Day 21 and it's now a boat

The good thing about sewing on the skin, as long as you haven't cut off too much material, is that if you aren't happy with how it looks, you can undo the stitches and redo them. I wasn't happy with the way the bow looked, especially after I sewed up the stern, so I undid the stitches about half way and resewed, taking out some more slack. It's still a little wrinkly on the deck, but the hull is flat, and hopefully when I dye and shrink the skin, some more of those wrinkles will come out.

After doing the first row of stitches fore and aft to get the skin nice and tightish, I cut off the excess and did another row of stitches. I think they call it a blind stitch, since if you do it right, you don't actually see the stitches. This bit made me nervous, not the sewing, but the cutting. If I got too close to the first row of stitches when I cut, I wouldn't have enough to sew. It's worth leaving a little more than you think you'll need, since the excess is tucked underneath when you sew and you'll end up with neater stitches.



Here's an example of what fairly neat stitching looks like. The stitches at the top are the initial running stitch, used to take out all the slack and basically hold the skin on the boat. The other stitches are the blind stitch that hides all the excess.



Below is a less attractive bit of stitching. Because I had less excess here and not a lot of room to work due to the narrowness of the deck, it's a lot more bumpy and uneven. That said, I don't mind it. As I told my neighbour, it gives it an authentic look.



Once that lot of sewing is done it's time to fit the coaming. There were two things that concerned me here. The first was that when I cut the skin to size I'd be going through the seam I'd just sewn down the middle of the deck. I was a bit worried it'd all come undone, but it turned out not to be a problem. The other concern was that I'd get half way through sewing in the coaming and the strap I was using to hold it down would slip, allowing the coaming to move. I had three more straps I could have used, but they were all in the car and the car was at work with Donna.

As it turned out, the strap didn't move. I would recommend two straps though, for piece of mind. I'd also recommend you take care with placement of the straps, otherwise they cover up the holes in the coaming and make it really interesting when you're trying to sew.

I like the way there's now a slight curve in the coaming with the tension on it.



As I cut the cloth to size I put 40mm finishing nails through the holes to hold it in place. The only trouble with using the nails is they made my fingers dirty and they also left black marks where they'd been through the cloth. On the plus side, this made it easier to find the holes when you removed them and sewed.



Coming to the end of sewing the coaming was a bit like finishing a long race. I could see how many holes I had left before the whole thing was finished. Once I got there and tied off the thread, that was it, the actual building of the kayak was done.

There was a satisfying thunk as I loosened off the strap and the coaming ring sprung back to take the tension of the skin it was sewn to.

It's now a kayak.







All that remains now is to dye it and coat it in Corey's Goop, then fit the deck lines. I'm hoping it'll be on the water in about a week, the following weekend at the latest.

The last lot of stitching took about four and a half hours. It's amazing how time flies when you're having fun. 75 1/2 hours total time.

Kayak Build, Day 20, the afternoon shift

After my earlier blog entry I thought I'd take it easy, fix the kitchen tap that's been leaking for ages, maybe do some more work on the aviary that's half built next to the house, feed the birds, more importantly, read another chapter of "Insect Plant Biology" by Schoonhoven, et al, for uni. I only have one subject left to go to finish off my science degree.

But no, there's a heap of wood in the shed with nylon draped over it, alluringly, just waiting to be turned into a boat. Its siren call was irresistible, so I spent a couple of hours sewing.

I should mention here that I've heard a lot of SOF kayak builders mention to their wives that traditionally it was the wives that did the sewing on Inuit kayaks. Traditionally, modern day SOF kayak builders wives, when told this, say naughty words. Donna is very traditional, she said a naughty word. She did however sit and watch me sew, which is heaps better than standing there by yourself on your lonesome. I did mention the other day that she's going to be doing some of the work on her kayak when I build it. I'm not sure if that's sunk in yet.

Anyway, below are a few pictures of the front part of the skin sewn. After I'd done this part of the job, taken a few pictures, locked up the shed, had a drinks and a cigar and started cooking dinner because it was my turn tonight, I mentioned to Donna that some people have a problem with getting a straight line when they sew the skin on their kayaks. I really think it depends on the method you use. I know my stitching wasn't straight, and it didn't need to be, since this row of stitching was mainly to pull the skin tight, but it looks pretty good to me. I'm really hoping that the next stage, after sewing, will pull the wrinkles out. I read in a forum recently that the best way to build a Greenland kayak is to follow Chris Cunningham's instructions in his book, but when you get to the skinning stage, follow Corey's instructions on his website. The link is on my sidebar under skinboats.org and I recommend you read the whole website.

The instructions I was using to build the frame tell you to sew from the pointy bits toward the cockpit, Corey's instructions say the opposite and I've seen advice elsewhere that says the same thing, start at the cockpit. I don't know which is best, but since I bought the material from Corey and I was following his sewing videos, I figured that sewing in the direction he suggested was a good idea.

One thing that intrigued me once I'd done this part of the sewing was that I've seen examples of people sewing their skin on where the seam was all over the place. I know my sewing wasn't that straight, but the result at the end looked pretty good. Keeping in mind that this row of stitching is just to tension the skin and the next lot is to tidy up the excess cloth, I'm surprised at how good it looks. I suspect that people that have trouble getting a straight seam on their boats are using a different technique. Not that their way is wrong, I think a crooked seam on this type of boat will look just as good as a straight one. In fact, I think a straight seam would look out of place on a Greenlander.

Anyway, here's a few pictures of my effort at skinning the front end of the boat. As you can see there's plenty of wrinkles. I'm hoping they'll disappear when I get to the dyeing and shrinking stage. There's also an obligatory, inside-the-boat picture that all SOF builders show. I'll also be posting similar pictures once the skin has been dyed.







I think the picture below needs a bow-tie. I recall being best man at a friend's wedding in a shirt that looked like this.



Considering my stitching seemed to be all over the place, this looks pretty straight. At least the skin sounds like a drum when you tap it, and that's the main thing.

The excess will be trimmed and another row of stitching done before it's all dyed, then coated with poly-urethane, in this case, known as Corey's Goop.



Two more hours on the job this afternoon, that's 71 hours total. I should mention that my times on the job are getting very guesstimated, if that's a word. I'm really putting times on here because people ask the question, how long does it take to build one of these? And because I'm curious myself how much It's taken me. Another question I get asked is, how much would it cost to buy one? So working out how long it takes me to build the boat and multiplying that by a labour cost of $20 an hour (less than what I get for filling shelves in a supermarket) gives me an idea of what my boat is going to be worth.

Sewing, or day 20

There's lots of information available online about sewing the skin on a kayak, but not a lot on sewing leather seats into them. The best information I was able to find was this video, and it's similar to the method I used.

I used two needles and a piece of artificial sinew about four times the length that I need to sew. In the picture below, you can see half of the thread hanging down below the seat. To do a stitch, I push the needle through just like you would a normal running stitch.



Below is the view from... well... below.



Pull the needle through and make sure both ends are tight. The good thing with the artificial sinew is you can let the needles dangle like this and they don't usually fall off.



Take the second needle and push it up through the hole that the first needle came through.



Once you've pulled it through and made sure again that both ends are tight, just repeat until you get to the end.



With the smell of leather and wood, and the sound of Don Burrows playing jazz on the stereo in the shed, I couldn't resist lighting up my pipe.

A pipe and a comfy chair, what more could a man want?



And the frame is officially finished.



This is what six yards of ballistic nylon looks like. I remember having to roll my bedding up like this when I was in the air cadets as a teenager.



After finding the midpoint of the cloth, it's layed out along the hull and a pocket, about four inches long, is sewn at one end to hold it in place. You then you slip it off, go to the other end of the boat and you have two choices. You can either a) pull the cloth to take out the slack, then make a mark about four inches in from the end and sew there, or b) pull the cloth as thight as you possibly can, make a mark at the point where the end of the boat is and sew there.

I got a little confused at this point and ended up combining both methods. After lying on the ground with one foot against a deck-beam, much to Donna's amusement, I made a mark in the right place and sewed the second pocket from that point in about four inches. Then I rolled up some of the cloth for a better grip, put my foot against the deck beam and pulled with all my might. The boat was creaking and occasionally lifting off the sawing horse at the other end, I was grunting and straining, and I still couldn't get the pocket over the end of the boat. I decided I was going to have to remove a few stitches, that's when I realised what I done wrong. It's not really a pocket you need to sew the second time, just a few stitches to hold the cloth in place. Once it's there you can let go and sew in a pocket.



Below is the first pocket on the bow of the boat, once I'd got the cloth pulled tight and sewn on at each end, and the boat was turned up the right way.



I then got out my soldering iron and cut off the excess material. In this last picture I've only removed the excess from one side. It was getting way past my lunch time, so I though I'd take a break. Incidentally, the soldering iron is only a cheap 45w one, but it did the job okay once it'd heated up properly.



Once I've trimmed both sides it'll be time to start the first line of stitches down the centre of the deck. I think I'll refresh my memory on the technique by reviewing Corey's instructions a few times first though.

Another 3 hours today, that's a total of 69 hours. I should do up a spreadsheet listing how long it takes for each part of the job, although I have seen one online already. I'll see if I can find it again and post a link to it.

Kayak Build, Day 19

I finally got the skin on Thursday, but didn't do anything on the kayak until this morning. I've been trying to decide how to do the seat and this is what I came up with.



At the moment the seat is just lashed in place underneath to hold it in place. It works quite well as it is, but I'm not sure the holes used for lashing would hold up for too long, so it'll be sewn in properly.

The backrest is sewn up with artificial sinew, that came with the skin, which is why I hadn't done it earlier. The padding inside is just a piece of closed cell foam, cut from and old camping mat and folded in half. It'll simply be tied to the deck beam.



Below is the first row of stitching on the seat. It doesn't look too bad, if I do say so myself.



Once all the stitching is done I'll slide another piece of closed cell foam in underneath it. The only thing left then is to put the skin on. Then it'll be a real boat.

I think I spent about 2 hours on the job today, taking the total to 66 hours. Keep in mind though that it's 2 hours of unnecessary work, since a lot of people don't fit seats to Greenland kayaks. If nothing else, I think it really adds to the look of the boat, and it's a great way to personalise it.

Still waiting

Not much has happened in the past week, as far as building the boat is concerned.

According to the USPS parcel tracking service, the material I've been waiting for to finish the boat was in customs clearance on Monday. Now I don't blame customs for the delay, since we've had a couple of public holidays this week, one on Monday and one yesterday. In fact I suspect it actually cleared customs on Monday afternoon and it's Australia Post that I've been waiting on. I know it's Australia Post I'm waiting on now, because I saw their delivery driver turn up this morning. He got out of his van, rearrange a few parcels, stuck a card in our letterbox, then drove off without bothering to come up to our door and see if anyone was home. Not that he needed to check anyway, he could have left the parcel on our front doorstep, like the guy that delivered a case of wine later this morning. So now I have to wait until 4pm so I can drive to the post office and pick up the parcel. As I'm going out for a paddle tomorrow morning, then working, it doesn't look like I'll be progressing much with the build until Saturday.

So, what have I done in the past week?

I put a bed sheet over the frame the other day to see how it would look with the skin on. I'm not too happy with the way the chines end up at the bow, they'll be a bit prominent once they're covered up, so I cut about an inch off each one and planed them down a bit. The picture below was taken last week and you can see how far forward it goes. It'll still stick out a bit now, but not as bad as before.



Until I get the seat fitted and some kind of backrest sorted out, I'm not sure if deck beam four, the footrest, is close enough. So, I've been cutting a piece of pine to size to fit as a foot rest in case it's needed.

The coaming ring has about three coats of marine grade varnish on it at the moment and is looking better with every coat. I'll put at least six on in total and see how it looks then.

One of the tools I bought off eBay to use on the kayak was an old Stanley spokeshave. When it arrived I tried it out and couldn't get the hang of it, so I haven't used it on the boat yet. I gave the blade a sharpen yesterday and tried it on a scrap piece of wood (I have lots of them now). The difference between a blunt blade and one that's had two minutes on an oil stone is amazing. When I made Donna's Greenland paddle, at the beginning of this blog, I made the handle a bit too thick. Yesterday afternoon, after I'd sharpened the spokeshave, I sat down on a little camping stool and started trimming the handle. I wish I'd had it when I first made the paddles, it's a joy to use once you get the hang of it.

The only other thing I've done, kayak-wise, is to start marking out some of the leftover 1/2" ply from the coaming for the cross-sections of Donna's boat. I'll be building her a Tom Yost designed Sea Bee 13. No rib bending to do with that design and it's a bit more roomy than a Greenlander. Donna has specified that she want's a boat that is easy to get in and out of and I think the Sea Bee fits the bill there.

Deck Lines, or Day 18

It's amazing how much time you can kill, just doing something like hand carving bits of wood.

I spent two hours today making the other three toggles for the deck lines and I must say, it was a very enjoyable two hours. It would have been even more enjoyable if I'd known then that I wasn't going to get a call for me to go into work. Another evening off.

The photos below give you an idea of what the deck lines will look like once they're installed on the finished boat. The paddle, or whatever else you want to secure on deck, slips under the toggles, or the lines, then you slide the toggles outward and they tighten. The way I have the paddle in these photos, it will work as an outrigger. That way I can rest one end of the paddle on the beach while I get into the boat and it shouldn't fall over and embarrass me.





You could, if you wanted to, put one in front of the cockpit out to one side and one behind the cockpit to the other side, with floats on the ends and you'd have a pretty stable boat. I suspect it might be a bit harder to turn though.

The skin hasn't turned up yet, but the Cunningham book I ordered from Amazon a week before the skin, arrived early this week. Hopefully, that means the skin will arrive Tuesday. It won't arrive on Monday, since we have a public holiday then.

Total on the job now is 64 hours. I should mention that a lot of the stuff I'm doing on the boat now isn't really necessary. You could build it without a seat, or deck lines, and you don't need to oil or varnish the frame. By leaving those steps out, you could save yourself quite a few hours.

Kayak Build, Day 17

Although I didn't do a whole lot to the kayak today, what little I did do made a hell of a difference to its appearance.

If you compare the next picture to the first one of yesterday's post, you can see what a coat of linseed oil can do to timber. It really shows most in the cedar.



Wolfgang Brink says in his instructable, that it seems a shame to cover it all up with a skin once you get to this stage, and I can see what he means now. I can understand why some builders don't dye the skin of their kayaks, instead leaving them to show the colours of the timber through the fabric.



One of the things that came up quite well with a coat of oil was the aft breast hook. I'm actually quite proud of the way it looks, so proud I photographed it more than once.





Once the skin is on and covered in Corey's Goop, the last job will be to add the deck lines. While the oil was drying today, I figured I'd get started on the toggles that will form part of the deck lines. These are made from a piece of left over cedar from one of the chines, carefully carved out using a 1" chisel, then oiled. It doesn't look much now, but it should look great once it's installed on the boat. There'll be four of these in total, two in front of the cockpit and two behind. They'll allow me to slide my paddle in under them and use it as an outrigger when I squeeze myself into the boat, or I can use them to carry an extra paddle.



Below is an idea of how the seat will look once it's sewn in place. I'm thinking of making some kind of back band with some of the leather so that I'm not leaning against the deck beam. I just need to work out how I'm going to do it.

The only other thing to do is to varnish that coaming. It looks kind of out of place at the moment in its raw form.



I reckon I spent about two and a half hours on it today, some of which was just doing little touches, like wiping off excess oil, or fiddling around with the leather for the seat. That takes me to 62 hours total.