Recent content by John Bjorklund

Instead of spending $200 on a gooseneck, I'm using rope here as well to connect the boom to the mast.

For the spar hardware, I'm going to use rope. Here is the forward end boom and gaff connection.

Hiking seats done

Finally got the boat in the water for a float and paddle test. First was getting it there. Everything fit on the top of my little Mazda cx3. Absolutely no issues at all. The boat paddles fairly well but because of the high free board gets blown around a bit if there's a lot of wind but it was...

My apologies

Iakos lashing test. Awesome! Very strong connection. Hope to paddle it this weekend.

So here's my idea for sealing around the bolts when I connect the two hulls together. I bought 1/16 in rubber tape with a waterproof adhesive side that I will cut into squares, drill a hole and then stick it around the bolt holes in-between the two hulls ends. Just on one hull side because I...

Here is a close-up of the iakos connection on the ama. Freshly varnished. Made with laminated oak. I had to use a 1 1/8-in step drill bit to get the connection hole large enough for the iakos dowel. Not an easy process.

Tied the tiller extension on to the tiller and used a surgeon's knot and a reef knot to secure it.

Here's the halyard hole in the top of the mast. Wrapped a couple times with 6 oz glass. Working on the varnish right now. I made the mast about 10 in longer than required for a sunfish rig just to give me options.

11 and 1/2 ft. long and 6 in diameter

Got some good weather so I'm painting the ama. Three coats of primer and one coat of gloss on it right now. I'll probably add just one more coat.

Zinger from down under. Lol. Only one person will be hiking out, but I certainly don't want it to break.

Question for y'all: what size timber should I use to make the hiking seat support poles with? There are two that parallel the boat from iako to iako. Gary does not specify from what I can read. It needs to span 93 inches and support 198 lbs :). I see some people have used 2x4s but if I can go...

Here the ama is roughly cut out and shaped. What a mess. Box cutters and a Japanese pull saw work really well shaping this. I also made a very long sanding board with 40 and 60 grit sandpaper to get a nice fair shape. I want the ama to be wave piercing with a very slight rocker so it doesn't...