Kayak building project diary - bits
Nov. 5th, 2010 05:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
andygatesI've just ordered the HDPE slab for the kayak project. Seems as good a time as any to look at the parts that go into it:
The basic design is straightforward: a bunch of aluminium-tube stringers run from front to back. These include the keel, gunwales, inwales and chines. The keel's the one on the bottom the gunwales are to the sides, the inwales run just inside those for strength, and the chines five form to the hull. These stringers are separated by plastic separators and meet up at a bow and a stern piece. The separators are squashed-O shapes cut from HDPE (milk-bottle plastic) slab, and the stringers snap into cutouts in them. Over all that goes the skin, which is a taut waterproof fabric with a big zipper up top.
Yes, it's a lot like a zeppelin. Apart from the zipper.
There are three "big ticket" items on the shopping list: a slab of heavy plastic for the separators, a bunch of aluminium tube for the lengthways parts, and the skin fabric. Then there's adhesives, cord, drill bits, springy wire, a zipper or velcro, seat stuff and such. In addition, there's a drill stand and pipe bender, both of which have been on my "it'd be nice if I needed one" list anyway and the cheap B&Q variant of each will be ample. And there's a bunch of 2x4 timber for the boatbuilding jig on which this can all be assembled square and true.
Since the jig itself is big - 13 feet for a 17-foot boat - I'm aiming to do a lot of the making first, then have a massive epic build-a-thon to get the frame assembled. The most interesting part is cutting the plastic separators, so that's where I'm starting.
The basic design is straightforward: a bunch of aluminium-tube stringers run from front to back. These include the keel, gunwales, inwales and chines. The keel's the one on the bottom the gunwales are to the sides, the inwales run just inside those for strength, and the chines five form to the hull. These stringers are separated by plastic separators and meet up at a bow and a stern piece. The separators are squashed-O shapes cut from HDPE (milk-bottle plastic) slab, and the stringers snap into cutouts in them. Over all that goes the skin, which is a taut waterproof fabric with a big zipper up top.
Yes, it's a lot like a zeppelin. Apart from the zipper.
There are three "big ticket" items on the shopping list: a slab of heavy plastic for the separators, a bunch of aluminium tube for the lengthways parts, and the skin fabric. Then there's adhesives, cord, drill bits, springy wire, a zipper or velcro, seat stuff and such. In addition, there's a drill stand and pipe bender, both of which have been on my "it'd be nice if I needed one" list anyway and the cheap B&Q variant of each will be ample. And there's a bunch of 2x4 timber for the boatbuilding jig on which this can all be assembled square and true.
Since the jig itself is big - 13 feet for a 17-foot boat - I'm aiming to do a lot of the making first, then have a massive epic build-a-thon to get the frame assembled. The most interesting part is cutting the plastic separators, so that's where I'm starting.
