The SOF Rebuild Project
I decided, after 1 1/2 years of use, that I didn't really like the hull of my SOF. It was a case of builder's remorse. The volume was too high, the hull too rounded and it had too much rocker. I could always build another, but I "fortunately" broke a deck beam which forced me to take off the skin. As long as I had the skin off...
Suffice it to say that the boat has all new ribs, about 1/3 less volume, a totally different shape, almost no rocker, and a built-in skeg. I was able to reuse all of the original components, except for the ribs and the skin.
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The Old |
The New |
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The squared-off ribs courtesy of the Brian Nystrom Bending Jig. |
A view from the bow. I shaved off a bit from the cutwater. |
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Another view of the ribs. The bottom is almost flat. |
The stern. The last 2 ribs are shorter, causing a slight dip. I put a cedar wedge on the stern cutwater to make an integrated skeg. |
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Looking towards the bow. |
The stern. |
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A power sewing session and the skin is on. I am using uncoated black nylon packcloth as an experiment. I will coat it with water-based polyurethane.
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The inside. A very different profile than the "before" picture above. |
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The cockpit area. |
A full profile view.
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From the bow
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From the stern. |
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Near the cockpit. The light marks on the skin are chalk lines. |
Progress: I wet down the skin right after these pictures to shrink it. Unfortunately, the skin went completely floppy. Much more than I have experienced with other skins. I unlaced the coaming and relaced it, pulling about 2 1/2" - 3" of additional material up (It was drum tight prior to wetting). That and a steam iron took up most of the slack. If there is still slack after the skin fully dries, I will slit the deck seam in those areas and take in the remaining slack. Lesson learned: Always wet the skin prior to sewing.
Further Update: |
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The big relaunch at SSTIKS2005, held at Twanoh State Park, near Belfair, WA |
The kayak has incredible primary stability and rolls very nicely. It is a totally different boat. |
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After a quick paddle around, I gave it a shake down on a five mile group paddle. |
The boat performed very well and was very comfortable. |
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I am very happy with the rebuild (photo by Pete Notman) |
