Kayak Build * WREN has left the shop! (for the water)

Jeff Horton

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The Heart of Dixie
:D The plywood arrived today! Several days faster than expected!

The project is about to begin!!

NICKNAK_Linesplan_tn.jpg

 
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... lookin' forward to seeing it take shape. Never built a boat/kayak, or anything that big, unless you count my 2 story garage. I will bet my garage was a lot easier to build than will be.:eek:
 
Well lets start this show..... with idiots!! I ordered several sheets of ply. Because of the cost of shipping I ordered extra. Didn't cost anymore for shipping and I am sure I will build another boat after these two. So I will just store it and save shipping costs latter on.

So, the package is sort of heavy and the ply is very thin so it also VERY flexible and hard to handle. I back my truck up to the delivery truck and we slide the package in mine. When I unloaded it and saw the OTHER side of the package. Look at what I found.

ply_package.jpg



:soapbox:​
Notice the FRAGILE sticker?? There are two on the box. Yes, those appear to be forklift tracks! No wonder companies are sending so much overseas. They probably can't find workers that give a dang. Where is the pride in your work? No damage but this is just inexcusable.

No, I am not mad since there was nothing damaged. I am just disappointed in our constantly lowering standards for everything. Todays normal would have gotten you fired 15 years ago. :( Sad, sad state of affairs.
END OF RANT
 
Hi Jeff "El Ranter" :wave:, :rofl:
I have a theory that will allow you to "choose" getting through this a wee bit easier if you decide to accept, just this possibility.:dunno:

"I saw them run over the cardboard/1/8" ply there in the warehouse before someone else picked it up. With tread marks on it they just decided to use it as the cover sheet on your order, however the two guys involved were both fired because they left the tread marked side up and stamped fragile over the marks, the idiots!" A quote from Louie the rat, up for promotion.:doh:
Does that help?:rofl:
Happy to see you have material for the kayak. Thanks for letting us in on the build from the get go.
Shaz :)
 
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On the bright side Jeff, the forklift driver apparently noticed his mistake and backed up so he wasn't parked on the plywood. :p

Looking forward to seeing this project come together. :thumb:
 
Jeff...

I'll be watching your project reports. Looks like a good opportunity to learn some stuff.

My youngest brother used to be a mfg exec, and he once told me about a meeting he had attended with some Asian guys that he was considering doing business with. At one point in the meeting my brother said something about needing a program in place to ensure quality...his Asian counterpart said "quality no problem...worker mess up, chop off hand". Bro said he seemed serious when he said this. Would it happen?...don't know. But if you even tried to fire that forklift driver, let alone chop off his hand, you'd right away have a lawyer knocking on the door ready to sue you for something on his behalf. Apologies to our lawyer members. I sometimes wonder what happened to pride in doing a good job and the willingness to say "yeah I did that, guess I messed up".

Anyway, good luck with the boats. Looking forward to the next installment.

Cheers
 
Well last minute suggestion from an internet friend in Finland. Very knowledgeable in kayaks and the software I am using. He asked a couple of good questions and it all ended up with a last minute change in the bow of the boat. Notice it is curved now instead of the point that was there. This also results in a much finer entry with more of a hollow in the lines. The chines actually start further back of the bow now too.

I also lowered the sheer line so that is closer to water. I kept the deck height the same. The deck will just be more rounded because I want to maintain the storage inside for camping. I kept looking at the 3D view and decided it looked better lower. Might mean a little more water on the deck but no biggie.

WREN_Linesplan.jpg


I picked up the wood for building stands before lunch. Going to start on them. Epoxy should be here tomorrow. Hopefully start cutting wood this weekend.

Also have settled on the deck design.

deck.jpg

What I haven't settled on is the woods I am going to use. I show a white/light wood and the Western Red Cedar. I drew another with woods that are close in color and I think I like it better. So I will probably cut a few test pieces, try varnishing them and see how they look together. If you BLO the WRC is really darkens it up. If I could find something that contrasted it well but was still subtle, I prefer that. Walnut looks good with it, but it's heavy. Of course I am only using a few strips too.
 
Jeff, a guy from my church has been building them boats for a few years now. The walnut accents look real sharp. I also ran into a fellow down on the river one day with his home built hybred canoe/eskimo boat and he told me he builds them exclusivly with basswood. He told me basswood was 10% heavier and twice as strong as cedar.

I'm also going to keep an eye on your project. i've had similar ideas floating around in my head for a while.:D
 
Jeff,

I think your revised design is a very nice "improvement:... Very clean and smooth. The deck design is also very cool! This is going to become a classic post at FW, I think. Best of luck, and I look forward to seeing you build this beauty! :thumb:
 
Hey Jeff, do you know a good link for us landlubbers that gives definitions for some of the terms you're using? I'm pretty sure I know what the bow is, but I wouldn't know a chine if it bit me in the knee. It'd make following along easier for those of us who are uneducated in all that "boat talk" stuff. :p

Really looking forward to watching the build. I agree with Greg on the "classic post" potential.
 
Hey Jeff, do you know a good link for us landlubbers that gives definitions for some of the terms you're using? I'm pretty sure I know what the bow is, but I wouldn't know a chine if it bit me in the knee. ......

I just found this. Looks like it is pretty good. I see some I didn't know in there. :D

Boat terms

And the chine is just the intersection of two bottom panels at sharp point. In my case the sides and the bottom.

That is referred to a sharp chine by some. Strip built boats and canoes don't typically have a chine since they are rounded bottoms, not sharp edges. But you will see some people refer to this as a chine, even though it is not. They are referring to the area/corner where the bottom becomes a side.
 
Oh I can believe they would chop off the guys hand. Have you guys ever watched this video? Its of a stamping plant in China. There is NO WAY OSHA would allow this. NO WAY!!

http://video.search.yahoo.com/video/play?p=chinese+stamping+video&ei=utf-8&fr=sfp&tnr=21&vid=1286274659

Roy Underhill once featured a window manufacturing plant that still uses 19th century belt-driven tools. Scary and dangerous just watching on TV. The manager did acknowledge that the operators had to be careful and fully conscious of where they hands were at all times. OSHA or not, the best safety device is common sense.
 
BIG BROWN TRUCK JUST LEFT!

He brought me epoxy and fiberglass cloth and tape and misc. other items. Let the games begin!

OK, I got some plywood to rip and scarf tonight!! Lay out the panels on the plywood tomorrow, might even start to put a hull together! :headbang::headbang: Latter, I am out of here!
 
We are ....... well I am building a kayak finally!

6.jpg

You have to look close but that is a 1 foot by 17 foot piece laying on my RAS outfeed table. This is the short piece too. Next one is over 18 foot long! It's only 3mm and it believe I could tie it in a knot too. No exaggeration. Its like handling sheet metal. Just splinters instead of sharp edges.

7.jpg 8.jpg

Tonight I started taking the panel developments and laying out them out on the plywood. Started by marking the ply every foot. Where there is a tight or odd curve I drew them at 6" intervals. Then I could measure down that line and find the two points on it. Each side of the strake. I started with the worst one, the bottom. It has some add curves on the ends. The sides will simple except for the long lengths.

Once the points are laid out you lay a batten around the points. Since I work by myself I took some finish nails and put at some of the points. Then took the batten and put spring clamps on it. Then eye the line to make sure it is fair, that there are no lumps of irregularities. Then track along the batten to mark my cut line.

I got one end done before all the leaning over got to me. Decided to not kill my back and just call it a night.
 
Hi Jeff.

Thanks for posting the starting pics, I look forward to see the evolution of the work.

Have you though about the name that are you going to put on the kayak if any?
 
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