a Small amount of waste

In-line for assembly exploded

Detail View

The Kits have sat waiting paitently for us to have some time to progress. Finally we have made a start. We have cut out a kit and begun. I have attached some pictures showing the sheets uncut then the whole kit laid out as a flat development.

The kit has been designed with a view to minimal tools being required, however in saying that I never miss an opertunity to purchase power tools. I have a FINN tool it cuts with vibrations and is ideal for removing parts with out creating dust or splintering the parts.

We could not help but lay all the parts out together to get a feel for the finished product.

I am amazed at the lack of waste the laser cutting allows us to pack in heaps with minimal space between them.

More to report soon! I hope,

MikeS

The cut kits have arrived and been distributed to the four builders. Sadly there is no documentation as this is my first go but the kits look impressive, (If I don’t say so myself).

I have found that the sheets when cut into so many parts are flimsy and difficult to manage, we had to slide an uncut sheet under them to allow us to move them. They all came on a pellet in no specific order and the effor we went to to mark each sheet with names and sheet numbers was lost on the laser cutter, perhaps we should have spent more time disscussing our concept with them. Always next time.

The idea I had to laser cut 20mm holes in the top deck for rigging and under the deck glue laser cut disc stacked to form a small cup that houses a stainless pin to secure ropes and bungy cord to seams like a winner,  though I must admit I feel this inital version has the outer diameter a tad too small and the parts are very fine, the next version will incorperate thicker walls.

I have also found the finger joint to be fragile when removed from the sheet, the concept is sound but we need to ensure only whole fingers are on the edges we have some slim halves on this version that may be difficult to work with. More opertunity for an improved mark II. This method is far better than the old scarf or but joint styles as it ensures the lines are not lost, and the original length and thickness are a given. (perhaps thats just my lack of skill with skarf joints)

The process is slow the first step is to lay out all the lengths and join them in preperation for the second step stitching together with zip ties (cable ties to some) we spent a lot of time to ensure the holes all line up and were spaced evenly along the join lines, I hope this will force the hull into a true and straight final shape. I cant wait to test the theroy…….

Sorry for no photo’s in this post my macro zoom pic’s of the deck componets are blury and not suitable. I will retake and post soon.

Keep on Kayaking…….

MikeS

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Hi there all,

I am about to begin a building project of a stich and glue Kayak.

I wanted to share the experiance, first a little bit of back ground.

I have built a few small craft a dingy or two and wanted to build my own design of a strip plank Kayak, it is still under construction pending lots of free time.

I felt progress was slow so I have with the aide of a few friends taken the patterns from the frame of the strip plank Kayak with sheets of plastic then copied these profiles on to  CAD.

We have spent a lot of time with adding all the nessisary hardware to the kit, the idea being that we do not want to have to purchase or make any fiddly bits.

We have included all the hatches, combing, foot rest and fixtures for securing the ropes to the deck. The CAD files also has holes for cable ties pre cut that line up to ensure the kayak is straight which seams to be a common isue for stitch and glue kayaks, No skeg will be required to correct any possible flaw in the hull.

I come up with odd ideas from time to time and one I have is that the Nose cone is always a difficult part as there are often 6 very skinny bits of ply all comming to a point. So I am building one with a nose cone made by laminating 25 odd layers to get a solid nose, this will also have a landing to bring the bottoms, side and top sheet to.  It has taken nearly a 1/2 a sheet of 12 mm ply to cut so I hope its worth it I am a bit concerned about weight, but most people fill the nose cone with epoxy any how so I expect it will be similar to the standard Kayak.

The ply is now ready and awaiting delivery so I will show some pictures soon of the raw materials ready for construction, with a very excited me beside them.

I have attached some pdf pages of the cut out sheet layouts and I also have some design concepts showing colour options.

I believe I will choose a Black Hull and natural deck with Black ropes and black bungy cord.

Commuter Kayaks Los Angeles River > The LaLa Times: California Satire, Weird and Bizarre News

What California commuter hasn’t ever had the urge to just walk away from traffic entirely? Well, George Calvarescu found a way to kayak away from it all.

I managed to miss the updates, but here they are: Yostwerks Kayak Building Manuals.

Tom now has a few more designs and quite a bit of detail on building an inflatable kayak.  The new Expedition looks pretty cool and a bit more stable.  I’ll have to hunt around and see if anyone has built one yet.

I’m in the process of building a piano bench for my daughter to raffle off for a fund raiser for the home school music coop. Here’s a picture of it nearly done. Still to go is hinge and lid support and two more coats of tung oil. The bench is made of red oak with a redwood inlay of a pair of 1/8 notes. This is the side of the lid that gets lifted for access to the inside. (”pick up” notes?) The tenons are pegged with 3/16th red oak dowels. If you want to buy raffle tickets, comment on this post with contact info.
As usual, you can click on this picture for more views.
Tony

I bought a new kayak, a plastic one this time. It’s a 10 foot pelican sink, got it for fishing as it has a bunch of room inside. Here’s a picture of the fish and you can see a bit of the boat in the background. My current thoughts on this boat is to copy the lines of the hull, modify them a bit and build a 11 to 12 foot version that tracks just a tad better. After that, I’ll probably sell this one.

One of my favorite Canadians, Mag Ruffman, has a blog on home repairs, crafts and general constructing projects. Here is a link to a video to give you an idea of the zaniness.

Mag

And, here is her site:

index to articles

Always good for a laugh or at least a shake of the head.

Tony

I managed to brave the heat and put the rack on the trailer this afternoon. Here’s what it looks like, remember you can click on the picture for more.

The rack is attached with eye bolts and does not modify the trailer.

Later..
Tony

Great site to keep up on what geeky things are considered most important.. Oh yeah, you can vote on the ones you like too.

GeekChow