You
can see the split strip in the center. The wood with the knot is
the plywood boxbeam. The wood above that is the inner stem, made
of cedar. I think what happened was this: I was putting quite a bit
of stress on the strip, torquing it around while at the same time bending
the end down. What I didn't see was that part of the boxbeam was
protruding just enough to prevent the strip from bending into place.
I kept pushing and twisting, and finally, SNAP!
After
I broke the strip, I pulled it out far enough to get the edge of a saw
between it and the boxbeam. I sawed off enough of the boxbeam to
make room for the strip. Then I forced the strip back into place,
using clamps, rubber bands, and anything I could find. When the glue finally
set and I pulled all the clamps and paraphernalia off, this is what was
left. It's not too bad, although there is still a big gap just to
the left of this picture. I'm going to have some puttying to do!
This boat is going to be rough, but I do think I'm learning as I go.
The next boat should be much better.
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Okay, I didn't want to make that mistake again. Before putting the corresponding strip on the other side, I sawed away at the boxbeam. In the middle of the sawed area you can see a screw, which held the boxbeam together. I couldn't get to that to remove it, so I just chiseled around it. Nick Schade (the designer of the boat) never mentioned that I would have to trip the ends of the boxbeam in this manner. I'll have to post something on the Kayak Builder's Forum. |
| I'm making progress. If
you look closely, you can see a couple of 2/3-width strips on each side,
which made it easier to work my way around the sharpest curve on the bottom.
I didn't rip enough of these smaller strips when I ripped my first batch of strips, so I rigged up my ripping setup again. I ripped a new 10'x1"x6" redwood board I had bought. I also ripped one strip out of a black walnut board I bought, but decided to hold off ripping any more of that until I flip the boat over and start on the deck. I don't know what kind of design I'm going to attempt yet, so I don't know what kind of strips I'll need. Besides, I had papers to grade, and couldn't afford to spend the entire weekend working on the boat! |
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I tried a 6 1/2" thin-kerf blade on the table saw. Someone's website said that it was "an old cabinet maker's trick for getting truer cuts." It worked! The small "thin-kerf" blade had a much thinner kerf than the 10-inch "thin kerf" blade, which meant that I got more strips out of the same thickness board.
I had to cut some coves on the 2/3 width strips, and I had a bunch of strips which I never "coved" the first time, so I set up the router table and had at it. I refined my technique, resulting in coves which are centered a tiny bit better. I also did a better job of keeping the cut true all the way to the ends of the strips. I'm learning!
Here's
another trick I saw on someone's web page. I used two thick rubber
bands, held in place by binder clips (with a 1/4" dowel inserted in the
cove to protect the flimsy edges.) It works! Drat, I didn't
buy enough binder clips. Back to Staples.
I think this is better than wrapping rubber
band all the way around the strips. Now that I'm working my way around
the curve of the hull, the rubber band on the inside doesn't pull directly
towards the adjacent strip (which is the desired effect - to pull the strips
tight together to get a clean, solid joint.) As it goes down toward
the bottom strip, it twists the top of the strip inward. I don't
want that twisting here - it will result in a wobbly hull. This setup
pulls the top of the strip outward, but only slightly. I've experimented
with equalizing the twist by clipping two rubber bands on the outside and
only one on the inside. It works, but I haven't noticed if it makes
the strip any more true.
| Here's one of my helpers. This is George. She (yes, George is a "she") spends much of her time in the rafters of the garage on an old mattress stored up there, so she comes down occasionally to check on my progress, and to get to her feeder. I don't know if you can tell from this picture, but she loves her food! |  |