Subject: RE: baidarka Uh-oh!
From: kyak@rockisland.com
Date: Thu May 25 2000 - 10:38:20 EDT
At 05:09 PM 05/23/2000 -0700, Steve wrote:
> I've been in too many situations where I was glad I
>hadn't
>scrimped... and hadn't scarfed!
>
>I certainly don't accept scarf joints in the keel and gunnels, and usually
>not in the stringers.
>I also try to use only the joinery necessary to connect individual members
>of the frame.
>
One thing I've noticed over the past years is that a lot of people have a
seemingly inherent mistrust of scarfs. Although they are seldom needed on
shorter skin boats, there is nothing wrong with the joint itself, if it is
well-made. Scarfs do make a slightly stiffer portion near the join, but
intelligent placement can overcome that.
Suppose you want to build a 27 foot kayak? (I did) You're going to be hard
pressed to find stock of a suitable length, and even if one did, do you
think that cutting such a magnificent plank into lots of tiny dimensioned
strips is the act of an informed and concious person? Scarfing is the ticket
there, gunwales and stringers both. 7 years later the boat is still intact,
doing fine(you should have heard what the dockside "experts" had to say
about that frame!)
Incidently- really large racing sailboats (small ones too) have used
scarfed masts since at least the 1900's. We're talking J-boats here- with
terrifying spreads of sail area. Obviously standing rigging is part of the
equation, but if the scarfs didn't work you can be sure they wouldn't have
been used. By the way, mast certainly qualify as flexible structures,
wouldn't you say?
>
>Glues and epoxies should be left in the bottle! I find plenty of use for
>them on my sailboat.
>I can't possibly imagine why you would need any on a skinboat. Epoxies work
>great on inflexible
>materials like fiberglass, but have no use on skinboats. I thought that was
>the whole point of a skinboat!
>You want them to be flexible.
In talking about flexible boats we need to be flexible- I mean they aren't
all the same. Judging by gunwale sections alone I would guess that a
greenland type is "stiffer" than an Aleutian. The Yup'ik qayaqs of the
Bering sea are quiter a bit stouter and more rigid than their southern
neighbors.
You can use glue, even metal fasteners, in skinboat construction if you want
to, but you do need to apply some thought to the process. careless mixing of
rigid and flex elements can cause problems. In other cases it isn't really
B&W- if you glue your gunwales to the end blocks on a 16 foot qayaq (backed
with pegs and lashing) the boat will be somewhat stiffer than a non-glued-
but it won't break, and you won't sink.
I'm not advocating scarfing and I personally avoid glue whenever I can, but
why defame a useful and traditional boatbuilding technique?
Visit Kayak Way:
http://www.rockisland.com/~kyak
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