Building log: gunwales
Written by Magnus   
söndag, 03 september 2006

Sten brought some long, sturdy planks of fast-grown Norway Spruce to the workshop. These super light and strong planks were intended for paddles, but I nicked five meters for gunwales and keelson. It had some small knots in it, which made it less suitable for paddle-making, but still OK for gunwales.

I cut this up into two 4400x60x18 mm planks, and marked them for ribs and deck beams. I then cut the rib holes with a router and a simple jig.

 

I usually attach the isserfik (the "back rest" deck beam) by mortise and tenon, as this deck beam carries a lot of load when getting in and out of the kayak. All other deck beams are pegged. Pegging is easy and fast, compared to mortise and tenon, which I find slow and tedious.

The gunwale ends are kerf cut, and placed in my old Black Pearl forms. A string from stern to bow is used to check alignment. This time, the gunwales bent quite unevenly, which was expected considering the slightly uneven wood. For a rough fix, I removed the stiffer gunwale from the forms, and used my hand plane to remove some material. With the gunwales back in the forms, alignment had improved but still needed some fine tuning. This was done by repeatedly scoring the inside of the stiffer gunwale with the tip of a knife, until the hull is symmetrical:

After a lot of scoring the gunwales are finally perfectly aligned over the mid point marks on the forms:

The ends then get their final kerf cuts, and the stern and bow gunwale ends are permanently plugged together with doweled pegs:

The ends are then lashed to pull the end ships further together. The lashing also acts as a backup, should a peg fail.

The remaining deck beams are then pegged, using two pidgeon-toed pegs in each deck beam end.

Two curved deck beams remain to be installed. I will do them after the ribs are in place.

Total building time: 5 hours

Next step: rough shaping and attachment of the stems.

Comments:

Henri Högberg
Vackert! Och känn den absoluta friheten vid byggandet. Själv nöjer jag mig med diagonalmåtten mellan masik och ryggbalk. Är de lika är kajaken rak. Visst råkar jag också ut för en däcksbräda som inte liknar den andra i böjen. Istället för kniv använder jag mig av en fintandad såg, ibland en grov sådan. Lycka till med bygget! Och tack till er som lagt upp denna sida. Säkert får alla som går in här tips och inspiration.
Written by Gäst on 2006-09-17 20:22:38
Ørgen
Må si det begynner å krible når jeg ser at du er i gång med bygget ditt. Har du bestemt deg for hvilken kajakk du skal bygge? Er den den på ritningen? Gleder meg til å følge bygge prosessen. En ting jeg fant nyttig på min østgrønlanske mod (med temmelig lange for og akter stev) var å felle inn et lite stød mellom rælingene, på undersidan som stev borden kan hvile/støttes på. Så dette på en gammel kajakk ram fra østgr. Dette ekstra lille stødet gjorde at det blev lettere for meg å få vatret opp og rettet inn stev borden. Låste det hele av ved å plugge fast stev borden i stødet etter å ha surret på vanligt sett. Selv brukte jeg en bit av en ohøvlat spant (1cmx 2.5 cm) til dette stødet. 
Ørgen
Written by Guest on 2006-09-20 13:33:41
Tack
Tack för tipset om "stödet", Ørgen. Jag kommer dock inte att ha så extremt flacka stävar på denna att det ska behövas extra stöd.  
 
Ja, det är ritningen jag går efter. Alltså ingen kopia denna gång, utan ett "fribygge", med utgångspunkt i lärdomar jag dragit från mina tre tidigare SOF-byggen.
Written by Magnus on 2006-09-20 13:48:49

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