Kayak Build, Day 16

Lots of little jobs on the kayak today mean the frame is finally finished.

As I mentioned in the previous post, I needed to put a couple of blocks under the coaming so that it would fit. The one in the picture below is the aft one, behind the cockpit. Because it's doubled the surface area of that deck beam, it makes it a bit more comfortable when I lean on it too. Although, I'll probably put some kind of padding there anyway. I'm still working out the fine details as far as the seating arrangements are concerned.



I also fitted the aft breast hook and did a much better job of it than I did with the forward one. The ribs that needed lashing have all been lashed and everything has been sanded. The coaming has been sanded and the lacing holes drilled, all 44 of them. That'll need to be varnished, otherwise water will soak into the end grain and probably buckle it. I've also pre-drilled the holes for the deck lines.

All that's left now is to give the whole thing a coat of linseed oil, then put the skin on when it arrives. Oh, and fit the seat, but I can't do that till the needles and sinew arrive with the skin.

If you're wondering why the outdoor shots are taken with the boat on sawing horses instead of laying on the ground, I couldn't find a chook poo free spot to put it.



Here's the obligatory inside-the-hull shot. I'll probably do another one once the skin is on. In fact, once the frame is oiled I'll probably dig out my studio flashes and take some high quality pictures of the whole thing.









I think I spent about 4 hours on the job today, taking the total to 59 1/2. I'll definitely be taking longer than 60 hours overall, but I reckon 60 hours is a good average. I know of people that have bent all their ribs in under an hour, it took me all week.