Subject: RE: [baidarka] Follow up: Kayak building Questions / Ideas
From: Connolly, Paul (AZ15) (paul.connolly@honeywell.com)
Date: Fri Oct 26 2001 - 14:53:14 EDT
Juan,
I built my baidarka-ish kayak (Puffin) in at Kayak Way
(http://www.rockisland.com/~kyak) up on Orcas Island under Skip Snaith's
tutelage. Great experience - do it if you get the chance. We painted
various designs on the nylon skin (8oz, I think, from Dyson) with artist's
acrylic paint prior to varnishing. It came out surprisingly cool -
particularly given my lack of artistic talent. The acrylic doesn't cause
any adhesion problems. I believe that anything that will stick to plastics
like nylon or polyester will also stick to acrylic coated same. Skip has
cool paint jobs on most of his boats and the waterproofing seems to be
sticking fine. We used a water-based varnish called Varathane Exterior
something or other from Deft. It is good stuff but a little finicky. You
have to make sure the humidity is low when you apply it or it will peel off
later. It takes many coats to "fill the weave" - but it's not expensive and
very easy to apply. It is fairly abrasion resistant but not in the class of
the toxic stuff like Gaco, Hypalon, etc. I have found that urethane goop
like Shoe-Goo is very abrasion resistant. I have smeared some along the
stern area of the keel line which seems to get dragged the most. It holds
up great - but I can't figure out how to put it on smooth at all.
Skip just puts a thin foam camp pad in the bottom when he paddles. This
gives you a little cushion and helps keep the sand and grit out. After a
while I got tired of the hideous screech my feet make when slipping into the
cockpit - so I replaced the foam mat with one of those woven grass mats you
can get at those discount asian import places - Cost Plus? On top of that I
put a piece of thin foam with thicker foam fitted under my thighs to keep my
legs from passing out on long paddles. I find that the boat feels really
twitchy if I put more than a very thin piece of foam under the backside. I
got to visit Robert Morris' shop on Granville Island, Vancouver, BC this
summer. In some of his W. Greenland style kayaks, he cuts the ribs off
between the stringers and keel in the cockpit area so he can put foam down
there. You get a little friendly with the keel strip - but you are just
about as low as you can go.
I also have one of those nylon coated foam back rests like Snapdragon sells.
The back rest kind of clashes with the boat so I have been experimenting
with something home made to replace it. My first attempt worked out badly.
I made a cockpit rim thing out of minicell foam. It was much too rigid and
extremely uncomfortable - no back rest was preferable.
Enjoy building your boat - it is a fun and very satisying experience.
PC
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