Sea Through Rover part 4
Learnt from Tom Yost during the week that the clear PVC I am using is the same stuff as the vinyl referred to in Tom's site. Different terminology between countries maybe, but no wonder I found its qualities very similar!
The STR is now finished!!! During the week I managed to coat the inner rim with urethane sealant and peg it all together permantly. Its as solid as I could wish and have no worries about it falling apart on me now.
Another job done was the deck rigging. I hummed and harred for awhile about what system to use but in the end decided on 2 strings behind the cockpit and 3 in front. The rigging is held to the hull by pvc shapes that have been folded over, glued and stapled to the shearline.
No D rings where available on the island so I just did without and threaded the cord directly through the pvc loops.
The adjusters are made from the same rimu used for the chines. I made the 3rd forward one with a hook in it to give me more choices in string tension.
The bow and stern loops caused some more head scratching. The cord was too floppy to stand up itself so I had to come up with some idea to lift it above the deck for the paddle to slide under. Tried various wooden shapes but they either looked too large or had the cord to close to the deck. In the end I pulled out the center strands from the braided cord and replaced them with a couple of lengths of 18 gauge copper wire. By crimping it through the pvc loops and sewing the braid together I ended up with bow and stern loops that stand up by themselves without any wooden fittings.
Next on the list was the rub rails. Previously I had scarfed some cedar strips together so today I planned and smoothed off the edges then stained and varnished them. To attach to the kayak I put them in place with some straps then working a metre at a time ran some silicon seal along the rail and nailed it to the shear with brass panel pins. When I came close to the ends I cut the rail to the same angle bow or stern, sanded and stained / varnished then nailed into position.
Last thing to do was the backrest. Although the ultra low aft deck didn't really need one I thought it would be worth making the STR as comfortable as possible. Carved out of mini-cell foam the backrest is attached with velcro and has a recess cut into the top to allow the coaming to press down below deck level.
So all done apart from the most important part - its launch!
The STR is now finished!!! During the week I managed to coat the inner rim with urethane sealant and peg it all together permantly. Its as solid as I could wish and have no worries about it falling apart on me now.
Another job done was the deck rigging. I hummed and harred for awhile about what system to use but in the end decided on 2 strings behind the cockpit and 3 in front. The rigging is held to the hull by pvc shapes that have been folded over, glued and stapled to the shearline.
No D rings where available on the island so I just did without and threaded the cord directly through the pvc loops.The adjusters are made from the same rimu used for the chines. I made the 3rd forward one with a hook in it to give me more choices in string tension.
The bow and stern loops caused some more head scratching. The cord was too floppy to stand up itself so I had to come up with some idea to lift it above the deck for the paddle to slide under. Tried various wooden shapes but they either looked too large or had the cord to close to the deck. In the end I pulled out the center strands from the braided cord and replaced them with a couple of lengths of 18 gauge copper wire. By crimping it through the pvc loops and sewing the braid together I ended up with bow and stern loops that stand up by themselves without any wooden fittings.
Next on the list was the rub rails. Previously I had scarfed some cedar strips together so today I planned and smoothed off the edges then stained and varnished them. To attach to the kayak I put them in place with some straps then working a metre at a time ran some silicon seal along the rail and nailed it to the shear with brass panel pins. When I came close to the ends I cut the rail to the same angle bow or stern, sanded and stained / varnished then nailed into position.
Last thing to do was the backrest. Although the ultra low aft deck didn't really need one I thought it would be worth making the STR as comfortable as possible. Carved out of mini-cell foam the backrest is attached with velcro and has a recess cut into the top to allow the coaming to press down below deck level.
So all done apart from the most important part - its launch!
posted by Grant Glazer at 9:29 PM
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