Author Archives: Kudzu

Shad part II – stitching it up

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Frame is finished and now it has the lines I was looking for.  Now just to finish it and spend some time in the water with it.

Here it the obligatory FrOG (Frame On Grass) photo. You know if you build one you have to post the FrOG photo! 🙂  You can see this is lower profile boat. It’s not small by Greenland standards but it is a pretty low profile boat, but still should have plenty of room inside.

The last roll of polyester I received had a lot of creases and some dirt along the edges of the first few feet. Even though the creases will come out and dirt stains would be cut off I wouldn’t sell it to anyone so I cut off a long piece and saved if for this project.

Here I am sewing the bow end on the boat.

After about an hours work I have one end of the boat sewn. I have been working on my technique and I have no pull holes so far. I realized that I was sewing the skin on too tight and that is why I still get a few pull holes. This time I sewed it on a little looser and not a single pull hole! Keep that in mind when sewing yours. It’s going to make finishing easier and it will look better too.

The finished bow. I had to quit for the day at this point.  I expect to finish sewing and shrink the skin tomorrow. I like to think I will start painting but I amt setting the goal a little high I think.

Shad part II

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With the hand tool cabinet finished I started to strip Shad naked.  Once I had the skin off and started looking over the frame I discovered some other issues with the frame. None serious but all put together this would have not been a good paddling boat.

Once I put the strong back on the stands I noticed it had developed a twist in it. No way can you build a good boat on a bad foundation and that is exactly what your strong back is. A foundation.  I decided it was time to try another style strong back I had been thinking about for a while now. But more on that in another post.

I cut the lashings at the bow and stern ends and removed the frames I suspected. I starting with the bow, with the gunwales loose I played around a bit and I could see I was onto something.  I recut the frames, installed them on the boat and clamped the gunwales in place . The curve I wanted was there!

Here it is lashed in place. If you look close at this photo and compare it to the previous ones you will see a very big difference in the sheer line. The Gunwales are not forced into shape either, so there should be no tendency for the boat to deform once it comes off the strong back.

While not lashed in place you can see the sweep the stern if you look at the gunwale. A big improvement over the first attempt. Not as dramatic as the bow but still very much a Greenland look.

I am tired and I am busy with work so it will be a couple of days before I get this one finished but I am hoping to skin it over the weekend. I found my green paint I think, so this time around maybe I will get what I really wanted!

 

Finished…..

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It’s on the wall, loaded up and will probably be modified for a long time. I have a few things left to do but not sure how I want to do them. So for now it is done. I have a lot of tools to clean and sharpen now that they have a good home.

Time to rest a little and then go back and work on Shad after Christmas. Merry Christmas to all!

Tool Cabinet * Almost done

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Yesterday I got the doors built and started working on the brackets to hold the tools before I gave out.  Today I went back to work on the brackets and trying to figure out how to arrange the tools.

To make it easier on myself I spread the the cabinet pieces around the shop and started gathering all my tools. That way I could arrange them, then rearrange, look at them and arrange it another way. 🙂

Eventually I got to a point I could not come up with anything better so I started building brackets. Eventually I had to remove the tools and started to install the hinges.

Doors fit together fairly wall with no big surprises. Looks like I let one get a little out of square but it is a shop cabinet so I am sure not going let that nag at me.

Once the hinges were installed I stood it up and started installing tools and adding a few more brackets. I think this is all I am going to do for now. I can add more tool and brackets as I find the need. I am sure there are some tools hidden around the shop too. I didn’t bother to drag out all my planes but they will lay on their side in the shelves.

Tomorrow I will remove the tools, flip it over and install the cleat. Then I need to move some electrical outlets and install the cleat on the wall. Then I  hang the cabinet and start filling it for real

Then I can get back to Shad which you can see in this photo if you look close.

 

Tool cabinet * An about face!

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Hate to waste all that work but I scraped the idea of making the cabinet from oak. I had the carcass finger jointed and ready to glue up yesterday but I started to realize that it was just a problem in making. The oak was  heavy, it was warping and being solid wood I had to allow for expansion and contraction. The more I thought on it I decided ‘the look’ didn’t outweigh the problems and extra work I was creating. After all this is all about function, not looks.

I finally decided to save myself a lot of headaches so this morning I started over. I went to the building supply and picked up some birch plywood. It may not look as good but at least I know I will not have the problems I was going to have with the oak.

It’s also a heck of lot faster to build. I started this morning and it was glued together awhen I left the shop. I will start on the doors in the morning. I think I can finish them tomorrow. Then the slow stuff starts, deciding on how I want the tools arranged and building all the brackets and fixtures to hold them.

When I went to pick up the plywood I was surprised to be asked if I wanted the good plywood or imported stuff. One of things I really like about this supplier is they keep quality supplies, so this was a rather big surprise. But I was really glad to see that they were offering both.

Since this was just shop cabinet I went with the import after being warned it wasn’t very good. But it was $20 a sheet cheaper too. But you get what you pay for! I am not complaining, but compared to the what I have been getting this stuff is cheap! Lot of voids inside. poor quality surfaces, Not flat and I didn’t check but I don’t think the edges were square or straight.  No way would I want my house cabinets made from this stuff!

Shop storage – new tool cabinet

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Since I had expected to be finished with Shad about now  I had decided to build a new wall cabinet to store my hand tools in. I have outgrown my bench storage and I am sick of the clutter on the bench.

After discovering the problems with Shad I went back and forth on which one to work on. I decided to build the tool cabinet so I can finish the shop rearrangement. It will make the repairs much easier and faster if I don’t have to hunt down tools and constantly having to clean off a space to work!

In case you didn’t know I build a little furniture every now and then as well as boats. But this project is not going to be furniture quality by any means. It’s just a little above quick and dirty.

I started by scowering my stash of oak. I am not a big fan of oak, except quarter sawn white oak, but my father-in-law gave me quite a bit. It was cut from tree’s in his yard a few years back. It wasn’t a great log and apparently who ever cut it really didn’t know what they were doing. It takes a lot of picking to find anything really good, but for a shop cabinet, I don’t mind flaws.

First thing was to run it through the planner since it is all rough cut. Sadie just can’t wait for the chips to pile up so she can sleep on them. Boy is she going to be disappointed when I get the dust collection installed!

About an hour and half later it’s all planned.  Anyone know where Sadie went??

I kept looking at these bad sections of board. It appears to have been a crotch. There is some bark in there too. They are a little rough but I have decided to use them for the doors since they are book matched and there is 2 sets of them. I wouldn’t use them in anything that might ends up in the house, but I just hate to waste them. It will be a little different than just a plain door.

After handling all that wood I was beat. Oak is heavy! So I called it a day. Next I will start cutting box joints to make the sides and trimming and gluing the panels for the doors.

Day 12 Finished (for now)

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Still not had a chance to go the water but I wanted to wrap this up and show you the finished boat.  This is going to be rather long post, but I have a bit of surprise to tell you about.

All the rigging is done, the back band installed. Nothing left to do. I kept track of the hours and I was very surprised that I came in just under 60 hours.  That doesn’t include the coaming though. There is probably 6-8 hours in a coaming, but those hours are spread over several days work.

This photo (below) is Shad sitting on the scales! I was surprised by this. 31 pounds on the nose.

Now for some photos of the rigging. I like to keep this simple. I don’t carry much with me so I don’t need much on the deck.  I did realize when I was taking these that I don’t have a forward loop to stow a paddle  under so I will need to make a change for that.

Now, for the surprise.  As I said from the beginning, this is a prototype boat. Building prototypes give me a chance to find any problems and make any changes before I release the plans. This boat has some problems and I have decided to change it  so it is not going to water any time soon.

If you look really close notice how the curve of the sheer line changes. Up to the arrow it has a nice up-sweeping angle and just about the arrow it starts to flatten out. Look at this image and you will see how it is supposed to look

The sheer should curve upwards all the way to the ends. Instead, it starts to flatten out on both ends of the boat. I had problems putting the frame together but I convinced myself it was OK. I had to force the boat into shape and thought it  would look fine once it was skinned. Well it didn’t and the boat has started to ‘hog’ a little. Meaning the ends are lower than the middle, just a little but it doesn’t look like the drawing and I am certain it is not going to paddle like I want either. I don’t have to go to the water to test it, I know I am not going to like it.

I read about people pre-bending the stringers before assembling to prevent this problem. Seems to be an issue certain boats from another designer.  I have never had faith in this method, it just asking for the boat to distort because wood will often try go back to its original shape.

I have been looking at a way to solve this for a while now. I have been toying with an idea and this boat has shown me I was on the right track and I know why it did what it did. BEst of all I know how to fix it.

The fix will require ripping the skin off the boat and replacing some of the existing frames But that is why I will not release a new design without building it first. I want to find any problems and fix them now.  You don’t want to build a bad boat and I don’t want a reputation for designing bad boats.

So Shad is finished but Shad is going to be taken apart too. I may wait till after Christmas but I will document it all till she is on the water and I am happy with it.

Jeff

 

 

 

Day 11

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You have to love the fact that you can build a boat from start to finish in two weeks just taking your time!  I don’t have the hours in front of me but I before I wrap this up I will give you the total time.

As you can see I finished up the cream on top. All that is left it put a little black on the coaming and the fabric inside the coaming so it looks better and add the deck rigging.  I had to order the perimeter line. I didn’t have enough on hand. Tomorrow afternoon I will make the fittings and install them along with the bungee and backband. When the cord comes in I will just have to tie it on the boat.  It will still  be ready for the water Saturday without the lines.

This photo makes the hull look really funny but it has a deeper V shape than it appears  here.

Day 10

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Today was one of those days. I got an education in paint and still have a lot more I want to learn. But I am getting ahead of myself.

I wanted the hull was  painted black and for course it is easy to find black paint.  I flipped the boat over on a set of saw horses, grabbed my HVLP spray gun and started spraying.

No real problems but I hate black and wonder why I use it every time! Always hard not to have some flaws in it. It shows EVERY flaw.

I also picked out a green yesterday when I picked up the black paint, but once I saw it on the fabric I hated it. I wanted a bright green, something like this and what I had was not even close. So I headed back  to the paint store, actually two paint stores because I did not like the answer I got from the first one. I got educated on paint.

Usually I use an oil based porch and deck enamel. It’s reasonably priced and you can buy it at most any home building supply and of course it works well on the boats. If I want a special color they mix it for.

This time it seems I chose a color that people don’t use on their houses. 🙂 No one could mix anything anywhere close to this color. Even if they could they said it would probably fade out really quick. The problem is the base color paint they start with. I can’t explain it but I did grasp what they were saying and that they just couldn’t get to where I wanted with house paints.

Both places suggested I go to the automotive paint supply and they could mix any color I wanted.  But I don’t much about automotive paints and they are expensive too!  Before I walked in I wanted to educate myself a little bit about what it available. For now I wanted to stick to something I knew. Time to pick another color but what? I already had the black on the bottom.

To keep this short I picked up a quart of Hunter Green and I  knew I had two more quarts in the shop. I painted some scraps, placed them on the boat and stared at them for while. None of them impressed me honestly, but I had to make a choice.

I narrowed it down the Hunter Green and the Almond. I decided to use the green, at least it was green as I had planned. But I kept going back and forth…… I couldn’t make up my mind.

The almond won out.

It doesn’t look that good in the photo but I am impressed and almost glad I couldn’t get my green I wanted.  I expect to get two coats on tomorrow and then I can take the tape off and see what it really looks like. If all goes well, should launch it this weekend.