The New Folder
My family and I are heading to Greenland for a month (July 2009) to compete in the Greenland Kayak Games and to spend time in the country. We needed kayaks that we could ship, as the excess baggage rules have become a bit crazy. This is a departure from some of my past building, as I used aluminum bar for the sections and wood members. The skin is one piece, with no zipper. The frame hinges in the middle and comes out the cockpit hole. The design is a Sea Ranger by Tom Yost.
More details to follow.
One down, one to go.
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The new kayak, out of its skin for
the first time
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Stern half.
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Skin
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Long look at the stern half.
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Bow view
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The whole thing
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A view of the keel and deckridge going
together. The ends are rabbetted and held in place with a length of
aluminum "U" channel and a flat plate.
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Here is a detailed view of section
5 (immediately behind the cockpit). I added two supports, as this is
the form that will take the most weight.
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Here is a regular section without
supports. It is held together with a simple riveted lap joint.
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Section 5 from the top.
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Here you can see the end of one of
the chines and the aluminum strap that connects it to the stern structure.
Also pictured are two sections of gunwale.
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Here is the detail of the gunwale
strap
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This is one of a pair of norsaq that
I made, along with a set of harpoons. They are cedar, sitka spruce and
purpleheart.
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This is the stern section with sections
5 and 8 installed.
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This is the assembled stern section.
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Every piece must be marked with name,
location and direction. Once disassembled, everything starts to look
the same.
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Putting it back together..... Remove the chine and gunwale screws from section 5 (they are conveniently mounted on the inside, going through to "T" nuts) |
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The other side...
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The front half with section 4 removed.
I put a strap around the ends to keep them where I want them.
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The stern half with section 5 turned
and a strap around the ends.
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The rear half is slid (slided? stuffed?)
into the skin
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When I took it apart the first time,
I found that I could have used about 2" more in coaming diameter.
Instead of making a bigger coaming, I made this little gusset that laces
closed with snappy color-coordinated rope.
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The front section is slipped into
the skin. Notice that things do not fully align.
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Fortunately, there is a complex device
installed called a stretcher. It aligns the keel halves and pushes the
two sections apart.
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Once pushed and screwed in, things
align much nicer.
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The gunwale brackets have a pair of
nut rivets in the top that fit in countersunk holes in the gunwale sections.
A screw comes up from the bottom and tightens into the nut rivet.
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Like this.
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The chine brackets are installed, section 5 is turned and the screws installed and section 4 is installed and mounted.
Good to go. |
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All images and text are copyright by Marcel Rodriguez unless otherwise noted and may not be used for commercial purposes without the prior written approval of the copyright holder. Noncommercial use is permitted.