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Kayaks and Container Boards When last we left the Kayak Build, we were rushing to get the third, final, kayak stitched up and ready for painting. We are getting very close to done.
Casket Division? I wonder what the other divisions are? I wonder what the world wide business in caskets is? I wonder what the competition is?
Just like we left 'em.
The first order was to get another coat of varnish on the second kayak - this stuff takes time to dry, time I can use working on the other boat.
Aaron, Paula, and her daughter, Grace, came by and went out for a paddle. One person can paddle a canoe. Two people can paddle a canoe. Three people, not so much. By all reports, it was a wonderful bonding experience.
Luke, who'd helped us a couple weeks ago, came by for another session, so I had him test out the first kayak. It'd leaked - more 'weeped' - the first couple of times out, so we lacquered it with . . . 5? 6? coats of varnish and now it is nicely sealed.
Bud and Mei were back to help the the boat stitched up.
We were at a stitching stage where one person, Mei, could do it by herself, so I turned Luke and Bud loose on getting a new mast ready for the Goose. I showed Luke how to use the belt sander, demonstrated it, then asked "Tell me one thing you DIDN'T see me do." He hemmed and hawed a bit, so I suggested "Did you see me put my hand under it?" He got the message.
I showed him how to use the hot knife. "Tell me one thing you DIDN'T see me do." He nailed it this time: "You didn't touch the blade." We kept going, everybody working on projects until it was time to shut down for the night. I brought in the kayaks for the night.
I saw I had melted a small hole in the bow of the boat when I'd heated it last week. I filled it with PL Premium and . . .
. . . covered it over with tape. It worked wonderfully.
The last step of the evening was to place the hatch. That's it, time for dinner.
In the morning, I hauled the first two kayaks out into the sun so they could get another coat of varnish.
This is my favorite part of boat building - one mess up and everything is bad. Nothing like a 300° hot knife slicing through fabric without a real good idea of how it will all work out.
This weekend wasn't just for kayaks, we were going to build container board boats for the Boat show. We had a team: Patience, Sebastian, and Anthony. Step 1: Get the floor ready - we'd be spending a lot of time there.
Measuring, fractions, blueprint reading, materials properties, tool use. An excellent project.
With the kids occupied, I turned too on stitching the hatch to the kayak.
They kept at it. Skill building takes time and practice.
While all this was going on, Geoff was varnishing the kayaks.
Bud and Mei came in so I put Bud onto finishing up the stitching on the hatch.
That's purty.
With the hatch stitched on, it was time to shrink the skin. I love this part.
The kids were ready to go 3D. Exciting times.
That's a nice picture - lots and lots of work going on.
Whoopsie, held the heat gun a little too long in one place. No worries.
Mei took care if it with a little stitching. Now the boat it unique in all the world.
The hull on the container board boat came together nicely.
Stems go on and poof! There you go, a container board boat capable of holding two moderately-sized adults (about 350lbs displacement at a 4" draw.)
We are a "community" boat house, so we couldn't build just one container board boat. The kids did a heck of a job!
That was a busy day. The kids took off to go swimming, Bud and Mei went home, Geoff went off to do his thing, and and I got a few moments alone with my new love. Time for her first coat of varnish.
Just as I was getting close to the end, John showed up to put on the last few strokes of varnish. Everybody gets to participate. :)
John's real purpose was to show me that his boat was used in an ad for the Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival in WoodenBoat Magazine (issue 251, July/August 2016, page 15). Ever wonder if someone's boat is used in an ad in WoodenBoat Magazine? Don't worry, just wait a minute and he'll tell you. All kidding aside (none of my boats have ever been used in an ad) this was a great weekend. My thanks to everyone involved and to all of you reading. |
