends, so I dont have the upturn at the end (not much kelp these days on
Lake Superior). I just laid the canvas over the overturned boat, and
started sewing just aft of where the canvas wasnt touching the keelson
anymore due to the curvature at the point. I made my jaws about 3/4- 1 inch
apart on purpose so I could sew along both sides and have an open jaw,
rather than a single seam pinching the cloth tight between the jaws. I dont
recall employing any special techniques to keep the cloth tight, I just
sewed into the jaw, pulled tight, sewed out the upper jaw and pulled tight
as I went. I made up and around the snout and about 2 feet down the deck.
Before I went that far I did as Brinck describes, pulled the skin tight
longitudinally, marked a bit ahead of where it reached the stern, and then
a sewed a few inches of seam, and pulled again until it hooked over the
tail. That part was also very tight with the exception of some wrinkles
along the lateral sides where the cloth has nothing under it until it
reaches the end of the gunnels and stringers. It was tight, but wrinkled. I
was going to ask what to do about that, but I dont need to anymore. I may
have actually had it too tight, and the hand stretching may have caused my
CT problems more than the sewing. I pulled it so tight I caused a tear that
I had to patch.
Wayne
At 01:43 AM 3/30/00 -0600, you wrote:
>Can anyone please explain to me exactly how one would close the skin around
>the bow and stern piece.
>
>I presume you cut the fabric and overlap it over the end and hand stitch
>it, but I do not see how you can get the fabric very tight this way.
>
>What kind of stitch do you use?
>
>Also how much edge margin should you leave to prevent it from unraveling?
>
>Do you leave the stitches exposed or do you cover it with a wood rub strip?
>
>I was thinking of overlapping the bow and stern and staple the fabric to
>the frame (monel staples) and gluing a strip of fabric over the staples to
>cover them. It seems staples will be easier to install instead of hand
>stitching. Is this a reasonable thing to do? .
>
>
>Peter,
>Arlington, WA
>
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