I finished the bow and started lashing all the joints I had left loose. For some reason the stringer slot in this frame is deeper on the new design than on this one. If I lashed the joint it would pull the stringer out of line. If I had some wedge shape cutoffs from cutting scarfs lying around I could shim the slot to fit. But since I didn’t and they are lashed to the near by frame I decided to just leave like this.

While I am lashing I look down and realize I am being watched. Then I realize ‘I’ am not being watched, it’s the lashing that she is watching. She could care less about me, see the dangling sinew? She does.

I turn my back to cut another length of sinew and I hear wood banging around. I turn around to find Grace inspecting my lashing and knocking the floor stringers out of the boat. All this time she has shown no interest in the boat. Now she won’t stay away. 

Despite all of Grace’s help I did manage to finish the frame. It is ready for to be oiled and skinned. Except I have some slightly different plans. I am going to order some red dye to color the frame. Then I will apply the oil finish over the dye.

Somewhere I read that many/most/all Baidarka frames were red. So, I am going to dye it red. I have always like the idea of the frame being a contrasting color but I have just never followed through on the idea. Maybe a black frame with a white skinned boat? Or a red frame with a ……. no,  you will have to wait to see what I have in mind for the paint job. It’s a surprise.
I am going to try to do something to stiffen the frame too. As I have said, this frame was the prototype Long Shot and I made changes to the final design. One thing I was not happy with is that this frame has always been too flexible  All Fuselage frames flex some, but this one was very flexible.

I have never said much publicly about this because the frame was redesigned before the plans were released. Since I know how rumors get started and people twist what you say, I just kept that to myself.

Since it is apart, I want to try reinforcing this frame with Kevlar roving similar to what Plat did on his Geodesic boats and see if that will not stiffen it. If it works I could see it having applications on a fuselage frame race boat.

If you are serious into racing you do not want any flex in the boats hull. While it is probably slight, the energy spent flexing the boat is energy not moving the boat forward. Probably very minimal but races are often won by very small amounts.

I have to order supplies so it will be next week before I can do much else on the frame. So mean time I am going to try to get some work done on the Sea Skiff.

Just a quick post. I spent a lot of time working on the bow but there is not a lot so see. I wanted more than just the flat bow stem. I wanted to add some shape to it so it didn’t just look like a piece of covered plywood.

My first step was fitting the bow in place.  Clamped  in place I decided how I wanted to install it and the details of how I was going to do this. Once everything was trimmed and fitted it was time to move to the bench.

Since I am not working with a big block of wood I need to add stock. I started with a lot of scraps of cedar on my bench. Left over pieces of stringer, cutoff of’s from paddles, etc. I tossed around a lot of ideas trying to decide how best to get the look I wanted. After a lot of different ideas I decided using plywood  was the simplest way. It is heavier but it is also stronger and simple to glue in place since it has smooth faces it ready to glue in place.

Tracing the outline of the bow on the scrap plywood, I cut the pieces on the bandsaw.

Holding them in place I stretch an old piece of t-shirt over the bow, this shows me how it will look once skinned. It also shows me where the skin will touch and where it doesn’t and how it transitions from one section to another.

I have to do a lot of trimming and shaping with the rasp to get the proper look and keep from  having a boat full of bumps and flaws.  It’s a slow process but if you don’t it’s very obvious and very ugly to my eye.

Once I was happy with the look, I applied the glue, clamped everything in place and called it night. This afternoon I still have a little fitting to do but I expect to finish the fitting the bow and start lashing it all in place.

My Long Shot has been a test bed for new ideas and has been heavily used. I have modified and reskinned it at least twice. No idea how many miles I have paddled it but I know it has been a lot!

This was the first Long Shot, the prototype boat and it has some issues that were addressed in the final version. While you guys paddle the new improved version I have been paddling a flawed version. So when I recently noticed a couple of problems starting to develop I started to think about the possibility of ‘upfrading’ my Long Shot. One idea has lead to another and then another.

I have always wanted a Baidarka and the more I looked at the plans, I started to realize  that I could rebuild this one as a Baidarka and finally have the one boat I have always wanted.

I have a design drawn, but I know that the plans don’t match the prototype. They are close but there are changes that have been made. So that is going to mean I can use the plans as a guide but I will have to fit the replacement pieces to boat.

Last time I paddled Long Shot it developed a leak. I kept thinking there was a lot more water in the boat than normal. I pumped it out and before long the water was back. Rather than try to patch it I decided it was time to rebuild it  (again). So, today I started by stripping it down the bare frame to see what I had.

The frame looked just as I expected. It was in good shape with only one big surprise. One of the reasons for the reskin was I was seeing some flexing in the frame at the front of the coaming so I knew the frame was going to need to be replaced at some point. When I got skin off I was VERY surprised to see this.

Even though the frame was in two pieces,  the skin and the lashing were holding together quite well so and there was no way to see it was actually broken in two pieces  There was no danger because the skin wouldn’t allow it come part. I think that speaks to the toughness of these boats.

What happened, why did it break? I don’t know but when I strap it the rack on my car, the straps fall right on top of this frame. On my trailer the straps are further toward the ends.Another thins is the frame was very thin under the deck stringer. It’s possible the plywood was weak. I quit using this ply right after this boat was built because I was getting worse every time I bought it.

The frame design was one of the things I changed. The new ones are beefier and much stronger, especially if you use Baltic Birch plywood. This was my prototype and as I said, I this was one of several changes that were made.

Oh yea, I found one other surprise inside the boat. There was the usual dirt, bugs and misc. trash that get trapped in the ends. But this one I was not expecting! Creates some scary thoughts too!