Mysticshore 12 gets started.

Sheathing the deck.



The 4 oz. cloth is a bit of a pain to work with, but it is 30% lighter than 6 oz. and once on, it serves very well. I've been staring at the glass strip down the middle of the for deck wondering if it would go clear with the deck sheathing. (I kinda think it's been staring at me. ) In an effort to get a fair deck curve, I had feathered the edges and, in some places, sanded completely through it. Sanded fibers sometimes show even after wetting them out. Much to my pleasure though, the glass strip vanished under the sheathing and epoxy. I'm hoping to get two and maybe three more hot coats on today.

 

Building the coaming.

My desire with this kayak was to forego with the sprayskirt type coaming and go with a more traditional looking solid board type coaming. It was immediately clear to me that this was going to be a learning process and also a challenging operation. Any time a pre-cut length of board is sprung into an enclosed opening there are going to be challenges.

I had a rough plan that entailed joining the forward ends of the coaming and flexing it into shape to fit the opening. Barring this description, anything else was fair game. To back up slightly, I defined my cockpit opening through the use of a batten sprung to the deck in the most suitable location for the opening. I allowed the batten to run fairly naturally with most of the curvature towards the center. In this manner, the wood was assuming a natural shape that should be followed quite easily by the coaming boards. This shape was drawn on the deck and used as a guide for cutting the cockpit side openings. It was extended aft, but more importantly, forward to establish the coaming intersection with the deck centerline. The triangle formed by this point and the forward corners of the cockpit opening play a very large roll in the coaming build.

I was a professional trim carpenter in a previous life and was taught early to draw things out to help determine cuts, etc. Actually, much like lofting your boat build though on a much smaller scale. My next step was to add my coaming thickness to the triangle I had just drawn on the forward deck. In this case, drawn to the inside od the forward lines. The point where this line crosses centerline define the angle of the coaming joint. This is a fairly sharp angle; 45 deg inclusive or 22ish for each miter. I'm not set up for this sharp of a cut with power tools so I took a step back and approached it the more basic hand tool perspective. Before we go forward, I also want to have some forward rake to the joint for appearance and function. I started with 20 deg., but that wasn't enough. 30 deg. looked nice and that is where we'll start.

I drew a line at 30 deg. on the forward edge of the coaming board. Then I went back to my deck triangle and measured the length of the miter. It was roughly 1 1/2" in this case and I tranfered this dimension to the coaming board. Remember, this dimension goes from the front surface to the back surface of the coaming so you have to measure diagonally to the back side of your board. Now, draw the matching 30 deg. line on the back side of your board. You can alsodraw a second miter line on the opposite edge and now you have a defining line around the circumference of your board.

At this point, your can use a hand saw to rough cut the miter or, of you're me, I set my table saw blade over as far as it would go and set the miter to 30 deg. and cut to the forward edge. I took my low angle hand plane and brought the upper and lower edges to the miter line. This reduce the chance of breakout. And finally, worked the miter surface flush.



I hope I've not taken this to too basic of a level. I was feeling pretty unsure of myself at the start when I was working out the actual details of what seemed a simple design and task.

The next task was to figure out a way to hold the front joint while flexing the the aft portions into the shape of the opening. I tried a triangular filler block of 2X material to no avail. There is a stress concentration at the joint that needs to be distributed over a wider area if it is to hold. This is where the triangle drawing on the forward deck comes into play. Take the two coaming side and screw them loosely together so that the mitered surfaces meet flush. This photo has them glued already, but disregard that. You may have to hold the aft ends apart. Lay the coamings over the deck triangle to check your geometry. If it is off, adjust your miter until the coamings fit the triangle.



Once the angle is correct measure back the distance of the triangle sides and mark the forward edge of the cockpit opening. Take a piece of wood, wider than the opening to use as a brace. Measure or estimate angles in the section plane and also in water plane. Apply theses angle to your brace and trim until it fits between the coamings, inside the forward cockpit opening at it's forward edge. Screw this into place.



This brace sets the width at the forward edge of the cockpit and it also acts as a fulcrum to reduce the lever arm acting on the forward miter joint. A couple of screws at the miter joint are now enough to hold it together where they were not enough before. It's at this point that you would double check the joint to make sure it accurate to your standard and go ahead and glue it. I have choosen to only use a faying coat of thickened epoxy on the miter surface and go back with a fillet when the joint is set and I can remove the screws. I may not do this until the coaming is glued in place and clamping loads are also carried by the deck. An angle filler block might look nice there also. At this point, I make a second bracefrom 2x that floats between the coamings and can be slid around to adjust curvature od the coamings. It will also further reduce stress loadings on the miter joint during construction. I drilled holes in the aft ends of the coamings to accept some stovepipe wire. I used the wire to hold the aft ends together as I flexed them around the braces.



Bring the coaming in until the width is correct. Lay the whole get-up over the cockpit opening and start spiling to your hearts content to set the coamings down into the cockpit opening.

Here is the rough trim. I'll be finalizing it after I'm done sheathing the deck.




I think this will work out nicely. When it come time the install the coamings, I'll be able to draw the aft ends in a bit more than needed, slather up the carlins and drop the coaming into the cockpit opening with out scaping off the "slather". Then it's a simple matter of relaxing the wired ends and sliding the brace(s) forward to spread the coamings into place......in theory.

 

Looks like fun. I was a bit skeptical on the downturned bow and stern chine, but I think its great now I have looked at it a bit more.

 

Can I ask why?

It may just be a function of where I life, but I can't imagine going out without a spray skirt. OK, I can imagine it and I've done it, but it wasn't a good thing.

 

Hey, RW! I'm glad I could corrupt your thinking.

CT, it's the mission of the boat and the waters I plan to use it on. I'll be using it on flat and protected water. It might be a different story if I was out on the Sound. The next one(s) will be set up for spray skirt as I do want them to be fully capable of open water excursions.

Speaking of coamings, here it is . . . .

Everything is prefitted before gooing it up. Checked to make sure I could drop the boards in and not scrape out the epoxy batter. All bare wood surfaces were wetted with warmed, unthickened epoxy. The bottom edges of the coamings were battered where they would lay on the deck and be pulled straight down. The inside edges of the deck were battered where the coamings would spring out after dropping into the cockpit. Shims were placed under the aft end of the coamings to keep them and the epoxy batter clear of the deck until they were in proper position.



All went as planned. The forward end joint was dropped into position, The sides were sprung out slightly and the aft end was dropped onto the shims. The bow edge centerline of the coamings were centered on the forward deck seam after the coamings were tapped forward with a mallet. Two allignment/clamping screws were driven up through the forward carlin into the coamings and snugged. The first cross-pawl was driven forward to spread the coamings to the deck edge. The aft end of the coamings were alligned and clamped. Allignment screws were driven into position and the shims were removed. The aft screws were snugged a bit more to draw out the batter. Once positioning was confirmed, more clamps were added and all screws were tightened to their final torque. Then, cross-pawls were shimmed into their final position.



Once in position, I took my custom made (scrap of ply) filleting tool and worked the extruded batter into a nice uniform fillet around the perimeter the coaming. I've been playing with maple and pine flour to come up with a color to match the wood of the deck. The maple is very dark and the pine light brown. I finally just used staight pine flour as I believe it make a good, visably unobtrusive fillet. The maple makes a finer filllet, but I want the exposed color to match as much as possible.



The big holes in the aft end of the coamings will be part of the ultimate trimmed shape. You can also see a line on the aft coamings. This is roughly where I will trim them to. I was contemplating leaving the coamings full height for a bit more wave protection, but I believe they would not blend to the deck properly so they will get trimmed for a finer appearance.

 

Today's progress. Sanding and shaping.

 

Seat ergonomics.

I've been taking advantage of the few remaining days nice weather to do further "water trials". I had it out on the Niagara River in a bit of wind and she seems to behave well. She lies ahull pointed 45 degrees downwind of abeam. She responds well to a power stroke and will turn back into the wind without effort.

All I can say though is "Ouch! My aching back!" I was on the water three hours on Saturday and two hours on Sunday and that is the limit with the current seat design. Does anyone have typical seat ergonomics that enhance comfort? The current seat bottom has an incline of about 5 degrees and extends about 16" from the seatback. The seatback is perpendicular to the bottom so is reclined by the same amount. I am thinking that I need to lift and lengthen the forward edge of the seat bottom to provide some thigh support (and reduce some back strain?) Also, the seatback extends up around 10-12" and limits my ability to lean backwards. I have trimmed it to around 8" to increase my mobility and make it more of a lumbar support.

With the cold weather moving in, I may not have the opportunity be on the water to test further seating enhancements. I'm threatening to bring the boat into the family room and do seat comfort testing while watching movies. I suppose I could sit in it with my laptop and a tape measure and design my next kayak.

 

Argh! No progress. I've been sneaking it out on the water on the nice days for a little post-season action. Broken cars and leaking roofs are taking up the others. Bright side of the coin? I'm installing a heater in the garage. Boatbuilding season is going to be year round.

 

Baby steps.

Small bits of progress. Lots of sanding and energies put into adding more lightness. No pictures this time around.

Installed the forward and aft cockpit coamings. Used the thickened epoxy to fillet the forward bulkhead to deck joint. Applied fillets to the deck joint doublers where they meet the deck carlin and shelf. My intent is for the doublers to transmit mid-span coaming loads to the hull.

I've done a lot of sanding and shaping. I tapered the deck doublers. I trimmed the lower edge of the coaming to the match the deck carlin then chamfered it to match the deck angle. I chamfered and tapered the deck carlin to remove excess material. I smoothed everthing on the underside of the deck structure in preparation for epoxy coats.

The exterior and been heavily sanded in preparation for finishing. Areas of the deck will need additional coats of epoxy prior to finish.

The garage heater comes tomorrow and hopefully more time to work towards finishing this project.

 

Some pictures, finally. Mostly mundane little details. The heater is installed, shop is 65 degrees and I'm ready to start smearing what will hopefully be the last rounds of goo.

Deck splices/butt blocks, deck carlin to coaming details.


Under deck (aft) details


Undr deck (fore) details.


Forward coaming.


Aft coaming.


Waiting for goo.

 

Looking Good, LP! Sooner or later I want to build one of these, but that will probably have to wait until I get bored with strip boats.

I like your coaming design. I may have to see if I can use that in conjunction with a ring.

 

Eye Candy

First coat of deck varnish. Varnish always amazes me. This is the first of three coats of Flagship 2015. I'll do a fourth coat in Captain's Varnish 1015. I will also be varnishing the sides, but painting the bottom. If I stay the course, I'll also add painted details the the decks and sides. Now that my varnish thirst is quenched a bit, I'll try to prep the sides so I can varnish them concurrent to the decks.

 

Another coat of varnish. Playing with a photo panning app on the iphone. I cant say the the results are stellar, at least for close up subjects.

 

I hate to tell you at this late stage, the hull has a severe distortion just behind the cockpit leading point. Shame after all that varnishing

 

To use the words of the late, great Homer Simpson......







DOH ! ! ! ! ! !