Kayak Construction Day 2

April 26, 2010

Our second full day of building our skin on frame kayaks went fairly smoothly.  A few steps took unexpectedly longer and in the end we didn't finish putting all the deck beams in like we had planned. Instead, we spent some more time on a few details.  

Our favorite moment so far was when we removed the nails holding the two gunwales together and spread them into the shape of a kayak deck.  We got a good look at the typical quick tapering of the bow and the gentler tapering stern which will have much more storage room. We will be putting hatches and bulkheads into our boats and it will be interesting to see how much room each compartment ends up with.

A run down of the days progress: this morning we started by drilling all our mortises where the bottom ribs will go.  Next we looped the bow and stern together and inserted three temporary spreaders, one at center and one each on the ends.  Then we lined up the bow and stern and took a hand saw through the seam to smooth where they meet.  Finally, we drilled and hammered in dowels to attach the bow and stern of the gunwale together.  

Total time spent today: 8 hrs

Total time spent overall: 15 hrs

What's next: we are ready to put on the deck beams now.