The Maiden Voyage!

After hemming and hawing about paint and it's qualitative properties, I finally got the kayak in the water! I couldn't be happier! I went for a short paddle in Cootes Paradise on the far west end of Lake Ontario, tucked away from the rest of the lake by the 403. It's fully green on its shore besides the small strip of highway ripping along one side separating one in the "Paradise" from Hamilton Harbour. I saw one deer, innumerable herons, ducks, swans, cormorants, an osprey, a couple of turtles and a dragonfly. It was really quite an abundant ecosystem, I'm looking forward to many more paddles there and on the other side as well as some of the creeks up and down the lake!

The kayak was amazing. A little tippy at first and I've got to figure out the smooth entry and exit still but I'm not worried. She cruised as straight as an arrow and just as silently. She felt the best heading into the wind and seemed not to weathercock in waves though it was incredibly calm with waves reaching as high as 3 inches! I'd like to get out in some bigger waves and see how she travels in that.

I've also added the fore and aft deck lines with some shock cord and pieces of cedar. I'll add photos when there is more light, probably my paddle tomorrow! Also, the Fire Red paint has yet to be tapped, the name (Gemini) still needs to kiss the bow and perhaps some designs shall be sprawled on her skin still.

A new home and waiting paitently for painting weather

I'm waiting for some sunny dry weather for the rest of the painting now. Patience comes easily here because I want this kayak to be awesome more than I want it to be done. So what have I done with this restless energy while waiting for the winds and waters to change? I made a new home for my kayak, where it can be beautiful but barely noticeable to the untrained eye, hidden yet accessible. I've hung it from the roof of my front porch using some eye boltings, rigging rope and an 800 lb hand winch from Princess Auto. Because honestly, where else but Princess Auto does one go when looking for such a thing?

I had some terrible rope at first that stretched right out but then on buying better rope, the system worked perfectly. It is really quite simple. I made two holsters from keel cut-offs and put a piece of rope through them that attaches to the hoisting rope via a caribiner. The hoisting ropes, one for each end go through an eyebolt in a joist, back to the stern of a kayak through a shared eyebolt and then down into the winch which I've "hidden" on the backside of the column there. It's a terrible photo here but also the tree to the right hides the ropes from street view as well and you can barely see the black stealth form of the kayak in the top of the porch. Should be nice and dry for the winter!

Skin and Paint!

 What an exhausting weekend! Saturday's here and I'm already exhausted. It took me all of Thursday and Friday to get the skin on. The long seam down the middle is so slow. It took me an hour to go about two feet at the most. It then took me another half day to the cockpit sewn in, quite daunting as my masik is pretty arched, so the hoop is actually at quite and angle and has to pick up fabric that is already really tight around the masik. Since I messed up on the bend and ended up using smaller stock than is called for this is a little worrisome as it could break or just not hold enough tension in the skin. But I used canvas so I can replace it and reskin it later if I do so choose!

And I got to the paint today too! This is expensive marine one part urethane from interlux. Boy, did that canvas suck alot of it up right away. There's two cans right there, a litre each, both top and bottom, one coat done. I'm switching to Tremclad because they're out of this paint colour at the boat store, it's expensive anyways, the guy at the boat store used tremclad on his skin--on-frame 25 years ago and it's still good and it's canvas so I can reskin later if I don't like it!

Gemini sits on Orion's shoulder

October is here in fine fashion, blazing sun in the afternoons with that warmth of summer still in our hearts. The days are getting shorter and I can see Gemini with Jupiter sitting on Orion's shoulder when I make my morning brew. I work on my kayak deep into the dark, cherishing every drop of sun. I finish without being able to see her in the full light of day so I don't get to fully see what I have done until the afternoon comes around and I roll in from work, eager to start the real work. I go to bed tired and smelling like oak and cedar, maybe some citrus and oil, exhausted but I've never felt so energetic and alive. This boat is the finest thing I've ever created, I've worked every piece of wood, bled on it, sweated into it and spent far more time with it in my head.

Tomorrow is the two month mark of the project and by golly do I have something for my efforts. Today, I finished sewing/lashing the cockpit flange to the main hoop and gave it an oil coat and gave the rest of the frame it's second oil coat. Yes, nary a blog post doesn't mean no progress, nay, greater progress than ever before. Tomorrow, she shall be ready for her skin! A skin to put on, sew the cockpit hoop in and coat of paint is in the works and then, technically, she's ready to paddle, though I plan on three to six coats and then I have to do decklines but those can wait.

 So what was I doing in these last two weeks? Pretty much the rest of the wood work. The ribs are all in, the keel laid straight and true with the two chines laid down to accuracy within a eighth of an inch, all lashed down in some beautiful running lashes. One piece of lash, runs along each stringer in such an elegant and simple fastening. In a minimal amount of turns, it tightens the previous one while holding itself true and once started, finishes quickly. It's really quite astonishing. Plus, once all the runners are hugged closely to the ribs, the frame takes on a real stiffness or oneness that really makes her feel like a boat.

The next was the deck stringers, floor boards and masik. The floor boards took two whole days because they need to be shaved to that they fit under the skin. This was not an easy task but it did reveal that one chine was off by more than a quarter inch in some places and needed to be redone. A nuisance but I should have done it right the first time. The masik was a glorious find. It is possibly the most important and difficult piece in the boat. It needs to be naturally curved or of laminated straight grain. I had a feeling my steambending plan was dubious at best. So last Sunday I was down at the Ottawa St. antique stores when I found an old yoke! Perfect! I grabbed it and practically ran home to notch it out and fit it in. It's perfect and it really finishes the qajaq in style!







The only other thing was the cockpit hoop which took two steambends and another lash where I used approximately twenty four feet of artificial sinew! This piece is just another fascination to me. A year ago I shuddered at the idea that I'd have to do that if I wanted to build my own kayak. Now, with relatively little 'live' instruction, just a book and a couple youtube videos, I have created a kayak with twenty seven pieces of steam bent wood, all done within quite acceptable accuracy (well, we'll see when we get this on the water).

With life's hilariousness, I have been given a four day weekend! What perfect timing to skin, paint and rest! I might even have her in the water by Sunday! Soon my weekends will be filled with this kayak on the roof of my truck and then in some wilderness lake! Who wants a paddle partner!

Ribs, Stems and a video clip!

I've finally got all the ribs in, most of the wait being due to the soaking period of
the wood. You should bend very wet wood, pretty much fresh out of the ground wood, not the kiln dried stuff you get at Home Depot. And you should soak it so it can be really limber with a good sauna and do whatever yoga you want it to. However, if it's wet, then it does not cut and shape well under the saw. So I have to know which ribs need replacing and hence, time delays all over the place. I don't mind though because there's stuff you can do in the mean time!

Since the last post, I've cut out the keel and the two stringers that define the chines, tapered them and sanded them down. I've cut out bow and stern stem piece that define the cut water to the boat and I've ripped and sanded and started to soak the wood for the cockpit coaming as well as an experimental piece for steambending the masik! For anyone who actually has building experience, please let me know if steam bending a 2.5" x 1 3/16" x 24" piece of oak and using that is a bad idea. Would it be strong enough?

I really enjoyed getting the keel and stem piece done. With them clamped in place you can really see the shape of the kayak jump into being and it's really quite rewarding.

It's also kind of shocking at this point. I've been working steadily on this project for a little less then two months now but it seems like an eternity. And now, with the ribs done and half of the wood for the rest of the boat is cut and ready, it really seems like the end is in sight! I only have to lash the keelson, chines and stem pieces in, bend and place the masik and cockpit coaming, put the deck stringers on, floorboards in and then I can skin it and do the deck lashings after a coating of the good stuff. So pretty much done, right? Knock on wood.




Now, I've thought that this blog should have lots of pictures so people can come in and see how I'm doing without having to read my ramblings or anything. What could make it better, a video of me! Here's a video of me steam bending one of the replacement ribs!

Ribs!

In the past week, since getting the deck in shape, I have cut and soaked all the ribs for four days or more before trying my hand at steam bending. It's always nice to try new things and this was no exception. I made a nice little steam box out of foam board and duct tape with a couple of nails to hold the sides in place and completed it with my campstove, a kettle, a piece of conduit and two towels. I cut a jig out of a 2x6 though all I needed was a 2x4 and used my belt as the strap to bend with.

I feel like I should have gotten a video of the process because it's so amazing to see it happen. Really, just the last minute, of taking it out of the steam box, bending the rib on the jig and then putting it in its place and the final adjustments. It's amazing how pliable wood can become yet the next morning it's almost as stiff as it's ever been. Some quick shaving off some of them revealed that they're still very wet though, so they should get stiffer and stronger!

That all being said, here's what she looks like now! She's a real beaut, with a small rocker to her and a low back deck, she should be good for high winds, stormy seas and calm mornings alike as well as a pleasure to roll. I look forward to meeting her on the water!

Now, you might see that some ribs are still missing here. I broke four ribs in the bending process, fixed one of them with some twine and then broke another two in the fine-tuning. This is actually a lot less then I was expecting so I'm pretty stoked. I already have replacements cut and soaking so Tuesday is the next big bending day!

Here's a really sexy photo, though it probably hides some of the mistakes and bad bends that I have since got back and corrected or tried to. This shows the almost last rib in the stern up front and the rest falling into place. I still have the keel and the two chines to lay which will hold the skin off the ribs but you can already see the beautiful shape of the hull to come. You can also see the mortise for rib 25 which broke before it even left the bending table here.

Here's one of my ingenious fixes to a split rib, twining the hell out of it to hold it together. It's like a tensor bandage from the days of auld. I think I'm going to leave them on unless I get told this is a bad idea from an experienced builder. If any of them read this, please comment.

Here's a split rib, beyond rib-air (soo bad). As I said I was expecting this as you can see under my foot there is two twelve foot sections of oak that could be cut into more ribs. Luckily, I don't even need these and they could even become part of the cockpit. Who knows, I may even do other things than kayaksmithing with them.











So the next steps ahead, after actually completing this one, is to fit the stem pieces on to the end. These will extend the boat another 8 inches in either direction and be the shape of the bow and stern. They will be lashed to the ends of the boat after a little planing and to the keelson, which is the very next step, along with the chines. It seems like there's so many steps but each day when I get home from work and I go to the kitchen  to shovel food in to me, I look out to the backyard and can't think of anything else I'd rather do right now then go work on my baby. Even as the days shrink and I feel the autumn cold kiss my feet, every day I can put in two to four hours, sometimes just fifteen minutes but if I get just one jig or mental problem solved, or even just a clean up, it feel so good. The journey here is its own reward so I am in no rush to get her in the water, especially if it means having something less than an awesome boat.

Ribs and the waiting game

The interesting thing about this kayak is that there are no drawings for plans by which I mean highly technical ones with a fine pencil, more lines than kayak and incredibly small numbers. It's all based off of your body for measurements like the arm span is three arm spans, so start off your gun'l's at that length minus a foot and a half or the paddle is your armspan plus the distance from your elbow to your fingertips (a cubit). So instead of referring to drawing all the way along, you create this as you go along, shaping it with your eyes and brain as you massage it into existence.

This being said, a byproduct is that you can't work ahead of yourself. You can't measure out the ribs before you have a deck to measure them for. You can't do that until you've taken the time to create a deck that is at once has visually appealing curves as well as trying to make it a sleek, swift, wave-riding machine that can also cut through the dawn's still water in the silence. So you might be able to imagine how this journey evolves in the mind and slowly takes over your thoughts. At work I think about the journeys I'll take as well as the next design steps in line. This also forces a slower build and makes you work at the kayak's pace.

Since the last blog post, I have measured the ribs of the finished deck, cut them and prepared them bending. This process involves soaking them for three to four days and I am currently 24 hours into that step. I have had time to make the bending jig, cut out the pieces for the steamboxes and clean up the badly neglected workshop in this time. It's a nice little calm before the fairly intensive session of steam-building to come! More time to devote to dreaming up the rest
of the kayak!


This is me after I measured out the ribs (beam across gun's plus a fist and a half for me) and made temporary ones of wire to figured out the kayak's depth. I am sitting in it checking out how it will feel here. I was pretty stoked on it right away, the foot rest sitting at a perfect height with room to rest and just touch the foot beam and the back rest at the same time. It feels great relaxed but tight enough to brace against the backrest, thighbeam/massik (to be created) and the footbeam in a moment noticed, quite a necessary thing in hairy water AKA the fun stuff.

I'm not really sure yet what perspective I'm writing this blog from. I don't want to be too involved in the technical side because if you want the details, buy the book, it's cheap and better than I could ever be on a blog for that. If you want to know more about it from me, we can talk about that outside the blogosphere, I'd be happy to talk, share and learn! I really appreciate the Greenland community feel, which has already helped me along so much in my progress here. So this blog is becoming more of a technical bulletin for people who want to see a layman's progress in a fun project with insights into the journey involved. I hope I've been able to hint at the joy involved in creation in this post. Here's a picture of a beautifully satisfying lash.

Shape!

Aloha friends, much has happened and more is about to happen! I have finally put the top deck together, lashing it together with trunnels and all. After much precision work and planing and humming and hawing, I put all the deck beams in one gun'l, and then worked the other gun'l on to it, bending it all into shape and holding it in place with clamps and the end forms before I lashed it all together. Sighting down the center only proved quickly that taking my time had paid off and she seemed as true as true can be!

 It was a very rewarding part of the build, finally being able to see part of the finished product and knowing that it's not going to come undone again. It's only going to get better looking from here on out, hopefully.

It was also a fairly meditative process as well as learning and using some new techniques. I used the Eskimo slipknot (I don't know if that's a racist term here or knot) a two types of lashing that were very similar. Both involve a hole in each piece of wood you're lashing together, be it gun'l to gun'l or gun'l to beam, a series of loops between the two, and hitches to tighten it by compressing the two legs of the loop. Using artifical sinew and clamps to hold the shape, I'm quite confident that the sinew will hold and not stretch for a long time.

Here you can see trunnels, or what's left of them. These are 3/8th dowels that I sawed down the middle of, leaving about 3/8th in the middle, so that it had slotted ends. Put that in a hole through both gunnels, then tap in a wedge of wood to hold shape on each side and boom, you got an old school fastening device working it's magic. The next one is further down so that it goes through different grain and doesn't weaken the first one.

 In this photo you can see that just down from the trunnels is the first lash put in, which held the whole deck together with little strain. The trunnels main purpose I think is to hold the tips together very precisely, because holding the tips perfectly flush is the easiest way to have a symmetrical kayak. I also redid this lash here later, to bring the ends together tighter and make for a quicker craft, hopefully.

Here you can see the lashings on a deck beam. There are ten or twelve of these right now in addition to the end lashings and trunnels which I believe is going to give me plenty of strength and worry-free deck as I move on to the ribs soon.

Shaping up to a real beaut!

Deck Beams and a Paddle!

I've finally finished fitting all the deck beams to their mortises, each one a custom whittling job to get it down to a snug fit. It is a task like most around this kayak, it's not particularly hard or skilled work, it merely takes time and attention to whatever it is that your doing. Keep in mind when reading this blog that this is the first time that I've ever attempted any sort of wood working project that didn't involve 2x4's and a nail gun or a chainsaw. If I can do it, you can do it. So be encouraged, make your own, and come paddle!

The deck beams are now snug and theoretically, should all be correctly angled and fit beautifully into the gun'l's and allow it to hold its shape while I work on the rest of the boat. I'm excited for this next step because it will be a solid unit and something quite beautiful to look at in itself. It also seems like smooth sailing after this but that might just be in my novice mind. The book does say that getting the deck fitted and straight and true is the most difficult part of the project and almost impossible to fix after the fact. I've taken great care and gone slow because of this. When I first put the gun'l's together in their forms (which I have yet to mention) with clamps keeping their ends perfectly match and great care making sure the forms were square I sighted down the middle with some mid-marks drawn and I was a dead on! Just today I got the final pieces of dowel need to keep the bow together once formed so soon I shall get on with this and start having some more impressive photos.

On another note, my paddle is finished already! I went to Frontenac and saw Tom Froese of tandjpaddles.com for a one on one workshop and he guided me through a wonderful four hours of carving cedar up into a nice traditional unshouldered paddle. He cut out the basic shape with a bandsaw or jigsaw and marked lines on it to shave in between and showed me how to use the drawknife, plane and spokeshave and how to work the grain properly in a piece of cedar. This was especially useful to me because cedar is the main wood of the boat as well. I've used the lessons many time over already! At the end of the workshop I had a nice looking paddle that needed its final sanding and a finishing. These pictures here show it after three coats of tung oil and a coat of wax, both of which I got from shop.skinboats.com, a store based out of Anacortes, WA. I like these (not that I've used anything else) because they are super organic and eco-friendly. This is really nice because then you don't have to worry about harming your garden, cats, or yourself when applying the product. It's a little peace of mind after working with industrial products all day! Anyways, the oil helps preserve the wood and really brings out the grain beautifully as you can see while the wax is an added security factor as well as making it slide better in your hands and feel much more sealed and protected from the elements.

Some of you may be confused by the shape of the paddle here as it is not like "Euro" paddles at all. One key difference is the blade shape, it is long and narrow, only about 3.5-4 inches wide on this one. This helps it move more easily through the water for long distance paddling as well as being pushed around by the wind less. You can also shift it from one end to the other in your hands, which greatly helps in rolling to get added leverage. Another difference is the hand position, standard hand position is only shoulder width apart, not the euro way of about elbow width apart. Combined with no feathering, where euro standard is about 30, this makes for a lower and longer stroke, a lot easier to keep up on long distance trips. Aside from that it is very similar to the euro stroke, using your torso more than arms and such. This paddle also feels so light in my hands, I can't wait to get it out on the water.

note: not for the apples!

Making the gunwales

The first thing to do is to make the gunwales. The ribs and deck beams both directly attach through mortise and tenon joints to the gunwales so they must be the strongest pieces in the boat. They also require the most precision and care. I had to make sure that they were matched correctly for stiffness and curves. Each piece is naturally more limber when bent one way instead of the other and can also have natural curves in  a couple directions. Since I got both of my gun'l's from the same piece of wood, I had very little to worry about.

Once I had them properly matched, I lined them up as best I could to each other and clamped them together firmly. This way I could plane down the edges and trim them to exact length. I could also shape the ends this way and keep them identical through some fairly fluid design. Since they'll be held at a 73 degree angle once in kayak form, a cut at a complementary angle is taken from the ends starting at the halfway mark and heading to the bottom of the board. Then, to give the lines a little sweeter look around the bow and stern, a shallow curves was planes out in the last 70 inches on each side, maxing out at half an inch. As you can see in the picture, it's still quite noticeable.

Once this is complete, it's time to start on the mortises for the ribs and deck beams. I used a pre-made jig for keeping square on the rib mortises and I had to make one for the deck beams. As mentioned, the gun'l's are on a 73 degree angle and the deck beams are straight, so the holes have to be at a 17 degree angle to counter this. I used a drill with electrical tape to make sure I kept consistent depth through out the rib mortises but the deck beams go right through.

Now the deck beams are ready to be made. For this, first you have to cut them down to length, which is just a rough measure because you have to mark them and cut the tenons in next. This process could use a jig, which I attempted twice but it fell short of adequate both times and I used two combination squares to mark both the top and bottom point at which it should touch the gun'l and on both front and back. After this, I played connect the dots, drew in a one and a quarter inch tenon perpendicular to that line and then played cut within the lines. At first tenon's seemed more daunting than anything else but my first (correctly measured...) beam fit like a bug in a rug! Now I'm pretty much up to speed except for my paddle which will be the next post.

What it is

To let people know who haven't nerded out for days of their lives on the interwebs looking at these things, I'll give a brief description of the build and the abilities of the craft I am making. It is a skin-on-frame boat, built on the 4,000 year old design of the Greenland Inuits. It has remained fairly unchanged in the last four millenia and can still outperform many modern boats. The Inuits made theirs out of driftwood and seal skin where I am making mine out of cedar, oak and nylon ballistic fabric.

The design is built around anthropometric measurements. The overall length is thrice the users armspan, it's beam the user's waist plus a fist or two depending on skill level. Before building I sat on a 2x8 on a 1x1 to find my balance point, where I want my footrest beam, thigh beam(masik) and backrest to be as well as where I don't want the steam bent ribs to be, like my bum and heels. From here, I transferred said marks on to the gun'l's and from there could mark all the rest of the deck beams and ribs. All that is left to do is to do it.

The frame is built with two gun'l's, lashed into shape to deck beams with mortise and tenon joints. The ribs are steam bent and attached to the gun'l's and then the keel and two runners go on to define the shape of the hull once the skin is on. There are no nails or screws, everything is lashed together using mortise and tenon's or dowels. This gives some advantages known to many ancient mariners, Inuit, Viking and Celtic alike. A ribbed hull that is lashed can flex to absorb blows from rocks or other objects in the sea and bounce back to shape, where fiberglass or plastic would crack or smash. It can also 'hug' the waves, bending with them instead of being forced around by them, giving them excellent roughwater handling. The finished kayak when I'm done should weigh less than thirty pounds, a similar fiberglass kayak would weight close to seventy pounds. I should be able to put this on my roof rack single handedly no problem. It is also cheaper, I'm spending about $800 on this including shipping from afar, speciality woods and nice tools. I could have saved money but spent more time and effort sourcing the material, and probably gas money too. A store bought kayak of similar performance could cost up to $4000!


Here are some teaser pics and next post I'll actually mention the build process!

Starting off!

I write this post, the very first already quite late in my maiden project. I have already cut the first deck beam and fitted it, following a lengthy procedure of honing the gunwales and an far lengthier of kindling the project in my head and heart and of course research. Most of the research has come through the internet, first seeing greenland rolling video's while a beginner whitewater kayaker and then a extensive look at the different styles of northern inuit qajaqs from Greenlander to the Aleutians. I'm choosing the west Greenland qajaq for several reasons. One, it is the most popular, so there is lots of build journals and books available in print and screen versions. The second, which causes the first probably, is that I believe it is the most aesthetically pleasing form I know. Finally, the design is 4,000 years old but delivers a boat that is virtually unparalled in the buyers market. It is half as light, many times stronger, faster on calm water and a more agile roughwater friend then it's manufactured contemporaries. I'd also like to make an Aleutian Baidarka at some point for their long-hauling ability but first I gotta get in that water!

I was up in the air between doing a workshop which range from medium far to very far away from my current homebase and getting it done quickly, with good guidance and more expensively or buying the book which was cheaper, more personally rewarding and more educational. Well, I got a job which has been going full time, now seven days a week, eight hours a day, so I bought the book and I'm doing it after work, three to five hours a day, in my backyard. So far, it has been very rewarding.

I got the book from the QAJAQUSA website, from their suggestions, it's called "Building the Greenland Kayak" by Christopher Cunnigham. I'm following it about 90-95% and filling out the rest with alternate techniques seen on the internet or my own way of doing things, because I bloody well can.
http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=8533980667&searchurl=an%3Dchristopher%2Bcunningham%26kn%3Dgreenland%2Bkayak

There are numerous more books and plenty of awesome workshops to help you out on your own journey. For workshops, Anders Thygesen seems to be the best on the planet, at least my eyes on the internet get the best impression from his site. Check out his website and his blog. He has great videos, articles on paddling and paddling techniques and a blog chronicling, among other things, his 3000km trip around Norway in his Baidarka and Greenland paddle.
http://kajakkspesialisten.no

I got my wood from a speciality wood supplier nearby. It wasn't cheap, I spent nearly $250 on two pieces of Cedar 1"x6"x20' each, one milled to the gunwales, and a 1"x8"x12' piece of green White Oak. Along with the minimal scap at my disposal and some dowels that I have yet to buy, that should cover the wooden portion of the boat. For the rest, I ordered it online at www.skinboats.com. I got nylon ballistic fabric, 9oz/yd for the skin, tung oil, wax, shockcord and the 2part poly-urethane finish for the skin. I literally just got it while writing this paragraph and I'm so stoked for it! I have (almost) everything now! It wasn't cheap and I might have gotten better prices locally but the one stop shopping while working full-time was stress-free.

So I got all the stuff, now I can build it!