Hi gang again! I had some private e-mail questions about wooden boat construction. This is most likely due to my endorsement of heavier and stiffer and the fact that I've said I would like to built myself a strong, wooden kayak. To be quite frank, I have not researched the subject yet, nor have I read any books on the process yet (such as Nick's). I don't know why people ask my opinion about stuff - I'm an sea kayak enthusiast, not an expert. _However_, I've never not been one to offer my opinions, wanted or not :-) One of the questions was how stiff does a kayak need to be, and what is an ideal weight for a strong, longer sea kayak. I would posit a position on this, suggesting 45 to 55 lbs, depending on paint and hatch options. A skeg box can also add a lot of weight. I also think a wooden boat should be fairly stiff, as stated before. I can't buy into Alex's "lively" kayak philosophy. I've never, never seen a race kayak that was lively. They are all stiff, very stiff (and light due to limitless funding). If a kayak is flexing, that is energy being expended, so its being wasted somewhere simply from a physics point of view (please, no more flames...aaaahhhhh! -well, at least no more minor candle burns). I try to buy into Ralph's philosophy with folders - that a boat contouring with the waves is performance enhanced, but I don't think I could prove it empirically. The other question I was asked relates to the procedure for actually laying up the fiberglass on the wood, and what cloth to use - 4 or 6 ounce. I would suggest other listserver groups for that answer, but of course, I will say what I think, now that I seem to have a seam reputation. One of the paddlewisers in question is building a CLC North Bay stitch n'glue. He wants to fiberglass the deck , put extra tape on the chines and beam, and recess the hatches which will require extra plywood layers for reinforcement (none of which is specified in the plans for the 40 lb boat. He is not too concerned with weight. Another paddlewiser is a month or two away from fiberglassings his Guillemot, but is wondering what to do about a glassing schedule for the hull. Nick Schade's plans recommend 6 oz. inside and outside for a standard layup. Our fellow PW'er wants it a bit stronger than that, but doesn't want to go overboard. I may modify my following advice when I'm actually ready to build my own boat. But at the onset, this is the way _I_ would proceed (this is my partial "top ten" list of items to consider): 1. At a minimum, from the back bulkhead to the front bulkhead, lay in 6 oz cloth. You need that thickness for center rigidity and wear from in and out paddler movement. 4 oz is not enough. 2. If the bow or stern are going to be difficult to get to because your construction sequence is such that the two halves are already going to be joined, and if you want more glass on the inside of the bow and stern, you can glass the wood pieces in sections first, as this is much easier than getting the glass in later. 3. Fiberglass wooden bulkheads in with glass (cut and glassed first, both sides). To actually secure them in their positions, make up a putty of epoxy resin to use as a fillet all around the perimeter, rather than glass tape. Much easier, I would think. 4. As far as the big question of the outside, start by placing the kayak on its side, not on its hull. Take 6 oz cloth and lay it out such that 2 inches overlaps the gunwale line, onto the deck, and then cut the cloth so that 2 inches also overlap the keel line. Important - let this cure. Next morning, do the same to the other side. You now have a double layer at the keel line, and 2 inches is enough to fair out. 5. Once cured to a point, place kayak on hull, and lay cloth over deck. 4 oz will cut down on weight, but may actually be more expensive that 6oz, depending upon supply and demand in your area. For the cutting allowances, I would simply drape the cloth so that 2 inches overlaps the gunwales on each side. You now have double layers along the seams after epoxy. 6. It is a good idea, and I usually do this with wood and epoxy things. Wet out the wood and or plywood first by painting on the epoxy resin. Let it dry. Do this for all your parts -everything. As you work with each piece of wood or perhaps the entire deck or hull or whatever portion you are working on, sand it out lightly at the point where it cures without "balling-up" on the sandpaper. If you let it go for a few days, it gets too hard to sand. 7. Then, and only then, are you ready to wet the surface out again, add the cloth, and wet it out too, buy pouring on the mixture and using a squeegee (SP). I do not like rollers, personally. Regardless of how you apply and spread-out the resin, if you have too many layers of cloth, like three 4 oz layers, you will never get the right saturation - its just too hard to tell how much resin is being soaked up or squeezed out. 8. The reason for pre-wetting out the plywood, is the fact that this allows a more consistent approach to absorption into the wood fibers - you can see what is happening before the cloth goes on later. You will need to sand, as mentioned, and possibly wash with detergent a bit because of the "blushing" issue and wax residue. This method should help produce a better, stronger boat. 9. I would use something like the West System fast cure 205 for all your work. You need to work fast with it, and may need to use masking tape cloth in place to keep organized, but the pay back is faster finishing, and more importantly, you get a lot less pooling and run-down and drips and dry spots near chines where gravity would pull sections dry with the slower drying epoxy formulas. 10. You can use paint too. Then you are free to make a mess, fit pieces with less precision, then back-fill a bit. Paint covers it all up, but as paint is 50% solids, the boat will dry a bit heavy in the end - and you don't get to show off your workmanship and the beauty of the wood. So, that's my take on it. I probably can't answer any other questions at this time, and I am not open to flames or abuse on this one. I'm just trying to help out some PW friends, and let you in on the discussion. BC'in Ya Doug Lloyd *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Thu Jan 13 2000 - 23:32:48 PST
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