Guillemot

Since I'm waiting on some supplies I thought I'd take a moment to talk the design.  I'm going with the Guillemot as designed by a boat builder named Nick Schade.  He's put a lot of thought into his kayaks and is a prominent designer/builder in the stripper* world.  In fact he wrote the book on strip building kayaks.  Well two of them anyway.  

After reading up on a few different boats I settled on the Guillemot because it should fit how I expect to use it.  I'm looking for something big enough to cruise across local lakes and paddle around in inter-coastal waters.  From time to time I may want to carry camping gear for overnight trips.  While there are a number of large kayaks that fit the bill this one seems to have a good balance between stability, payload and speed.  Not to mention it's quite beautiful.  As an added bonus Schade's book The Strip-Built Sea Kayak focuses on building this and two other models and since I was planning on reading it anyway, well, the Guillemot just made sense.

A close second for me was the Petrel.  Another model by Schade.  I actually think it's a better looking craft and it's faster but he sacrificed a little stability in it's design.  Since I haven't kayaked in many years and will be retraining from scratch stability was the main factor in deciding in favor of the Guillemot.  So basically it was a coin toss.  Schade has a series of online videos on YouTube I really enjoyed that demonstrate the steps of building a Petrel and if you're interested at all in the process I heartily recommend these videos.

Another boat I really like is his Night Heron.  Again stability was a factor but this time so was size.  The cockpit is small and the total length is a foot longer for rougher waters.  Of the three I'd say this is my favorite based on looks alone.  I'm not trying to say the Guillemot is an ugly duckling (no pun intended) but the Night Heron has a permanent place in the Modern Museum of Art.

Once I had the boat picked out I thought it was important to come up with a basic deck and hull color pattern.  I looked at a number of other kayaks and boats for inspiration and came up with the design below.  I hope it's not overly complicated for my first build but I wanted to mimic the coloration of the Common Guillemot; the namesake for the boat.  The white underbelly along with black decking reminiscent of feathers really appealed to me.

But I'm also considering this one in cherry:

We'll see how it goes.  No need to worry about the finish this early in the game.

The observant reader will notice an abundance of links embedded in this posting.  For the rest of you look again and see if you can spot them.  Enjoy!

* It's probably a good idea to mention that the term "stripper" referrers to any boat built using the strip built method as opposed to skin-on-frame, stitch & glue, etc...  Not what whatever it was you were thinking.

Delay

I ordered supplies including forms and a strongback almost two weeks ago but they aren't shipping until today and one of the tools I'll need early on is backordered.  Looks like at least another week before I can get going unless by some miracle UPS delivers on Friday.  My planned start date was October 15th but it'll have to be pushed back until this weekend at the earliest. My planned completion date is April 1, 2012.

While I have allowed a little delay room in the schedule for unplanned holdups starting late doesn't bode well.  I'm already anticipating a delay in glassing.  The kayak should be ready for fiberglass starting in January but the temperatures may be a bit on the low side.  The epoxy needs to be at 80 - 85 degrees and the room temperature at least 70 to get a clear cure.  Average highs that time of year are 57 so I have a ceramic space heater to make up the difference.  If we have a cold winter in South Carolina then that could push the epoxy application back into February or even March.

The only thing I can really start on is trimming the lumber to size for scarfing so I guess I'll go ahead a do that this weekend.  I also need to work on getting a thickness planer set up.  Oh well.  At least clamps arrived...

Clean

Ahhh.  Now I have a clean garage.  Everything was removed, washed and replaced or stored elsewhere.  I have some space to work!

All of the materials I'll need to start have been ordered and should arrive late this week or early next week.  The lumber needs to be matched up, scarfed, planed and ripped.  I'll probably scarf 2/3 of the wood upfront.  After that it can be done as needed.  Since the boards are various sizes I'm considering cutting them so they'll be a consistent width.  Doing so will make scarfing and planing easier but it'll increase my waste.  I have 36bf of lumber and already expect 10bf in waste just from scarfing and ripping.  The kit manufacturer ships about 16bf of strips so I expect to need at least that much.  If my waste goes over 15bf I'll start to get worried.  I hope to have enough wood left over to build a paddle and maybe a small kayak equipment storage box.

I went ahead and built strongback and form supports ahead of receiving them.  One of the stands is taller than the other but can be reworked as necessary so I have a comfortable work height.  In addition to the two stands I have two folding work tables and two sawhorses I can use.

The lumber on the stands hasn't been touched since I got it home with the exception of the one piece on the left.  I hand planed and sanded a little bit just to get a feel for the wood and see how it looked without the weathered surface.  It's very easy to sand and planing is a breeze.  I still can't get over how light it is.  Amazing stuff paulownia.

I've also received the first construction injury.  While swapping out the rough cut blade on my miter saw for a finish blade I took a nasty gash on the tip of my right thumb.  It's pretty deep but nothing a little super glue can't fix.

My best friend and build partner, Stella, is guarding the garage from the evil cats next door.  Good doggie.