Spring Run (part 3 begining the deck)

11/06/09  I continue to glue up little strips while working on the hull at the same time

As you can tell from the following pics, I have finished the bow point in Paduk with a Mahogany behind it, and am now working on the Dark Red Cedar.

11/01/09  As of today I am starting to strip my deck now, I think you can see from the pics what the basic design is going to be….

Although I had to staple/nail the first row on, I am happy to say that I am back to using my “Doodads” to secure the strips.

My biggest delima now is the fact I used a hot melt glue gun to set the shear strip and I am not sure how easy it will be to strip the forms when I am done. LOL    I also have to remember to re-tape the forms before I continue or I will have a real problem stripping the forms.

Spring Run (part 2 finishing the hull)

11/06/09   Well it is time to work on the inside of the Hull while I continue to work on stripping the deck.

After scraping and sanding the inside I mixed up some fillet compound (epoxy, woodflour, and Cab-o-sil) and put fillets in the stems.  This is not necessary, but is a trick I learned from my friends that make S&G yaks.  It makes it much easier to lay the inside cloth with no air pockets or wrinkles.

And then I skimmed the entire inside with an epoxy putty to fill all voids for the same reason

11/01/09  Well it is the beginning of November and the end of Daylight Savings Time.  I found a little energy to work on the yak today, got the shear strip pieces (which I had to staple/nail) secured to the forms and then stripped the deck and forms from the hull.

The hull is already loose from the forms, and the gaps you see are from the spring back.

And now the inside of the hull is ready to be scraped, planed, and sanded

It is also time to start the next chapter of this build, as I will be working on the hull as well as the deck at the same time.

10/30/09   Here it is the end of the month and I haven’t posted anything.  I guess I might not make the Christmas deadline I set for myself.  The reasons I haven’t progressed are basic ones I guess.  The first one is that I am working now and by the time I get home it is dark and I am tired. LOL  2nd is that now is the best time to be kayaking and camping here in FL and I am trying to take advantage of it while I can.  So my free time has been spent playing instead of working on the yak.   3rd is I recently hurt my back and have not been able to do anything much less work on the yak, but thanks to Modern medicine (good drugs) I am getting better.  And the 4th reason is probably the biggest reason.  I am stumped with how to do what I want as far as the deck design goes.  The deck strips I need to start with are many little pieces that are cut at angles.  Trying to cut them to the right length, right angle, glue them together and wrap them around the curves of the forms has proved to be challenging at best when I am trying not to use staples.  I may have to give up on that and staple the first strip till I can get 2 strips mounted on both sides and use the Hot Melt glue gun to secure them to the forms so I can finish it with the “Doodads” 

10/05/09  The following pics are the of the second coat of epoxy while there was enough daylight to still take pics… barely.

This is the graphic I have settled on with changing the name to “Flyin’”.  That too is subject to change at any given moment. LOL

10/04/09  Well, I got the hull all sanded and ready to glass.  I was going to go get my camera, then excitement got a hold of me and the next thing I know I am spreading glass on my yak!!!  Well, I can’t let bare glass just set there, so it was time to mix up some epoxy and start spreading.  As usual, I put an extra layer of 4 oz glass on the stems, and the center of the hull before covering the entire yak.

 

The Padauk does not stand out as red as I hoped against the Mahogany or Dark Red Cedar as I had hoped.  But it is still pretty!  I only have after work for the next 2 weeks to work on the yak, having plans for the next 2 weekends.  Gee, I hope I can finish this yak by Christmas.

9/28/09  Can you tell what I have been doing lately???

Yeppers!!!  I am planeing and Faring the hull.  Not a lot to see different, and I am not getting much done a night do to being busy working, but here are the latest pics.  Notice some of my favorite tools, they are not needed, but fun to use. LOL

Spring Run (part 1 the begining The Hull)

09/16/09  Today I finished glueing everything on the  hull.  Now it is time to start working the plane and faring board.

Now I have decided to finish out the bottom of this yak with the dark Aromatic Red Cedar.  This is very different for me, because all my previous yaks have all had light colored hulls.

Now I decided to start my outer stems in padauk to match the center of the stripe, that and I also liked the way it looked on the “King” I just finished

I decided to equal the white cedar on both sides of the stripe, and then put a WRC strip before changing colors again.

Working both sides till I reach the top of the inner stem forms.

Got the stripe done and am continueing with the white cedar.

09/01/09  Here it is Tuesday again, and I don’t have much to report.  Between work and health, I have not gotten very far this past week.  Here is what was happening so far.

  Things I have learned this last week.  That even using these High Teck Doodads, you also need lots of clamps.  But only at the bow & stern, and only if you are bending your strips rather than using fillers.

and rubber bands and this florida heat don’t really agree.  When I go out to the shop to check on it, I find a floor full of broken rubber bands and a few acrylic clamps just sitting on the boat.  When tieing the rubber bands on, when they break they send the doodads with force to the floor.  Mine being a concrete floor, the acrylic doodads don’t survive.  I have managed to break 5 of them so far.  But I still love them!!!  Something tells me I need to order another batch of these just to have around for future builds.

Well as you can tell, I decided to add a racing stripe down the side of my hull.  I had some padauk and mahogany left over from previous builds.

And now I am back to White Cedar…

08/24/09  I know I said a week, but I am thinking that I will just post on Tuesday night.  Not a lot has changed from the last post, but I now have 4 full strips on the port side, and 5 along the starboard side.

Again I am bending my strips to form the bow & stern because I like the way it looks.  I have seen yaks with filler strips, but you lose the lines of the boat visualy with them.  At the moment the only place I am using clamps is at the bow & stern.

the stern

the bow

Speaking of clamps, this is where I would normally show you 30-60 clamps of different types hold the strips in place along with a bunch of staples holding them to the forms.  But these “Doodads”  I got from Seppy in Brisbane, and invented by Amlap in Portugal (both were met online with the “BlueHeron” forum) are the cats meow!!!   So Thanks Silvero, and Rick!!!   With these little pieces of acrylic and $10 worth of rubber bands all my clamping needs are taken care of.  What I have learned so far is to place one over any joint you have and it keeps them even, wrap the rubberband tightly because they are what clamps it, the pieces are only the holders, and in stubborn areas, just add another.

my joints seem to be tighter and lining up at the ends better, but I am not sure if it has to do with the clamp system, or the fact I can only do one run per side at a time, so I am spending more time being finicky.

08/23/09  I now have 2 strips down each side, but because of the relaxed way of building this yak, I have decided to only show posts on the progress once a week.  You dont really want to see each piece as it gets glued on.

 

08/21/09  Today I worked on setting my forms on the strongback, Aligning (leveling and squaring them up), taping the forms, and installing my begining strips (for the life of me I can’t think of what they are called! LOL).

  Then I had to play with the “Doodads” I got from Seppy Down Under just to see how they work.  I may have to order some more of these, Pretty Slick!!!

This is my first attempt to build without staples

Although I am using clamps at the moment in the middle, I am hoping to just use rubber bands and Doodads as the sides build

I still have not settled on a pattern yet for the deck, I know I wanted the shearline to be WRC and the hull AWC at least to the waterline.  I also have bounced around names and graphics and have narrowed it down to 2.  It will either be called the “Water Nymph” or the “Dolphin”.  I like the first one, but obtaining a graphic I like will be hard.

08/19/09  I made my new strong back today and marked my forms.  Laid the spacing out on the strong back, ripped and glued some scrap Mahogany on the bow & stern forms for my inner stems.  It has begun!

Redfish King (part 7 Delivery)

Truck loaded and all hooked up for the trip.  I wrapped the new Yak in a “Danu” cover to protect it from any menacing bugs, stones or anything that might want to hurt it before it is delivered.  Actually this pic was taken in the parking lot of the motel we stayed at in Chattanooga TN.

 

Our camp site at Norris Dam State Park.  We are all set up and waiting on Kevin to show up for his yak.

Kevin unwrapping his yak for the first time.  Does he look excited?

Strapping it down to his car the first time… it looks good on his car.

The classic pose with builder/Kayak/Owner.  Now I am 6′ and Kevin is 6′2″ and you can see that the cockpit combing doesn’t even reach our heads.  Shows how big this yak really is.

Floating and smiling… what else is there?

He sits it well, and it rides the water well

A pic for his Mom. LOL

Here we sit at the Norris Dam wondering how to get through.  Okay maybe not…

Well, might as well head back to camp it has been a fine paddle….

 

 

Well it is tuesday nite and my bags are packed.  We will be leaving soon on another road trip with our camping trailer and 3 yaks.  I am actually looking forward to taking this newest yak to her proper owner and hope to be able to post lots of pics of this trip.  So stay tuned for a week or so.  And then after that I will be starting a whole new series.  Tennessee HERE WE COME!!!!!!

Redfish King (part 6 Finished)

Specs;

Length    17′ 9″       Width    20 1/2″          Deck Height   11 1/2″      Weight  43 pounds

 Hours to construct  310  man hours  3 1/2 months in Duration

Materials;

Western Red Cedar, Atlantic White Cedar, Padauk, with Ash in the line recesses and combing lip, and 1/4″ okoume plywood for the bulkheads.

Maas Epoxy, 4 oz. E glass, Eiphanes varnish

 

08/03/09  Today I dry buffed the entire yak, and then started all the outfitting.  I ran all the deck lines, installed handles that I made to match, and then worked on the seat.  I have to tell everyone that this “IR” backband is the primo of backbands.  I called a friend to ask if I could use her scale at her work to see what it weighs.  And while waiting on our appointed time, I took pics in the drive…

This is the yak outfitted…

The “IR” backband and carved seat from Joe @ Redfish Kayaks

Close up of handle, deck lines and deck recesses…

Ooooops, I ended up putting the builders tag in the wrong place, the seat covers the owners name and serial number.  But Hey, at least my name shows.  Hahahahaha

I kind of ran a little more shock cord than standard, but it just looked right to have the extra lines.

 

Boy does this yak have a lot of rocker…

Kevin (the owner) asked me to take pics from what it would look like from the cockpit so he could fantasize about paddling it during the build.  Here I am sitting in it while on a sea of grass… okay a small pond of grass….

Loaded on the truck for it’s maiden voyage….

She sits well on the water, and I am way over the ideal weight for this yak…

Damn is this yak fast!!!

20″ wide yaks are not designed for fat paddlers…

Here are my classic on the beach shots…

You can really see the rocker in this pic…

It just looks so good on my truck, I had to do another of it leaving the beach

Here it is on the trailer, packed away till it is time to deliver it next week

I thought it looked good to be sitting with Peggy’s Guillemot L

Well stay tuned for in 2 weeks I should have pics of it being paddled by her owner on one of the finest lakes in Tennessee.  Norris Dam here we come!!!

Redfish King (part 5 finishing)

08/01/09    As of today I now have 5 coats of varnish all the way around and have used about 1 1/2 quarts of varnish.  I started the day by lightly wet sanding the deck (actually I started at 4:30am doing water support for a local triathalon), and then I installed the hatch foam and the shock cord for the hidden hatches.  Washing the yak of any slurry, I was impressed I could not spray any water in to the hatches.

Then I managed to get 2 coats of varnish sprayed on today…

and with a little touch ups and the handles tomorrow, I should be ready for dry buffing on monday.  Fit the seat, backband, and deck lines!  Then it will be time to test her out in the water and make sure it is ready for delivery on the 13th.

07/28/09  I was out at 6am wet sanding the entire yak down.  The varnish I am using is working out nicely.  It is “Epifanes” High Gloss and is working out smoother than the Interlux Schooner I have used in the past.  The only down side to this stuff is the drying time, it seems to take a lot longer… 24 hrs instead of 12 hrs.

This is just one coat of varnish, it is really high gloss

 

After sanding it down I washed it off, flipped her upside down and put my first coat of varnish on the hull.  I am using 4″ foam rollers for the base coats to build it up, and then I will wet sand it down (deck done that way already).  Then I will spray the last 2 coats for that mirror finish

07/27/09  Okay, I put the second coat of varnish on the deck before going into work this morning.  I will do another tonight after work and then being off tomorrow I will work on wet sanding the entire yak and putting 2 more coats of varnish then wet sand it smooth and on Wed a final spray on the deck.  That will have to cure a couple of days before I can flip her over and start the hull.

07/26/09  I put the first coat of varnish on this evening after wet sanding the deck.

07/24/09 AM    I had some epoxy problems that took some time to correct, but this morning I started my end pours starting with the stern.  Trying to decide how to do this not having a shop with a 14 foot ceiling anymore, I decided to use my flag pole.  And being a patriot, I decided to leave my flag up for all to see that this is a USA made Kayak.

PM… I flipped her over and did the bow

and the view from my desk…

 

7/14/09  I got the thigh braces installed and filleted tonight.

Figured as long as I had my good camera out, I would do full pics.  The first is what you will see when on the water

and this is what everyone will see when on the water…

07/12/09  After getting up at 4 AM to work Water Safety for a local Triathalon, I came home to work on the yak.  I put the yak on one edge and sanded the other.  Hoping to control drips in this method

And while taking pics of my shop for a listing in Blue Heron Forum I thought I would take pics of some things I haven’t shown like the name tag that is mounted inside the cockpit area.

and the only graphic included on this yak complete with wet sanding slurry LOL

and how the deck is looking so far…

 

07/09/09  Today I started wet sanding the deck before putting a finish coat of epoxy on.  I have several days of this with nothing new to see.  I hope to start varnishing next week.

07/08/09   Bulkheads… I hate bulkheads!  They take so much time and there is really no reward. LOL  The pics make my fillets look sloppy, but you cant see it in person.   I also got the hatch rims cut down to the right size.

07/07/09 today I got the foot braces installed

07/06/09  Today I glued the hatch rims in, and it is time to put most of the clamps away now.

07/05/09  Lets see… the things I got done this weekend.  Well I worked on different handles, now it is time to figure out what style I wanna use.

I also made and  installed the spacers for the hatch lips out of 1/4 inch mahogany ply.  As you can tell from the pics, you can never have to many clamps.

 

I also made the blocks for the hatch hold downs.  Yes for those of you following this blog I had made some before but I was not thrilled with the style of them, so I decided to make new ones.  I like these much better.

 

Then I put the final coat of epoxy on the inside of the yak.

Redfish King (part 4 glassing)

07/01/09  Well, it is offical, this is now a Kayak!!! And this next pic is for daydreaming of seeing it on the water soon, what a nice view

 Today I worked on the outside seam Port side.  I laid out the tape

Now you see it….

Now you dont…

Okay, almost don’t.  This too will disapear with more coats of epoxy

06/30/09  Today was more of yesterday, just the other side.  You will see that I had to use more band clamps than tape to hold the second side

06/29/09  After taping the two halves together, and adding a few band clamps, I started taping the inside seam with fiberglass and epoxy.

And in keeping with tradition, I now have epoxy in my hair.  I used a scap stick to push the tape up into the bow and stern, and then taped a brush to another to be able to reach up there and smooth the tape down and add the epoxy that was needed.

inside smoothing brush

This evening I added my secont coat of epoxy, worked on handles, epoxied the clips on the hatch covers, and filed down the deck recesses that I could reach

 

06/15/09  Okay, besides cutting the deck and fitting the combing, I glassed the thigh braces and plywood that I am going to use for the hatch rims, and bulkheads

The sheet that is only half done has the hatch paterns on the other side, and being a pattern to cut the rims and openings, I saw no reason to waste the glass cloth or epoxy.

06/09/09  Okay, I am sorry for not posting for awhile, but busy, busy, busy.  It is that time of year.  I have managed to pick up a couple of kayak repair jobs, and even a couple of construction jobs, plus the weather is perfect for paddling.  And inbetween all of this, I have even managed to work on the yak, just not taking pics or posting about it.  So tonight while waiting on epoxy to cure I will try and catch up.

I puttied the inside of both the deck and hull, and then sanded it all down.  And filled in the stems with my fillets using wood flour, cab-o-sil, and epoxy.

then I laid the glass cloth on the underside of the deck, adding a triple layer at the rear of the cockpit recess where it gets the most stress getting in and out of the yak, and with help we epoxied it in

Then it was time to do the hull.  Adding extra glass in the center which I always put the reinforcing under the full sheet and wet both out at the same time.  I found it makes for a much cleaner job without leaving stings everywhere.

 Then I got the hull all epoxied in.Doing the fillets on the stems made the glass lay down much easier, and even if they are not very pretty, you will not see them unless you climb in the hatches. LOL

Coming next week!    after the 3-4 coats of epoxy will be to install the combing…

06/01/09  Today I got two more fill coats on the deck and it will be ready to split and remove the forms soon.

And now that the epoxy is dry, it is time to split the halves and discard the skeleton

5/31/09  Today I epoxied the first layer of glass on the deck, installing the graphic as well.  Just one coat so far…

5/20/09 In the following pics you will see the 4 oz glass laid out on the hull.  If you look close, you can see where the fabric has been doubled on the stems and the cockpit area.

Next you will see how far the first mixed batch about 6 oz.  or 16 pumps of resin and hardner will go.  The doubled glass fabric really takes a lot more epoxy than a single layer.

And my combing table makes a good mixing table as well

The following pics show the colors of the hull after the first coat of epoxy

And with the second fill coat

Redfish King (part 3 building the deck)

06/22/09  This morning I worked on cutting down the excess of the combing that hung below the deck, leaving tabs for mounting the backband and cheek plates

and sanded it down then coated it in a cab-o-sil epoxy mix filling all voids.

Then I saw on http://www.blueheronkayaks.com/kayak  where Nancy the builder of “The Water Lily” made these hatch hold down hooks.  She sent me the link from where she got the idea for them, but to be honest I stole the idea from her so I am giving the credit to her. LOL  She had made a modification in which the hatch is secured by a tether that I really liked.   I measured them out and cut them on the bandsaw, then glued them to the inside of the deck so when I cut my hatches, they will remain in proper form.  I will coat them completely in epoxy as I work on the hatches.   So thank you Nancy, you are a true artist!  If you can, check out her build at http://www.blueheronkayaks.com/kayak/index.html

This afternoon I got the hatches cut out and the deck moved out of the way (tied to the rafters)

to continue work on the hull which first I glued the pegs in for the foot braces using thick epoxy to set them, then 2 layers of 6oz glass and epoxy to anchor them solid

06/21/09  Well good news and bad news… I blew something in the tranny of my truck, but that kept me home to work on the yak.  Today I fitted the deck line recesses and glued them in place, and I glued the combing in place.  It doesn’t sound like much, but it took me most of the day to get it done. LOL  I also worked on sanding the handles and will continue with them tomorrow as well as cutting away the excess of the combing.  Oh and not to worry about the truck, it is under warrenty and will be ready tomorrow.

06/17/09  Boy!!!  Let me tell ya, Summer is here, with a Gusto!  This is not the time of year to live in Sunny (roasting, blistering, muggy) Florida.

Since my last post, I have laid out and drilled for the deck line recesses and U-bolts.  I have also laid out for the hatches, but not cut them yet.  Nothing is glued in yet, just fitted.

06/15/09  Just as promised, the combing has been fitted to the deck

And as you can see from the blue tape, I am laying out the deck line recesses, and eye bolts

05/31/09  Time to glass the deck

with the graphic.  This is the first time I didn’t cloud the cut of the paper and now I am hoping the edges will disapear with the epoxy I have left to apply.  The room I had to work with kept me from cutting it in cloud form.

05/29/05  It is time to glue up the rim of the combing

And as long as I have the epoxy mixed, might as well put a sealer coat on the recesses, hatch blocks and glue up the blank I am going to turn for the handles.

The artwork Kevin sent me to use arrived and so I decided to use one of the larger samples as a test for color fastness.  So I epoxied it on a piece of scrap spruce (the base of my stand).  It held the color okay, but the paper was way to thick, so I had to reprint it on my paper.

05/28/05  Okay, the filling is done, and the final sanding.  Working on bending the rim of the combing

05/27/09  HOOORAY!!!  The cockpit recess is done.  Now for a little sanding, final filling, sanding and the deck will be ready for glassing.  Check out the next few pics as to how it looks.

And this view is for you Kevin… just imagine waves in front…

I also finished with the 3rd coat of epoxy on the combing, removed it from the jig, placed it on the yak and scribed the profile of the recess to the top using a marking pen, then returned it to the jig

Then I ripped and planed the combing lip strips out of Ash, and am pre-bending them for installation following the marker line

Maybe I should just do a section on building a combing.  Maybe on my next build.

05/14/09  Well today was a short day and will be my last posting for the next 3 days.  I leave for the “Poker Run” early tomorrow morning and wont be back till late sunday.  Other than getting ready for my weekend, I worked on the recess having only 12 more pieces left to go, and I finish sanded the hull and did a little filling.  Monday I hope to do a finish sanding and start glassing.  More stuff came in today, I got the epoxy and varnish.

So check in Monday night to see pics of the boat and a report on the weekend paddle.

05/13/09  Well I am begining to think that there are more strips in this recess than there is in the entire yak! LOL  But I am getting there

And supplies are starting to come in… YAHOO

And the combing is coming together

05/11/09 On the deck today I worked on filling in the cockpit recess.  This is a slow process and not much to look at.  I didn’t even take pics…  I did work on building my jig for the combing today, I will be posting a whole new category on that when I start working on the combing.  But here is a pic of the jig.

05/08/09  Again I haven’t been posting, but as you can see from the pics, I have finished stripping the stern, and cut out for the cockpit recess.  The Combing is tiny (16 1/2 X 32) for such a huge recess, but I guess that is part of the allure of this yak.  It will be easy to roll.   From the following pics you can see I have started filling in the recess, and as I wait for the glue to catch on that strip, I am working on rough planning and sanding.  I had to show off one of my favorite Block Planes.  I love the extended handles on it.  A Lee Valley Tool exclusive.

Stern from the bow

Stern from the stern

I had to trim the strong back down and knock out a couple of forms for the recess to fit

It is amazing to me how the joints tighten up with a little planning and sanding.  I work on the right (starboard), and not on the left (port).

Using my “Fareing Board” to sand with, the Padauk is staining the white cedar pink. LOL  I am hoping the DA sander with finish paper cleans it up, or at least wiping it down with Acetone will clean it up.

This pic is after I put it away for the night

 

05/01/09  Today I managed to finish the Port, and Starboard which means the front half of this yak is stripped out!

And Kevin, these next 2 pics are for you, sorry I couldn’t get a video of water playing in front of your yak, but this is what your view will be when you paddle your yak

04/30/09  I started the infill of the White Cedar, and today completed the front Port section.  By following the sheerline, it makes the center stripe stand out that much more.

4/29/09  Well, I am at the point with this yak that I can post in two columns at the same time.  When I have glued up several strips on the deck, I just flip her over and work on the fairing of the hull.

I have the center stripe, along with the two skinny white cedar stripes running down the middle.  I have learned a valuable lesson with this pattern… with curves, you really can’t tell if you are off just a little, but with straight lines, you can see if they are off from a mile away.

With my shop helpers (pic above) approval, we staggered the connections between the center and the shear.  The cool looking thing is that the center strip of padauk lines up with the padauk stems.

On the starboard side I have all the red cedar and accent stripes done, I just have to fill in with white cedar now.  The port side is not as far.

Does the use of clamps ever end????

Liquid Rhythm is up and running!

Written by KayakPeg

After a long time waiting our friends Sean and Jeff decided to it was time to get back in the game and start offering kayak trips. On June 20^th, 2009, at the Chassahowitzka River at 10:10am, the guys along with 9 ½ paddlers, were in the water and the inaugural Liquid Rhythm paddle was underway. 

It was our pleasure to support the guys on their first trip out and it was great to see a nice turn out and familiar faces; Bruce and Gloria, Red, Kathy, Dean, Kev and myself. And new faces, Sharon, who is a friend of Kathy’s and lives in Hudson, Lorrin and her 4yr old son Nickolas (this was our ½ paddler), they live in Valrico and when looking to buy some kayak gear landed on Kevin’s site, where he informed her of the paddle. 

 

The Chassahowitzka River is a nice river to paddle, pristine and spring feed, which means it is great for cooling off on a hot day, and it was a hot day. Luckily we did have a little breeze and some cloud cover. We paddled back to the “Crack” a spring that is a great place to swim and cool off. You can paddle back so far, and then you have to walk about 100 feet in the narrow stream, but well worth it. Red, Kathy, Sharon, Bruce and Gloria decided not to paddle back with the rest of us and paddled about until we cooled off in the water and caught up with them.

 There were lots of canoes and kayakers out on the river and lots of boat traffic to keep an eye out for. I would say half were courtesy and slowed down when they approached paddlers and the other half flew by creating a strong wake. This is a little unsettling to the novice paddlers, but the rest of us take it in stride and will play with the waves they create.

 The wildlife was out and about, all but the Otters, which we heard had been playing in the river the day before, but I did not see any. I saw a beautiful big blue heron, egret, a blue crab, lots of big fish, then when we came back in up by the boat ramp was a small alligator. The small ones do not bother me, but I know momma has to be around somewhere.

 

 

The guys gave us a nice tour of the Chas, and with the tour you get two very experience tour guides. Both have a great wealth of knowledge of nature, water and paddling. They give their customer personalize attention, and will keep the paddle going as long as the customers like. They also provide lunch, which this time was fried chicken, potato salad and cole slaw, all delicious and home made by Sean and his wonderful wife Shelly. Oh, and did I mention they are very entertaining?  Yes, you will laugh a lot with these two guys around.

 All in all I would say it was a successful first trip for Liquid Rhythm, with more to come. Check out their website to find information on future trips. Come out and join us in play.   http://liquidrhythmkayaking.com/Trips.html

Here are a few more pictures from the day:

 

The Seahorse...so pretty!

The Joy of Volunteering

How I spent my summer vacation…

Last Thursday I was talking with Darry Jackson and he was talking about helping some kids in a “Summer Camp”  I replied about how that sounded like fun and if he ever needed help to let me know.  From the smile on his face I knew I was in trouble, and it was confirmed when he said he would meet me tomorrow at 10am at Bay Pines Kayak launch.

Friday morning I arrived and was pleased to meet a Miss Rhegan Hyypio (the councilor) and a Great group of kids all from Country Day School in Seminole.  When the kids showed up, they pick which yaks they wanted to paddle and then worked together to carry them to the water.  It was nice to see a team at work.

When we launched, we headed over to a little spoil island a short distance away.  I was impressed how well the kids stayed together and paddled as a group with no whinning or complaints.  When we hit the waves of a boat wake I expected fear, but all I heard was laughter and cries for more… then I knew we had some natural paddlers with us.  When we reached the spoil, everyone got out and went for a short walk…

and when they got done everyone jumped into the water for a quick swim

and a group photo Left to Right are;  Amanda, Rhegan, Allen, Trevor, Logan, Tony,Renadall, Jake, Sarah, and Nadine.  Thanks kids. 

And then back in our yaks for some more paddling.

and when some of the kids figured out how to splash others with their paddle, I passed my pump over to one of the kids showing what a water cannon it can be… who me???  An instigator???

As we were nearing lunch time it was time to head back.  Along the way Darry showed one of the kids how to mix Bronc riding with kayaking

Close to shore there were a couple of kids that decided it was time to get me wet.  And as I practised my bracing in trying to resist, they succeeded in flipping my yak and dumping me in the water.  And as I am scrambling to collect my gear as it is floating by, the laughter I heard from those kids was the sweetist music I have ever heard.

I hope Darry will ask me to help him again when he does this.  And I want to thank everyone that was there for a great day on the water.

Suwannee River

Okay Phyllis, your story is so good, it looks like 4 of us at the moment and anyone else that would like to join us will be doing this trip next March.  Thanks for the insight.

KK

 

Someone I know just returned from an 8 day paddle trip and sent me an email all about it complete with a link to her  pics.  I just wanted to share it with others.

Just got back from 8 days on the Suwannee River. Five of us started off with a visit to Big Shoals which was kickin! A definite Class III. Took a bizillion pictures of it. Then stopped by The Telford Hotel for lunch. Great food & even better great price $6.50 for lunch buffet, soup, salad,& dessert bar included. We camped the first night at Stephen Foster SP. We didn’t have to eat dinner, we were still full from  lunch so we spent the afternoon checking out the park. The Springhouse was really cool. The river was still pretty high so it was running into the Springhouse. (63.69 on the USGS gage at White Springs) Very nice campground also. The next morning we were up early repacking everything. I had all my gear packed & then realized my glasses were missing. I did remember where I put them, in  the pocket inside my tent which I had just rolled up & squished into a dry bag. I unrolled the tent enough to get my hand inside and into the pocket. WA-LA there are my glasses not broke not even bent. American Canoe Adventure in White Springs shuttled us from the SFSP to the 41 bridge to put in. (16.00 for all of us & our gear) The current was  running at 3.5mph. by my GPS. We were going to Woods Ferry River Camp for the night which was 12.7 miles down river. Mostly all we had to do was  keep the yaks pointed down stream & the river did the rest. There were a lot of places where the water  was a series of boils or Whirlpools. My friend Carol called these areas “Whirlleybobs”. At Woods Ferry RC the water was completely over the  dock & the kayak storage racks, so we paddled right  into the ramp going up. We started the unloading process. There is a cart to pull your gear up the ramp. We made about 4 trips up the ramp with gear, after the first trip up I was wondering why I brought so much food.(I ate good all week, but the food was the heaviest part of my stuff) Then we pushed, pulled, carried & cussed five kayaks up that ramp to our screened sleep platform. We were totally wiped out by  this time. The camp keeper “Wild Gator Bill” who has been there for quite some time says “You could have left your kayaks on the ramp. You guys are the only ones here tonight.” We were so tired we had to make ourselves stay up to at least 9:00pm. Of course the next morning was a repeat just reversed. I think it was aroud 9:30am when we got on the river

 Monday morning for a 19 mile paddle to Holton Creek  River Camp. This area is where we started seeing the  limestone bluffs. The’re not as impressive when the water 10-12 ft. above what it normally is. The sand bars were few and far between, but the sturgeon put on there usual show of jumping high out of the water. You just never knew where they would jump next so we never got a photo of any but a few of us did get splashed by them. When we arrived at Holton Creek RC the dock of course was flooded. We couldn’t get into the stairs because of the hand rails. There was a small sand beach just before the dock we paddled back to & unloaded there. We pulled the yaks up to a post that was futher up on the beach & locked them to it. And started hauling stuff up the hill to the platforms. I have  to say these sleep platforms are really nice. I could recharge my camera batteries and with it being so warm I especially liked the ceiling fan and the AC in the bathrooms.
We were up early again Tuesday morning & on ourway by 8:30. We paddled up every spring run but the springs were flooded also, so we didn’t see anything but that coffee colored water in them. We saw some amazing tree roots though all along the river. Just before lunch we passed by the confluence of the Alapaha River & Suwannee River. We paddled up it a short distance. It was pretty muddy & the current was strong. Right at the confluence we had major “Whirlleybobs” to paddle through. We arrived at Suwannee River SP about 3:30pm and decided to trade our campsite for a cabin which was much closer to the boat ramp. We spent most of the evening on the screened porch in the swing & rocking chairs, sipping drinks with ice in them. I definitly want  to see more of this SP. The next morning we were craming ice into water jugs, hydration packs, and anything else that would hold it so we would have cold water for a little while. We were back on the river  Wed. morning by 8:00am.
The confluence of the Withlacoochee River North is just below the ramp at SRSP. We paddled up it just enough to say we were in it. The “Whirlleybobs” weren’t as bad this time. We just goofed around paddling from one side to the other. Saw a couple of deer & a red fox. We were getting pretty close to Dowling Park and it was just lunch time, so we started  looking for a place to stop. I just happen to look back over my right shoulder as we were coming around a bend in the river and saw a small opening. I paddled back and it was a very small spring. I yelled for everyone else to turn around. The short run into the spring was less than a foot deep, so it wasn’t flooded with that brown water. We stayed there for about 2 hours playing in the cold water after having lunch.
Our stop over for Wednesday was supposed to be Dowling Park RC which had just opened in late March.  The river flooded about 2 weeks after it opened and caused major damage. We ended up staying at Advent Christian Village right across the river from the River Camp. Doug Maby, camp manager went above & beyond for us. He met us at the landing, helped us carry all of our gear up the 35ft bluff, load it in the back of his truck & took us to bunk house where we were staying for the night. The next morning he came & got us, helped load our gear back in the truck, and carry it back down the bluff to our kayaks. He also has  primitive camp sites with a place to get water & take a shower if you want or you can stay in a bunk house.  Camping is 3.00 per person or 5.00 with a shower included. The bunkhouse is 18.00 per night per person  There is a small grocery store if you need supplies, a deli & a cafe if you’re tired of camp food or your own cooking.
We left ACV at 9.00am Thursday morning and by 11.00 am it was thundering, lightning, and pouring rain. In the worst of the lightning we pulled to the side of the river and waited for an hour for the worst of the storm to pass. We paddled most of the way to Peacock  Slough RC in the pouring rain. Once we got the yaks unloaded we all got a hot shower to warm up. We had an early dinner that night.(no lunch stop) Woke up Friday morning to more rain. After breakfast there was a break in the rain so we loaded up keeping the rain gear & spray skirts within easy reach and stared out. Within an hour we were getting pounded with rain again. I was thankful it was only rain (no lightning this time) We found a couple of small springs that were not flooded and got a few photos. The rain had stopped for a while so we stopped at Royal Springs for lunch. We had enough time to eat & the rain started again. We hung out there in the rain  for a about 1.5hrs then headed out for Adams Tract RC.
The Adams Tract RC dock & most of the stairs were under water. Ron, the camp host there had taken the hand rail off of the stairs on the down river side so you could paddle up beside the steps one at a time and get out & unload. After unloading each yak we would tie it off on a long rope & float it down river so  the next one could get in to the steps to unload. After we got them all unloaded we pulled them up river from the steps tied the bows together and tied it off to a big root on the bank & then around a tree, then locked the sterns together to the upriver hand rail. They would have to float there for the night. I have to say Ron keeps this camp just as spotless as Gator Bill keeps his Woods Ferry Camp. This was our last night on the river. I think we were all sad for it to end but dam glad we were going to be out of the rain sometime the next day.
Sat. morning I got up, put on dry clothes, went out and took a good look at the sky, come back and put my wet clothes from the day before back on. Saving my clean dry clothes for when I get to the take out so my hubby will let me ride inside the truck on the way home. It of course was a reverse process getting our kayaks loaded up Sat. morning. Taking over an hour to get the five loaded. We stopped at four more springs on the way but they too were flooded. It seemed like a very short 9.5 miles to Ivey Park in Branford where we were taking out. There was a light rain off & on. We made it to the ramp at 11:45am, got all gear unloaded & packed into large duffel bags for the ride home.
This was the first kayak camp trip I’ve ever planned or done. It’s not my last though. There are some things I’ll do different & some things will be the same.  One thing I wouldn’t change is my friends who came along. There was Carol who kept us laughing, Ed who tested our bandaging skills, provided much muscle, and helped keep my mind off the severe lightning, last but not least Mark & Janie, who also provided muscle for shoving & pulling yaks up some steeps banks, their amusing bicker and banter, and funny stories. I’m glad they all had enough courage to come along with me on my first week long kayak trip. With the high water it was easy getting from one camp  to the next. But I really missed the high limestone bluffs and numerous shoals that are here when the water is about 10-12ft lower.

 KK  aka Kayakrazee

http://community.webshots.com/user/kayakrazee

Carrying Handles

Okay everyone, I am now looking for the perfect profile for carry handles.  The ones I made for the Guillemot are not comfy for smaller hands,

 

And the ones I have turned out of Padauk for the present “King” I am finding boring,

So if anyone has any ideas at all, please email me at kev_th@yahoo.com or leave a message on the Blue Heron forum at http://www.blueheronkayaks.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=1074

My Favorite Links

I am often asked where I get most of my stuff… Answer; EVERYWHERE.  So here is a list of some of my favorite links.  Let me know if you want to be added or have something to offer.  You can reach me at kev_th@yahoo.com

Local Outfitters & Shops

http://www.billjacksons.com/kayaking.htm

http://www.canoecountryfl.com/

http://www.ospreybay.com/

http://www.sweetwaterkayaks.com/

http://www.bigdskayaking.com:80/

Yak Building Webs

http://www.clcboats.com/

http://www.redfishkayak.com/

http://www.oneoceankayaks.com/

http://www.shearwater-boats.com/

http://www.guillemot-kayaks.com/guillemot/landing_page/kayak_plans_0

http://www.bearmountainboats.com/

http://www.superiorkayaks.com/

http://www.laughingloon.com/canoe.kayak.html

http://newfound.com/

http://www.seekayak.com

http://www.pygmyboats.com/

 

Yak building Suppliers

http://www.uscomposites.com/  Great place for your epoxy and glass fabric needs

http://www.noahsboatbuilding.com/noahusa/index.asp?url=IND Best prices on strips

http://www.duckworksmagazine.com/06/howto/puzzle/index.htm

http://www.kayakcentre.com/

 http://topkayaker.net/TopKayakerShop/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=2&zenid=a16f5b86da605d6c87816f3c61256a51

 

Kayak Sites

 http://www.paddling.net/

http://www.sealsskirts.com/

http://www.coastal-kayaks.com/ Give Kelly a shout and check out the Titan

http://www.clubkayak.com/cfkt/trips/index.html

http://www.dep.state.fl.us/gwt/paddling/Segments/Segment%20Home.htm

 

Friends Blogs & Favorites

http://kayakpeg.wordpress.com/about/ read about kayak trips and kayaking

http://devon.irvacationtohell.com/  Russell Farrow’s Vacation to Hell

http://topahonu.wordpress.com/ Say Hi to Sean

http://liquidrhythmkayaking.wordpress.com/

http://www.blueheronkayaks.com/kayak/index.html

http://www.cedar-strip.com/

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/gatorbait/

 http://ianjohnsonz.wordpress.com/

http://www.roguepaddler.com/

http://twofootartist.com/shearwater-construction-notes/ Another fine builder of Wood Yaks

Upcoming Paddles… it is the time of year

First I would like to tell everyone that the boys (Sean & Jeff) are going to start up trips again.  So if you have missed the boys as I have, then pencil in June 20th for the Chaz river paddle.  You can get more info on thier web site http://liquidrhythmkayaking.wordpress.com/2009/05/17/chassahowitzka-river/ 

Also I have noticed that Darry and the gang have posted a new kayak schedual.  You can see it at http://www.billjacksons.com/Kayaking_trips/Kayaking_trips.htm  What he doesn’t have posted is the BIG kayak/dive sale on the last weekend of the month of May.

Don & Donna of Big D’s always has something going on, you need to sign up to his newsletters to see the schedual  Check them out at http://www.bigdskayaking.com/

And of course there is the outfitters I started with that always try to accommodate the paddler, check out what Tom, Kim, and Bryan are doing at http://www.ospreybay.com/

The nice thing about all of these guides, is that they will help you with your skills and they offer classes to improve or learn.  Plus you get to meet a lot of nice people that have the same interests.  I know I have made many friends paddling with all these guys.

Poker Run

5/17/09  Well, now it is over till next year.  It was the biggest turn out yet for the MC Aquaholics, and a bit disorganized.  I am sure that having over 200 paddlers desending on you could be very over whelming.  And of course every paddler had better ideas as to what should of been done, but gee, how many of those will offer to help next year???  It was a GREAT time had by all.  Even though the water level was down due to the drought we are having, it did rain a couple of days before and made the river clearer than I have ever seen it.  The Aquaholics worked hard on clearing the river from fallen trees so there would be a full pass down.  Kudoz to the club and all of the members to help put this on!!!! 

 Now not having any control over what entries do on the river, I have to tell you that there was a lot of STUPID paddlers on the river.  It was a very swift river, and 2 women stopped breach in front of a pass to talk, blocking the way for others to get by safely.   People, if you want to chat with friends, pull over to the bank, dont sit in the middle of the river.   Another instance I was performing a rescue for 2 ladies in which other paddlers gave no thought of our safety getting out and rammed through.  But if anyone reading this knows the young lady who rescued the canoers, I have a friend that wants her number.  We will just call her SHEENA the AMAZON WOMAN!!!  She was amazing!!! 

This was my 4th Poker Run, and the clubs 10th.  I will continue to go as long as they continue to put them on.  To learn more or to volunteer to help contact the club at  http://www.mcaquaholics.com/ 

 

Well it is no longer early, it is coming up this weekend.

This posting is a little early, for it won’t even start until May.  But I want everyone to have time to join us.  It is soooo much fun!!!!

Marion County Aquaholics hold a “Poker Run” every May.  This will be our 4th year with many more to come.  It is well organised and the club members are so very nice and helpful.  The paddle is down the  Ocklawaha River.  This is one of Florida’s last natural rivers with lots of wildlife in and out of the water.  You can get a registration form here http://www.mcaquaholics.com/2009pokerrun.html  and what is really nice is that half of the money raised goes to some organaztion to support kids, and the other half is prize money.  Plus they have a raffle for a yak, and many, many other awards for winning hands.

There are also many places to camp if you wish to stay, maybe paddle Silver River while you are there.  We will be staying at Silver River State Park  ( http://www.floridastateparks.org/silverriver/default.cfm ) on site #52.  We are coming in on friday afternoon, and leaving Sunday morning

Redfish King (part 2 building the hull)

05/11/09 Finished shaping the hull today

And I put a sealer coat of epoxy on half of the hull sealing it and filling cracks, sadly most of all of it will be sanded off with a finer grit sandpaper.  But you get to see what the colors are going to look like once the glassing starts.

04/29/09  It is time to start fairing, sanding, and filling the hull while stripping the deck.  This is also when you can really see the difference of the white cedar below the water line, and the red above.

04/24/09  Today I worked on the 1st stage of planing out the hull  and shaving both stems to fit.  In doing this I keep all my cedar shavings in my one effort to recycle and be “green”.  What do I do with these shavings you ask?  I mix them in with the kitty litter.  It streches the litter farther, and REALLY helps with the smell! LOL  And yes, before you email me, I know my truck is not considered “Green”… forget it, I love my truck!

04/23/09 The last couple of days I have just been putzing around working on the hull.  Nothing really exciting to see, but keeping me busy.  Today with the help of my trusty shop dog… Matilda May (Tilly)

I was able to finish stripping the hull. 

 I glued up the last strip on the stern’s outer stem,

and started faring out the bow stem. 

 It is also time to pull staples.  This is probably the most boring part of making yaks.  I even wondered if I could hire some kid in the area to come pull them, but this idea passed as I continued to remove them.  Well, it is time to sharpen the edge of my block plane and clean up the shape of this yak.  I also discovered that the frame I have used to cradle my previous yaks is to big to fit this yak.  I will have to make new ends before I can start stripping the deck.

04/20/09  Well I was working away on the yak when my glue bottle ran out of glue, and my staple gun ran out of staples.  I figured it was the kayak gods telling me that was enough for the night.  I am almost done with one side of the hull, and have the outer strips started.  The bow went well, but the stern has such a radical bend in it, I can only do one strip at a time and then I had to use a heat gun to get the padauk to bend.  So that I can maintain center line when it comes time to trim the first half of the hull, as well as making sure the yak is still balanced when I pull a string, I am marking a center line as I go using the forms as my points of origin.  Both ends lined up, so I am sure my string will too.

04/17/09 I am up to where the outer stems connect on the bow, it is REALLY taking shape now.

But from the rear it doesn’t look like I am as far.  I have to clamp each piece at this point from the strips going from horizontal, to vertical.  Once I get as far as the bow, it should move quickly again

After a couple of emails with Kevin, we decided to run the outer stems in the same padauk as the center of the deck making it look continuous.  And being this close to starting to need the outer stems, it was time to rip the padauk

04/16/09 Today I am still working on the hull, but I have now switched to the white cedar along the water line.  These strips are only 6 foot long and require a little more time, plus it is where the ends come together in tight shapes requiring lots of clamping, so I only have 2 strips on each side.

04/15/09  I finished up the Red Cedar on the hull today, tomorrow I will start the White Cedar.  I had to take pics of the just finished build with the new build.  Something about seeing the roughness of the new compared to the beauty of the finished.

And now are some pics of the progress made today.  The good news for Kevin Russell (the owner) is that his yak is now on the builders stand and has 100 % of my building attention.  Late start, sorry.

04/10/09 Well I moved the forms where they are supposed to be, cut down the strong back, added the ends (complete with inner stems), and started laying up strips on the hull.  I managed to get 5 strips on each side before the originals started to give.

I am using a combination of methods of building, some from past experince and some are from Redfish.  One of the things I really like is the slotted wood holder that Nick Schade talks about in his book.  It takes a lot less clamps to hold the strips together.

You can really start to see the lines at this point

Anclote Key Paddle

5/4/09  Okay, Everything is put away and we are now showered and rested… Let me tell you about our adventure…  the Good and the Bad.

The paddle it self is a wonderful paddle.  That is if you like a small open water paddle, for once you commit you are at the mercy of the water.  It is 3 miles between points of land and it is deep water.  It doesn’t take much wind to kick the waves up, but it is one of my favorites.  And when you have a friend with property 3 miles up river (thanks Darry), it makes this a minimum 12 mile paddle round trip.  The first day we paddled 9 miles before setting up camp by going around to the Gulf side.  Weather and water could not have been any better.  Coming home was not bad, but not great.  We had an east wind stirring the water up and had to tack in with 2-3 foot swells.  This would of been great if the boats were empty and you could of played, but with over 80 pounds of gear in each yak, we found ourselves working hard to paddle against wind and water.

We set up our camp on the beach with my tent, Seans hammock, and we even put up a kitchen shade using Seans wonderful tarp.  The sand is very pretty white sand till you camp on it, then you discover it is soooo fine, your tent better be free standing because you wont get a stake in it, and it clings to EVERYTHING!  I’ll take a brown sand beach any day.

The Island is beautiful with White Sand beaches, Many, many birds of all kinds, pretty lagoons, High Surf Gulf water, a Light House, moderate bay waters, Lots of Sea Shells on the gulf side.  And the water was pretty no matter where you were with colors ranging from an Aqua Blue, to Emerald Green depending on depth and location.

Our Yaks on the Beach

Our Lagoon

Our camp

Now The Bad

For those of you that have not been on the florida coast line we have a tiny little bug that bites known as “NoSeeUms”.  Normally you can just stay in the sun, or use a bug spray to keep them away.  They are at their worst at sunrise and sunset, and hang out at the tree line.  Now let me tell you about the mutant version that lives on Anclote Key.  We are going to call these ravenous creatures “USeeUms” cause you can.  I wore a white long sleeve shirt that turned black.  As the sun was going down the first night they started coming out, so we dug out the first can of bug spray with 21% deet, you could see the little suckers laughing!  So then Sean dug out his can of 29% deet, and they snickered as they all swarmed toward him.  I had enough of these little f**kers and dug out the stuff I brought back from Alaska that was 98.7% deet, and they started partying!!! They drank deet like collage kids drink beer.   Laying inside the tent Sunday morning I decided to wait till the sun came up to chase them off, as I was creeping out on how many were all over the tent trying to break in.  With the sun up, I had to get up and move about, they are hard core “USeeUms”, the sun did not effect them at all.  As Sean is moving his hand along the inside of his bug screen on his hammock, there is a swarm of the blood suckers following it on the outside.

Sean Smiling before the USeeUms attack

 

5/1/09  The truck is packed and the yaks are loaded.  We will be taking off in the morning for what looks to be the best weather we have had on a trip in a year.  Hopefully when we get back, I will have lots of photos of fun times instead of nasty fronts and wild water.  It is nice to see my truck with our yaks ready to go…

I just wish we didn’t have water restrictions in the area.  My truck is dirty!  And no fires allowed on the beach.

May 2nd & 3rd, the near famous Bad Weather Paddling Trio will go for another Kayak camping trip.  It is coming upon the time of year down here to be to hot to tent camp, so this will be our last one till fall.  All the trips we do this summer will be in the comfort of our air conditioned trailer.  You can call us wimps if you want, I prefer to think of us as getting smarter with age.

 This time we are going to try Anclote Key.  Although we have paddled to the Key many times, it is always to the light house.  I have never been to the North end where the camping is.  Again it is primitive camping.  If anyone out there has done this, please let me know what to expect.  I know Sean wants to paddle over to 3 Rooker Island( I have no idea where it is or what is there) while we are out.  I have already filed our plans withthe island Ranger, andwill update this post as more info is decided.  Anyone with comments can write me at kev_th@yahoo.com

After the paddle I will post how the trip was and any pics one of us might take.  And I am sure Sean will post his version on http://liquidrhythmkayaking.wordpress.com/ .

Guillemot L (part 4 in the water)

04/19/09  After some modifacations I used this boat for “Water Safety” for a local swim meet.  It started out with a light chop on the water and was a good test on how the yak performs.  Let me tell you, it turns on a dime, is very playful and easy to handle.  The secondary is right on, you know exactly where it is.  And speed?  It has lots!!!   And although when paddling the bow creates a splash, so I was very currious what it would do in waves.  The splash is there, but it is pushed out the side.  No matter how hard this yak crashed down on the back side of a wave, my skirt and PFD remained dry.  I am impressed, I will have to think about making one of these for me…

04/16/09  John of CLC Boats was down here at Gandy Beach a couple of weeks ago doing a demo and I wasn’t quite ready.  But then I decided where would be a more fitting place to try out my new yak than the same place.  Hey John… still looking for that “Anas Acutas” you promised us.

Pics of me playing with it on the Maiden Voyage…  She handles so very well!!!

 

 

And now I turn the “SeaHorse over to her owner for approval…

Can you see the smiles?

My Guillemot L (part 3 trimming it out)

04/12/09 For those of you following my progress, you know that I am trying to move out of the shop I was using and into my garage.  Well, to day I am completely moved out.  I just unloaded the “Seahorse” in my garage ready to trim out with skeg handle, seat, deck lines, hatch straps, etc…

She looks good almost completed sitting under the “King” that is just started.

Once this yak is finished I will be devoting my time to the King, and it should go quickly.  Luckily work is starting to pick up a little so I wont have 8 hour days on it, but I will do something everyday now it is at my house.

It Is Done!

04/14/09  I finished the “SeaHorse” today while it was storming outside.  The following pics are of some of the details I did on this yak.  Tomorrow evening will be the “Virgin Float” and turning it over to it’s rightful owner.  It is like watching one of your kids leave home.  You know it will happen, but it still is hard to give up. LOL

Artwork

The Handles (homemade), recess fittings, deck line

Seat and foam padding.  The back is from Necky, and the seat is CLC with an added pad

 

04/14/09  Here it is on my truck getting ready for it’s maiden voyage.  I hope to have lots of pics of it on the water later tonight.  Notice the Redfish King I am starting in front of it.

Peggy, I hope you like this yak.  A lot of Heart & Soul went into this one.

Redfish King (part 1 getting ready)

04/09/09 While I was away kayaking a revelation hit me.  I strung the forms wrong.  For some reason my yak was coming out 8 inches longer than it was suppose to be.  Well DUH!!!  16 forms each form being 1/2 inch thick, my measurements should be from face to face, not between.  Luckily they are screwed on so I can move them and trim the strong back down.

04/03/09 I made the strongback and mounted the forms to it.  Then I taped the edges to keep the glue from building from sticking to the forms.  The spacing of the forms was a little different on this yak, it was not consistent spacing.  But then this is not your common yak.  It is nice to see the lines of this yak take shape, I know one thing for sure… my fat butt will never fit in it!

The internal stem strips are made and clamped to the end forms awaiting to be screwed down when the glue dries.  Then I will have to glue up the external stems before mounting the ends on to the strongback.

I’m starting it now!!!

04/02/09 I dug out the forms and laid out and cut out for the strong back.  Hey, It’s a start.

03/05/09 Today I went and picked up the padauk I needed to do the job, and while I was there at a wood wholesaler, I picked up the plywood for the strongback and bulkheads, and hatch rims.  All of the strips are piled up and ready to start

02/25/09 Kevin’s wood arrived today, we are getting ready to start.  If you would like to see the specs of this fine craft, just click on this link http://www.redfishkayak.com/king.htm .

My plans have changed, and my next build is for a young man in the great state of Tennessee.  He has chosen a Redfish King as the yak he most wants, and I have received the plans, and forms.  The wood strips of cedar and padauk should be delivered tomorrow.  He has sent the design that he wants and I am looking forward to making this fine yak!  I have never even paddled a fish form yak, let alone made one, so this should be interesting.  His design ideas are very simple, but yet extremely elegant.  This should be one fine kayak when it is done.

Marco Island

We just got back from a wonderful week of paddling even in lousy weather.  Peggy, Cheryl, & I loaded up our yaks on monday, hooked up the trailer, and we headed South.  The original intentions were to meet up with Mike & Trish on tuesday morning and venture out of Marco Island to Kice Island for an evening of beach camping and paddling, while having our trailer back at Collier/Seminole State Park as a base camp (someplace to shower).  Well once again the weather was not on our side.  A front moved in bringing wind gusts up to 40mph.  So having a base camp set up, we did a couple of day paddles instead.  Cheryl stayed in the Princess Suite of the trailer, and has become the newest of our surrogate children.

As we set up camp Monday evening, I spotted a yak on a car down the loop.  It turned out to be a “Impex Cat 5″.  We introduced ourselves to the owner, a Robert Keeler of Toronto.  He was meeting a group of friends in Everglades City on friday, and was staying here till then.  Talking with him, we discovered we knew some other mutual paddlers.

Tuesday morning  Mike and Trish showed up while the winds were still howling.  We decided it would be better to do some day paddles instead of an overnight paddle.  Safety being our concern.  We decided to go paddle the “Black River” which starts there at the park.  We invited our new friend Robert to join us and off we went.  Because of the late start,  the fact we wanted a long paddle tomorrow, and we were going out with the tide (yes it is a tidal brackish water river), we went about 3 1/2 miles before I turned everyone around to head back up stream.  I thought a 7 mile paddle was a nice warm up for tomorrow.  We noticed that there was no wildlife to speak of out, it kinda surprised us.  I had made Beef Stew for the trip and so we took turns taking showers (there was only one at our part of the park) and then sat around the camp fire eating stew and talking.  Mike & Trish set up their tent in lieu of kicking Cheryl out of the Princess Suite and onto the couch.  Robert said his good nights and went back to to his tent.

Wed morning we invited Robert over for breakfast, and he showed some intrest in joining us for todays paddle.  We drove over to the south end of Marco Island to the marina, our lunches packed and putting Trish in charge of the maps, we headed out for Kice Island.  We managed to paddle for about 15 minutes when 5 of the 6 of us decided we had over dressed and headed for the first beach we could find to shed some clothes!  What can I say?  It was much colder under that tree at the marina than out in the full sun on the water.  The water on the Gulf was still in great turmoil from the front that blew through, so we decided to paddle on the inside of the island chain.  With Trish having the maps, Robert and I having our trusty GPS’s, we found the channel that seperates Kice from Romano Islands and headed out to the Gulf.  Again we were paddling with an outgoing tide and it was a very leisurly paddle.  The channel was about a mile long and what we saw when we reached the end was a surf that would make surfers drool.  Actually, the mouth of the channel had a lot of different types of water conditions.  There was a major washing machine, an eddy, a standing wave, and a major surf break.  We all went through the washing machine, but the others headed out to play in the surf, Peggy & I headed for the beach.  It is not that we cant handle the water for we have been in much worse, but it is not what we enjoy paddling.  Way to much work and you know you are going to get wet.  The water was rough enough that the wave carried us both about 8 feet up onto the beach, and then tried to pull our yaks out from under us while we were getting out.  The others quickly tired of playing and joined us on the beach for lunch. 

Robert & Cheryl eating lunch

 Across the channel was the first wildlife we had seen.  We had a Mama Osprey with a not quite flying baby in the nest that we watched for a while.

Others went for a walk down the beach where Trish found a piece of driftwood she tried to fit in everones hatches, but it was just 2 inches to long.  So she tied it on the back of her yak where it looked like an octopus sitting there. 

Michael pulled out his kite sail and played with the wind

and Trish dug out her fishing pole.  The picture of her record Snook and Redfish  didn’t come out (yes this is a fish story).

Cheryl & Robert went collecting seashells for a craft project that she does for her friends.

We packed up to head back because Mike, Trish, and Cheryl had to head back for work on thursday.  We rode the current into this mess, but Peggy & I had no idea how strong the tide was running out.  When we launched it grabbed us so hard that it took everything we had to get our yaks turned and into the channel.  By the time we were heading the right direction it had carried us back 100 feet.  Then to add insult to misery, the channel was not only flowing the wrong direction, but it was flat!  Neither Peggy’s or my boat likes flat water.  We had to pull our yaks the whole way up that channel and found ourselves behind everyone.  Anyone that knows Peggy & I knows that is not normal for us. 

 Once we rounded the tip of the island into the bay we had 2 foot waves and we took off.  Our prime contitions.  It didn’t take long before we had our relaxed stroke going and was 50 yards ahead in the lead.  While we paddled along a big Sea Turtle came up right in front of Peggy, and that made this whole trip worth everything for her!  We even had a pod of dolphins welcome us back to the marina, where the Osprey escort we picked up in the begining of the bay left us.

Coming back into the marina, the 2 of us decided to make a dock landing rather than trying to get out on the ramp without scraping our yaks on the concrete.  It may not be pretty, but it was effective.  Loading the yaks and gear, we drove the scenic way back to base camp.  Again while everyone showered and loaded gear, Peggy put together a pork chop dinner, cause that is what Peggy does.  She would never let anyone leave on an empty belly.  We said our good byes to Mike, Trish, and Cheryl (our newest children), and kicked back around our final fire talking of the fun we had.

Thursday morning we broke camp, loaded up the trailer and said our good byes to Robert (our newest paddle friend) who was breaking camp as well to continue on his journey.  He told us what a wonderful family we have, and would love to paddle with us again.  I hope he takes it up the next time he is in the Tampa area.  As always, it is sad to come home.

Even though no one replied to my inquiry, we had a great time and would recomend this trip to everyone.

 

Okay Florida Paddlers

Can anyone help me here?  Some friends and I are looking to go kayak camping down to Marco Island and was wondering if anyone knew of any islands down there that we can paddle to pitch our tents, fix our meals, (have a fire maybe) and perfer it to be all legal.  I know, I take all the fun out of it.

Otherwise we will be going to Collier/ Seminole State Park and driving to Marco to paddle.  If you have any suggestions, just contact me at kev_th@yahoo.com 

Thanks, and stay tuned to see how our trip goes in a couple of weeks….

My Guillemot L (part 2 finishing)

04/04/09 Today I put the fifth and final coat of varnish on the deck after spending the day with John Harris of CLC boats (http://www.clcboats.com/) on Gandy Beach here in Saint Petersburg, FL    Wish I would of had this one done to show off, but there will be time.  The next two pics are after the varnish.  I still have to varnish the hull, then rig it out.  Launching will be soon now.

03/16/09 I haven’t posted anything again, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been working.  It just means the work I have been doing is boring.  I have been putting fill coats on the hull, and wet sanded the entire hull.  So even though I have been busy, there really isn’t anything new to see.  The sad part is there wont be for a couple of weeks.  Now the hull is done, I will roll her over and do the same to the deck. then start my varnishing.  Then you will see pics as I am done varnishing, and trimming out the hardware.  Other than the fill coats I have drilled the rear bulkhead for the skeg cable and  and used duct seal on the skeg box and bulkhead to keep things water tight.  I also laid out for my foot pegs and prepped them.

03/10/09 It’s been a couple of days since I posted anything, but I have been working… well kind of.  Sat. I spent about 20min puttying and sealing the sheer line, Mon. I set the ribbon I use on the port side, and today I set the ribbon on the starboard side.  That only takes a couple of hours on each side.

03/06/09 Had a hard time getting motivated, but still managed to get a few things done.  I started with installing both bulkheads, and filleting 3/4s of the way around on one side of each.  Then I moved on to sanding the drain ports for the hatches, and then cutting out and installing the hatch rims, and once that was done I hoisted it back in the air and did a end pour in the bow.

03/05/09 Not an exciting day today, I rolled the yak over and seam taped the other side, and then left to run some errands.  Picking up materials for my next build (Redfish King).  When I came back I lifted the yak up to do an end pour on the stern end.

03/04/09 I started the day by cutting out my hatches, and then started strapping the two halves together and seam taped one side together.  I must say that this is the hardest part of kayak building.  Trying to get the tape & epoxy along the seam from bow to stern is a royal pain.

 

03/03/09  Coming back from a nice weekend paddle (see Cayo Costa), and suffering through jury duty on Monday, I managed to do a little work on the boat today.  I laid out the recesses for the deck lines, the u-bolts on the ends, and the hatches.  I pre-drilled for the u-bolts and then filled the holes with epoxy to seal the wood from any moisture,

and then I drilled the holes for the deck line recesses and installed them. 

Then I did my final fill coat of epoxy on the inside of the deck.  I also discovered that the foot pegs are going to mount right at the seam line.  So I guess I will have to mount it on blocks instead of using thru bolts. 

02/27/09 Today I installed the combing.  It is really hard to take a saw to the body you have worked so hard to shape.  But taking your time and fitting the combing a dozen times and slowly cutting away what is needed, you end up with a nice tight fit.  Add to that a nice epoxy/wood flour putty along the outside and you end up with a nice product.  Also installed the skeg handle block.

The pile of items left to install before I start the varnish work is getting smaller…

02/26/09  Today I finished with the major glassing… the inside of the deck including reinforcing.  Put a second fill coat on the inside of the hull, and started my idea of wood carry handles.  I like the feel of “Kayak Karry” handles which I can no longer find, so I am constructing my own out of some mahogany veneer I am laminating.

02/25/09  I striped the forms out today, did a little light sanding on the inside of the hull,

and glassed the inside of the hull.  Thanks to my contacts at US Composites ( http://www.uscomposites.com/) for giving me a great deal on the kevlar hybrid material for my cockpit area, I laid the reinforcing cloth as well.

Time to box up the forms till I can make another one of these yaks for me.

 

02/24/09 Today was productive in a simple kind of way.  I added the reinforcing glass to the bottom of the hull, added my graphics, the boats name and my serial number.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The serial number is on the port stern, the name is on the front of the combing, and my Seahorse graphic of course is on both sides of the bow.

I also took the 14 recess deck plugs and epoxied them to seal them before installation

RAW

Epoxied

02/23/09 I split the deck and the hull today, and glassed the outside of the hull.  This is the first layer of glass, and I will add reinforcing tomorrow.

02/22/09 I remembered my camera!!!  And I put a 2nd fill coat of epoxy on the boat.  I remember being told that many thin coats are better than less thick coats, so I am trying to keep them very thin.  I still have the fabric where it is covered but not filled.  I am going to stop here with the outside of the deck and finish the fill coats after installing the skeg handle, deck line recesses, and combing.  Limiting the amount of epoxy used and trying to keep the weight down.

stern to bow

Sorry about the bright sun shinning in on the wet epoxy

bow to stern

I also worked on the combing and glassed the other side of the plywood I am going to use for my bulkheads.

This is after the first coat of epoxy

02/21/09 Well, I went into the shop to clean it and get it ready to start glassing next week.  Well, that went so well, and dust had settled out, so I decided to see if I could glass it by myself.  I picked up a roll of “Boat Mask” wich is a piece of plastic conected to a roll of tape kind of like a masking machine.  After you tape the seam, you can unfold the plastic and it hangs a couple of feet down.  I figured if it came from the local fibreglass dealer, it should work better then painters paper did on my first yak. LOL  We will see.  I dug out the 30″ glass andunrolled it on the deck… I could not stand it, I had to dig out the epoxy and do my first fill.  Peggy came by and I recruited her help spreading epoxy.  The bad news is I didn’t take my camera, so I dont have any pics, but I will take it tomorrow!!!  The colors are looking really nice and rich, it is going to be a pretty yak.

Chesapeake 17, a Yak from Down Under

The following pics are of the yak a Aussie I befriended from the CLC  builders forum built.  It is his Chesapeake 17, and the first kayak he has ever built, but not his last.  He is starting a Shearwater 17  next.  His name is Lawrence Watson but goes by the name of Wordsmith on CLC.  I am pretty impressed for a man pushing 70 and I love the Compass Rose he inlayed along with the curved paint lines to accent the shape of the yak.

1) first pic is of the finished craft including the cart he made for it.

 2)Nicely cambered and upswept one piece bow tip

 3) The extended cockpit

 4) Another pic of the combing

 5) Beautifully engineered “Smart Track” rudder system

 6) Birds eye view

 7) Stern view

 8) On the water

Deckline Idea from Down Under

 This is the instructions that Wordsmith gave to go with the pictures.  I appreciate all the work he did to help out a fellow builder!

1 – shows the various components of each fitting (more than one, actually).  The silvery-grey objects are not moon-rocks – they are the xpoxy-impregnated egg cups (I’ll refer to them as such – you know wha I mean!).  An untreated one straight out of the box (and the fridge) is centre-left.  The epoxy really stiffens them up – it alljust soaks in. . . No need to use something as a mould to then make the equivalent of my cups using  ‘glass cloth, etc (not that it cannot be done – there are a hundred things out there that could be so used). 

The short bits of dowel press against the deck underside and reinforce the ply web between the holes through which the line is passed, and also eased the passage of the rope around inside the cup.   I imagine the deck will be fully finished and lines put in as the last job of all.   You can see the two small white plastic grommets that are put in from above – they can be left as a push-fit (they won’t be going anywhere) although I’d secure them with a very fine silicone bead around the edge.  These grommets are available in various sizes (the hole in these takes a 4mm line) or you can buy brass ones if seeking that period/nautical/authentic look!

2 – despite the appearance of the ruler at the bottom here, the egg cup is about real size!  This is looking from under the deck and shows how the line goes around the dowel, inside the cup.  The white stuff around the bottom edge of the cup is where the epoxy flowed after I had coated the cup – it was sitting on non-stick plastic and usefully created this kind of flange, which after a little belt-sanding will make for very easy fixing to the deck. 

3 – the cups would be placed with their longer axis parallel with the sheer clamp, I’d imagine.  In fact, the closer the better for added stiffness along the adjacent edge.    Here, the piece of blue painter’s tape shows where I’d put a short piece of glass cloth ( or tape), epoxied between the two holes to reinforce the web in the ply there:  then add the cup.  I’d fix it with thickened epoxy all round to ensure no leaks.

4 – this is the appearance of the line coming through the two grommets on the deck,  I cannot imagine anything neater and less obtrusive – yet very secure,  The grommets could be dispensed with if you’d prefer, leaving the edges of the holes visible – it’s only a matter of taste.

5 – you’ll be familiar with this stage of construction, which is where I am at just now.  It’s infuriating doing half an hour’s work glueing down a set of coaming spacer rings then having to wait 24 hours to let it cure before repeating – three times!

Hull will be painted, with a narrow 3/4″ line running onto and around the deck-edge: deck will be varnished, currently has one thinned-out epoxy coat.  Varnishing will be done after final sanding off and after painting of hull.

Hope this is of interest.  

 

 

Glass showing

Hope you can see what I am questioning

Recess Lines

This is the kind of dish I am wanting to create in wood.  If they can do it on my composite & plastic yaks, then there should be a way to do it in wood short of hand carving.  The final pics is what I did for semi recessed on my first yak.

Off of the Wilderness Tempest Pro18

From my Atlantis Titan

 

 

From my Necky RM

These are the semi recessed on my first wood yak

Cayo Costa

WOW!!!!

That is all I can say.  We left on time and we arrived at Boca Grande driving around the island to decide where best to launch.  We decided the beach at the lighthouse was the best to pack our boats and hit the surf.  We could see the island just 3/4 of a mile across the channel.  The wind had the water a little stirred up along with the motor boats, and it was an outgoing tide.  We got our yaks down to the water and all our gear packed up, launched and with a headwind I think we set a record slow time.  Hahahaha, it took us about 3 hours to paddle 3 miles.  I had a couple of dolphins come swim beside me and I swear they were laughing when they cut in front of me and took off.  We decided to follow the island around to find our camp site instead of extending the paddle to 7 miles… after all we didn’t want to set our tents up in the dark.  I have to admit that it was some of the most beautiful water I have ever seen.

  And the beach on Cayo Costa was a pristine white sand with black sand specs.

My Yak on the Beach

As we walked up the beach trail to confirm our reservation, we hear a voice asking if we took a group on the Chaz river for a local outfitter and low and behold, there was Tracy & her son Bay.  As she directed us to the tram (wagon pulled by a pickup), we went to the Ranger Station.  The Rangers who run Cayo Costa where as friendly and nice as I have ever had the pleasure to run into, they even loaned us a cart we could use to haul our gear (not sure they know they did this).  We ate a great lunch, and set up camp. 

We were warned of coons, and read posters of feral hogs, but neither ever showed.  Instead we saw some small rats running through the camp and one of the prettiest snakes I have ever seen.  It was ever bit of 8 feet, with a small black head and neck, that turned a copper color fat body.  It didn’t seem to be scared of us, but was not threatening either.  Once this snake got himself one of the rats for dinner, we saw neither again.  I had to wait to get home to look up what kind of snake it was, and discovered it was a “Eastern Coach Whip”.  After Seans aka Shelly’s fine dinner, we went to bed early.  While sleeping a storm front decided to blow in.  At 2 am the winds howled thru the camp at 30 knots, and the skies were clouded over but the sky was as bright as if there were a dozen street lights in our camp ground alone.  About 4 am it got eerie quiet.  At 6 we broke camp and hauled butt to our yaks and set off back to the light house before the actual front came through.  Our VHF radio was talking of 12-14 foot swells and 40 knot winds.  What we found was 8-10 foot swells and 20 knot winds.  The only lucky thing was the tide was incoming carrying us in instead of out to sea.  It continued to get rougher the closer we got to our destination, and at one point it was a point of fight or flight, but we made it and landed on the beach with a laughing group hug.  We loaded our gear and yaks on the truck while people walking on the beach all questioned why we just kayaked in that nasty weather.  As we were pulling out the actual front hit.  As soon as I can get the pics from Seans camera, I will post the pics of the wildest front I have ever seen.

Both days of this paddle confirmed this is an advanced paddle, and I can’t wait to do it again!!!  Click on this link if you want to read Sean’s version of the trip. http://liquidrhythmkayaking.wordpress.com/2009/03/04/cayo-costa-currents/

 

This is a future trip I hope to report more on later.  But for Christmas last year I got a book on Nigel Fosters trips around Florida, and this trip sounded exciting.  It is considered an advanced paddle because of Florida weather can kick things up on open water at any moment.  We will be launching from Boca Grande Bay, paddling across the bay into open water to the island of Cayo Costa.  There we will check-in for our camp site, unload our yaks, and then go explore around the island and maybe even paddle over to Cabbage Key.  Then return to our camp for a gourmet dinner cooked by Shelly (Seans wife).  I just haven’t had the heart to tell Sean he has to carry the firewood. LOL

The yaks are loaded on the truck and right now it looks like if I drive/fall into the water I will float.  3 touring yaks, 2 Atlantis, and 1 Wilderness, all tied on top

We are doing this trip feb 28th, and returning march 1st  watch for updates on this trip and pics.

My Guillemot L (part one building)

02/18/09 Well I have been busy fairing, and sanding on the boat, and today I put a seal coat of epoxy on the deck.  I hope to start laying glass early next week and will have fresh pictures then, there is just nothing new to see yet.  I have learned something new on this yak, building a combing is a pain in the A__!!!  And I am still not even done with it yet.  But I know that it being wood instead of the pre-made glass one I used on my other yak will look good, and the decision to put wooden fittings for the deck rigging will just top it off.  So starting next week watch for “part 2 the finishing”

02/09/09  It has been awhile since I posted anything here, I have been busy with selling excess gear, and working on the combing, skeg, and cockpit recess.  But here are some pics of how she is looking so far

02/04/09 As you can tell from the pic below, The deck pattern is done.  I am starting with my cockpit recess.  This is a slow process, so after I glue up one piece in front, and one in back, I work on the skeg and combing, then back to the recess

02/03/09 I have taken a few days off to take care of business (laundry, Anita’s B-day(my sis-in-law)) but thought I would at least post the newest pic of progress

 

 

01/29/09 I finished the pattern on the starboard side, glued up a jig to make my combing, and made the blocks for the skeg handle.

01/27/09 Just worked on the deck and laying out the combing.  The pattern is now set.

01/26/09 I took the day off and had a wonderful paddle across Tampa Bay.  What a great day on the water.

01/25/09 It was a quick day today, I just epoxied the skeg parts, and laid out where the pattern and combing fit.

01/24/09 I have come to the conclusion that there is something very satisfing in taking a block plane to your boat to fare it out and producing curls of wood shavings.  I finished the mahogany highlight strip and filled in the other bow quarter panel.

And until you are done there is never enough clamps to fill the job

01/23/09 Well, today I worked on filling in the (what I call front quarter panel) red cedar up front on one side.  Continueing with the mahogany stripe at the stern.  And made some more red cedar strips. And I even sanded the front stem to shape.  It is really taking shape. I forgot my camera at the shop so I will have to post pics tomorrow or when ever I get the camera. 

So I am going to take this moment to let everyone know that the shop I am using isn’t really mine.  It belongs to a friend who is also looking for work and is not using it, not having any jobs.  I have a two car garage full of tools, but since I put in the laundry room, it is not long enough to house my yaks.  So I just haul my stuff over and use Gordons shop.  So incase I forget to mention it, Thank you Gordon.

01/22/09  The weather here is still to cold to work on the yak.  Hahahaha, it may only be 35, but we dont have heaters here in FL.  Well, titebond still works and so do clamps.  So I have my highlight stripe started.  Cold mahogany does not bend well, nor does it take staples, had to use finish nails to hold it in place.

I decided that the red cedar and mahogany was to close in color to be next to each other, so I am going to picture frame the red cedar in white cedar.

01/20/09 Well I posted a question on CLC Boat Forum a couple of days ago and got no feedback.  It looks like there is more help on S&G yaks than strippers.  So I am going to attempt doing my pattern the way I did my first one.  Hopefully I will have pics to show progress tomorrow.  Meanwhile… I have started working on the skeg, but still thinking about how to make the recess for the skeg handle.

01/16/09 YAHOO!!!  I finished stripping the hull today, and glued my stem pieces on.  She looks like a yak, well she really looks like a canoe without the deck, but she will soon be a yak.

And I have all these tiny little nails to pull

01/15/09 Well, it has been awhile since I posted any progress on this yak so it must be time.  Some of the things I have discovered is that cedar does not bend as well as the hardwood I used on my first one.  And short pieces (8ft) are more time consuming than the 16ft long pieces I used on my first yak.  And third… Everything I read, said to use staples in construction.  Well I figured I have this 23 (tiny)gauge pin nailer I use for work and it leaves such a small hole you can’t really see it.  Well it is so small, it won’t even hold the cedar when it is in a bind.  The cedar just pulls off, or the bind of the wood just bends the tiny nails.  I started using 1/2 inch staples today and it is amazing how well it works.  I guess the people that do this for a living might know more about building kayaks than I do.  But I am willing to bet that I can still trim a house or hang doors faster than they can!

I am almost done stripping the hull, and I have the ends shaped for the stem strips.

On the bottom I decided to stagger the strips to give it some what of a pattern for I am convinced that the fish that will be swimming by like to look at pretty things too. LOL

And as you can see, I have lots of work in pulling staples and scaping glue before I can start fairring the hull into shape.  But at last I can see a wonderful kayak starting to take shape.

 

01/08/09 Still at the point of watching glue dry after putting on 1 piece at a time.  Not a lot of progress but I do have 3 strips down each side complete from stern to bow.  As you can tell from the next pic, there is no such thing as to many clamps!

01/06/09 I finished setting my forms and getting them sanded and taped.  I also started setting my shearlines.

12/20/08 I built my strongback and started setting my forms

12/18/08 Okay, it is now time to start my winter project, my next Yak.  Design has been drawn, material gathered and time on my hands with this economy slump.  This yak will be different in the fact it will be mostly cedar and mahogany.  I have decided to make the cockpit a little larger, and this will be my first wood cockpit rim.  I will be posting my progress with pictures as I work on this winter project here in Sunny Florida.

This is the design I am hoping for.  The yellow (including the hull) will be white cedar as well as the cockpit area, the tan will be mahogany, and the purple will be red cedar.  I decided to use ash for the stem strips on the outside of the bow and stern.  I am installing a skeg using the system that a lot of composite yaks use, with a recess handle and cable to operate.  Instead of Carbon Fibre seam tape I used on my first kayak, I am going to try and use a tapestry ribbon.

I would like to put a drawing of a Unicorn on the bow if I can find one that I like, that is what this Kayak reminds me of, maybe a Seahorse

Coffee Pot Bayou

Well I had so much fun the other day paddling to relieve stress, that my buddy Sean and I decided to go out again.  We were going to go to Egmont Key, but a cold front came in about 12 hours early, so we decided to go play.  We launched during a low tide from the ramp at Criss Park aka Coffee Pot Bayou.  We paddled against the wind (15-20 mph) up the channel looking at all the nice homes on the water.  We followed the channel out past the shallows before turning south towards the pier.  Again going into the wind so we didn’t have to fight it coming back.  Well as you can guess, high winds, beach shelf, open water, coming cold front storm all produce FUN!!!  The waves were between 3 1/2 to 5 feet, the ketch was close.  As the bow rose and crashed on the first wave, it would plow thru the second wave, and all you could do on the third was to lean forward and get covered.  The yaks would bounce out of the 3rd wave like a little submarine.  Even though we were only about 3/4 of a mile off shore, when I got tired I decided to head for the beach for a little bite of lunch and some fresh water.  With a constant brace and sweep, it took over 30 minutes to reach shore.  Once on shore, you could look back from where we came and the water looked sooooo calm.  It was hard to vision what we just went through.  I realise that we were standing on the backside of the waves, but it is amazing to me how deceiving the water can be sometimes.

After our break, we paddled into the Vinoy Basin to look at all the sailboats moored up in there.  Trust me there are a lot of very nice boats.  When Sean and I were done drooling, we followed the shore line back to the mouth of Coffee Pot and back  up the channel to the ramp.  Even though it was a fairly short paddle, 4 hours or so, I felt like we got the workout I was looking for.

Well, I woke this morning with my stomach and ankle muscles sore.  Yeh???  I guess I was bracing more than I thought?  I guess I am glad I didn’t break off one of my foot pegs. LOL  Now we have to wait for the rain to end before the next adventure.

Gandy Bridge – Picnic Island

01/26/09  trip was about 8 miles total, water was calm and skies clear.  Easy paddle with a strong current in the boat channel for the bridge, and an extreme current in boat channel for Tampa Boat Yard.

Kayaks and Stuff for sale

First I would like to post some of my Kayak(s)( 4 gone) that are for sale.  I need to make room for the new ones coming in, and I could use the money.

The following yak belongs to a friend of mine and is known as a Pro SI 129 by Ocean Kayak http://www.oceankayak.com/kayaks/retired/index.html# .  This yak is no longer made, but the reviews on Paddler.net ( http://www.paddling.net/Reviews/showReviews.html?prod=1101 ) are nothing but high.  This is a great yak for anyone getting started, or for the fisherman in you

and he is only asking $600 $450 for this GREAT Kayak

How about Paddles?

The following are paddles we no longer use at GREAT deals, so if you need to upgrade, or a spare set, take a look at these.  Out of 12 sets, I only have these  left, they are going quick!  But I will dig around to see what else we might have.

Nimbus Feather Hybrid Wing Graphite shaft and blades, 3 position shaft lock,spoon blade, 220cm, Specs are at http://www.nimbuspaddles.com/Touring_Paddles.htm

If you are looking to improve your speed, then you really want these, they are wonderful spoon paddles!  Selling new for over $400, I am letting these almost new paddles go for only $275 $200     Super Sale $125

I would like to thank KayakKev for the help in selling some of my kayak gear.  My wife and I have recently had our first child and it is time I make room.  The selling of this gear will go towards a tandem kayak, so I can introduce my son to paddling.  I also appreciate any recommendations on what type of tandem has worked for you.  You can see what I am up to or reach me at   http://liquidrhythmkayaking.wordpress.com/- Jeff

Lendal Kinetik paddle blades $150, back side has exposed carbon on the rib, For $300 you get these carbon Kinetik paddle blades, 215 cm carbon VariLok Modified Crank shaft, and a Lendal paddle bag.

Lendal 215cm Varylock $175, For $300 you get these 215 cm carbon VariLok Modified Crank shaft and the carbon Kinetik paddle blades, and a Lendal paddle bag.

Extrasport Men's Long Sleeve Baselayer, shirt, used $27

Extrasport Men's Long Sleeve Baselayer, shirt new still in bag $35

Extrasport pants - old style, $60

Kokatat $20 with several stains

Palm $30

Extrasport X-Tended Wear Long Sleeve Spray Top,1 year old $40

Extrasport 1 yearold $50

Extrasport Riptide New $75, I have two of these PFD’s. One has a tag still on it.

I can ship anything with the cost of shipping being additional.

You can reach me at kev_th@yahoo.com if you have any questions or would like to try any of these yaks out.

Making a Skeg for a wood yak

On my Guillemot L, I decided to make a skeg in the same manner that P&H does theirs.  Havin 3 cables on hand, I am making 3 skegs… more yaks to come. LOL

I drew out the pattern of the skeg on a piece of 1/4 inch mahogany plywood and covered both sides of it with 4 oz glass and one coat of epoxy.  I also did one side of the rest of the plywood I had left to make the box out of.  I will fill the glass for the box before cutting it to size and put that side to the inside.  I will cut the blades out on my bandsaw and glue the cable in before filling the weave.

 

Here I am cutting the blades out on the bandsaw

 

Next I cut a slot in the top of the skeg inwhich to epoxy the cable to

 

And drill oversized holes for the cable in the top and connecting bolt through the sides.  I then tape the back sides and will fill all with epoxy when I do the fill coats.

Starting the slide block, I inserted a 3/4″ core box bit in my router table, and set up a center line on the fence

I took a mahogany block 1 1/2 X 1 1/2 X 6 inch block and laid out 2 marks 1 3/4 inches off the center line each way.  Lineing up the left line I lowered the block down on the router and slide it till the right hand line met up with the center line

This created a rounded groove like this

which I then epoxied inside to seal it up

I put the sides of the box together and taped them in place.  I then mixed a little wood flour with epoxy and made a 1/4 inch tongue depressor in which to fill all of the inside corners with a small fillet.

 I marked the ends of the handle block to drill the holes for the rod and cable

 Then I placed the block on the kayak so I can plane it to match the shape of the kayak body, then I marked how it sat on the inside

 removing the block from the boat, I planed and belt sanded the underside of the block and reinstalled it, tacking it in place using hot melt glue so it can be removed at a later date.

Then I installed the slide bar and handle to make sure everything works, but then removed both 

 Moving to the skeg box, I started fibreglassing the outside

I cut the box slightly larger than the tapered shape of the skeg

  I finalized it up by drilling a 1/4″ hole thru the box and skeg, using a 1/4″x1 1/2 S.S.bolt, fender washer, and rubber washer on the outside of the box, spacing the skeg with 2 S.S. fender washers on each side, and another rubber washer, S.S. fender washer and a S.S. acorn nut to hold it all together. 

Drilling the top of the box for the cable and cable tubing, it is ready to install.

Where the Boys are

Today January 18th 2009, 3 friends have left for a kayaking journey to circumnavigate the Florida Keys.  They are doing this to raise awareness of our “Wounded Warriors”.  Sean Fitzgibbons who is an amputee himself and works for “St. Petersburg Limb & Brace” along with Jeff  Fabiszewski is performing thier 2nd circumnavagation for this cause.  You can read more about thier efforts at http://www.liquidrhythmkayaking.com/ and http://topahonu.wordpress.com/.  Bryan Doleman who is a paramedic for the St. Petersburg Fire Department, and an avid paddler and works part time for one of our local kayak outfitters, as well as a guide for a local paddle club.  He has an ACA certification, and is a veteran himself.  Jeff got his ACA instructor/guide certification with Bryan a few years ago has a history with the Boy Scouts of America.  He is currently employed by Eckard College.  He currently volunteers for “Team River Runner” a national program to bring water sports to our wounded veterans.  His  passion is Greenland style kayaking as well as his family.

 Bryan, Sean & Jeff

I know that it is hard to leave your daily routines, wives and children to make this trip.  I am sure that you also join me in wishing them good luck and a safe journey.

They will be starting from Key Largo on the atlantic side and returning up the gulf side.  You can follow thier daily progress here at  http://kayakkev.wordpress.com/

 

01/18/2009 I just got my first report.  The boys had a great drive down other than the jitters are setting in.  They are staying the night at Key Largo Kamp and fixing a crab pasta for dinner.  Sean and Bryan are sleeping in thier “Tree Hugger” hammocks, Jeff is using his one man tent.  They have plans of being on the water by 8am EST.  Jeff is using my Expedition Single and a “Tuktu” paddle, Bryan is in his “Eddyline Night Hawk 16″ using a “Bending Branches” paddle.  Sean is in his “Alantis Mist T” with his favorite “Bending Branches” paddle.

 

01/19/2009- Day 2  The first leg of the paddle and the boys made it to Windley Key.  A distance of about 22 miles.  They fought a 18mph head wind for most of the day, 1 – 1 1/2 foot swells.  Had rain for most of the afternoon, and was very impressed with thier “Columbia Omniwear” and “Kokatat” jackets.  Luck was on thier side first thing this morning when the people camping next to them last night, followed Bryan to where he was leaving his truck for the trip and gave him a ride back to the launch so he didn’t have to walk.  Thank you kind people.

01/20/09- Day 3  They are facing their first encounter with Mother Nature.  The Keys are being affected with the same Artic Blast that the rest of the nation is facing.  With a west wind of 25mph gusting to 35, they are needing to hunker down.  They are having problems as to where they can do this.  Tomorrow the winds will change out of the north which will put it to their backs and riding the swells instead of getting hit by them breech.  Lets hope someone on Windley Key, or Islamorada will help them with a 6×6 piece of land.

Okay, after much grumbling they got a late start and faced the weather to paddle about 6 miles to Indian Key.  Here they met a fellow paddler that knows the area very well and gave them a map of all the areas in which they can camp.  You know this Gentleman whos name is Paddler Ron from Wisconsin is a good guy cause he has a black Cocker Spaniel named Gala as a paddling partner.  With Rons help they found a location that is protected by trees that they can set up camp and wait out todays bad weather.  Hopefully the wind direction will change tonight and they can continue in the morning.

  (Ron and his partner Gala)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

01/21/09 Day 4  Today was not a good day.  This Artic Front blew it’s worst today and was a trial for all mankind.  The Boys found themselves in 30 mph winds, swift hard currents, strong tides, and 4-5 foot swells.  In crossing two bridges, they had to paddle right at the bridges to be kept from being swept out to sea.  All this hard work netted them only about 12 miles to Long Key.  They are staying the night on a famous Florida chickee.  Spirts are still up even though they froze last night, and muscles are sore from fighting the water all day.  All 3 admitted that the bridge crossings was very scarey, but so far, so good.  I was glad to report to them that the weather only improves for the next week.  The worst is over.

Jeff called me later this evening.  Again spirits are high and he is ready to complete this journey.  He did admit it was hard with sleeping bags rated for 50 degrees and the nights being low 40s, the rats running all over his tent to the point it was unnerveing to see and hear them outside while he was inside.  And then to paddle the day with his yak (actually all 3 yaks) at an angle to the direction he was aimed.  His triceps are tight from using a constant left hand sweep stroke.

01/22/09 Day 5  Just got a call from Sean.  The weather has not improved much if at all, depression has begun to set in.  They are all freezing with the temps being lower there than they are in Denver CO.  As of 10 AM they are going to sit tight one more night on the chickee and see what tomorrow brings.  Remember that it is colder there now than it has been in the last 12 years and they are not prepared for it, plus they can’t even make a fire to warm up (chickees are wood platforms).

01/23/09 Day 6  Well the boys gave up and came home.  I will let them tell you why on their web pages and this will no longer be on my front page.  Thank you for checking on it everyday.

Spring Run

There is not a lot to say about this yak, I haven’t started it yet. Hahahaha  This will be my 3rd wood yak to build.  You can see this design at  http://www.redfishkayak.com/spring_run.htm

Joe over at Redfish was great in helping me decide what I wanted and was very quick in shipping the forms and plans.

Posting Progress

I am Happy to tell everyone that I have some good friends that are going to circumnavigate the Florida Keys and I get to update thier progress on a daily report on both my blog and thier web page

WWW.liquidrhythmkayaking.com

http://topahonu.wordpress.com/

I will be using the following map everynight to show thier progress and hopefully a few words on the days events

 

Left to right is Bryan Doleman, Sean Fitzgibbons, and Jeff Fabiszewski

 

I am also happy to let everyone know that Jeff Fabiszewski will be paddling one of my boats. My Whale which is my first wood strip kayak, a Guillimot Expedition Single.

Sean Fitzgibbon will be using his new Atlantis MisT which I was able to help him aquire.

And although I have not checked with him yet, I am sure Bryan Doleman will be using his favorite Eddyline yak.

Be sure to check in for the updates starting January 18th.