Scarfing strips. I cut some 3/8" deep 1/4" grooves in some scrap and cut them up into 4" chunks. These were used as clamps over the scarf. Only make a single pass with the router (in cedar) as a second pass made them too loose for use.
The scarf jig. I marked it to help me remember. I also marked the angle gauge on both sides. It worked well. It could use refinement such as deeper grooves and a spring steel piece to hold the piece in vertical alignment better.
Stop block to control depth of cut. The plywood fence is part of the jig and can be set in the same place easily and quickly.
Small scraps mean more good wood.
Sorting strips for scarfing
Getting more up on the rack.
Belt sander and cheap (free) dust control. Don't use a good vaccuum for this the dust will eventually kill it.
Strong Back for 14 ft Great Auk External strongback with holders for the internal strongback used in this design, I like the internal back, but the external adds much more rigidity.
Strip Rack with scarfed strips on the left side. Most long strips have 1-2 scarf joints in them, I had a lot of short strips left when I cut my wood for the Guillemot.
Let's get going.
Poor man's sawhorse, but it was stable and the right height.
Forms set up aligned, shear clamps installed and shear strip installed X2. I used a internal stem on this boat as I found the interlaced style of the Guillemot unnecessary when you laminate a hardwood external stem piece on. It makes for a much quicker build.
The form was cut back 3/4" and 3 cedar 1/4" strips were laminated on a jig using the endform as a mold. I screwed the endform to a piece of plywood and used small blocks to clamp the laminations after they were steamed.
The small screws are to hold the internal stem steady for shaping and early strip-laying. They were removed as the strips approached them. Shaped the stem with a plane, utility knife and some sandpaper, well worth the effort.
2 scarf joints
The guide book for this project, invaluable, written by Nick Schade, available at www.guillemot-kayaks.com/guillemot/Book
Getting it done. The heat gun is the most valuable tool to have. Heat a strip to almost smoking, bend to where you want it, hold, let cool and volia it looks like it grew that way. I use it on almost every strip on the side. Concentrate heat where you want the bend.
Doing 2 strips at a time. A bunch of clamps, some patience= no staple holes.
Only needed 2 cheater strips each side at the bow on the Great Auk,(5 on the Guillemot), these were shaped with a utility knife, and then a belt sander with 100 grit belt so things don't go too fast.
The line of clamps. As you come up the side it becomes more important to start in the middle and work out to the ends.
When you need a little more help, call for Ducky! The one C-clamp upright is holding a spot that did not want to conform perfectly.
It is easy to get ahead on one side. I tried to match strips and numbered the ones that were to be installed in the next step. Usually by the time I was finished with one set of strips I could take the clamps off the other end and start on the next set on the other side. My heating boiler is 15 feet away, nice and warm. A good place to get rid of the shavings.
Looking up from underneath, shear clamp is screwed on.
A better view up under the strips fit nice and tight to the forms. Forms are drafted out of book and printed out . Pink line is shear line. Heavy Black line is DWL and slash lines are 1" heights. On some forms I had to remove slash lines to make important lines more visible.
8 strips done.
Pushing cheater strip out into line.
Lots of light, oh ya, did I tell you, lots of light.
My shop and my helper.
Clamp detail. The small wedges are scraps that cut on angle, some of these are 3 boats old. The large clamps are 3/8" plywood.
Finished to the "Football. Guess which strips were last.
Heavy strap to keep the ends in alignment and tight to forms.
Thin end of a cheater strip. Slivers of wood in a crack. This is an easy way to fix a small gap and it is nearly invisible after sanding
Closeup of sliver.
Doing a split of veratis. The material was so fragile that I had to make the curves in laminations as a 1/2" piece wouldn't bend very far without breaking.
Back-cut.
The small pieces of wood under the outline are hot glued to the form and the outline. They are there to assist in maintaining alignment. I will knock them off when I remove the form.
Almost done to the stripe.
Filled to the shape line.
Filling center
Duct tape to hold over clamp and hold strip in line.
Training for Yak building.
Scary Sharp plane blade + finger=Ouch. Scary Sharp is using sandpaper and a piece of glass to sharpen a blade. This produces a very, very sharp blade.
Shavings thanks to scary sharp. Paper thin if you want it.
Last piece to get fit in. Taking your time is important here. Impatience and you will have to start over.
Clamps hanging over the boat, and easily accessible for doing the deck.
INTENSITY. The cat went nuts when I pulled the yellow straps off over the hull. I think the sound set him off.
Slivers of wood filling gaps
Fairing board
Sanding Belt 50 grit glued to the plywood
Used plaster of paris to form mold off the end of the dust collector. and wrapped 3 layers of saturated 6oz glass and filled with epoxy.
A sanding attachment for the B+D (it was really cheap) but the dust collector is horrible, made a casting of epoxy and glass. Excellent results and works A+
How it fits in the sander
Filling gaps
3.5 inch planks for the deck WRC
Bookmarked planks
Beautiful grain flat-sawn
Mold for the outer stem bands
The Bow Form was out about 1/4 inch somehow, split the bow and moved it right.
Reset bow
Getting the deck done, after a long pause.
5/16 and 1/4 inch strips to get around the very sharp curve where the deck and hull meet. A slow process but we got it to work.
Recess form cut out of 1/4" plywood, recess is a enlarged Guillemot recess.
Doing the recess fill with pine, used glue gun to end glue the strips, yellow glue between, used a long cross piece every 7th strip, this increased the rigidity, and made the recess much stronger to sand and work around.
Cut the forms to put the recess in, Oh well, the particle board is cheap.
The bow showing its stripes.
The small rise in the bow and 3.5" boards do not work well together, so I had to put a small wedge of mahogony in to align the strips.
Stern end of cut out.
Recess cutout slowly being filled.
Poor man's bandsaw.
Speed drying some yellow glue.
The cockpit form on for fun.
Poor man's table sander. Ok for forming strips, but a better unit is coming someday.
Blank for the Bulkheads
Gluing up 2nd Blank
Seat Back Blank 17" radius curve
Initial sanding, from the bow
From the Stern
Tear out from sander in WRC
Cockpit cutout
The Large cockpit and recess look proportional, always good.
After a 1 year pause!
Scraping to reduce sanding time
Deck by Herself
I thinks I s got a little over-zealous in my scraping
A close up of the scraped area that did not clear with the additional coat of epoxy. Other areas were fine.
The Glass supplies arrive! The Mid Auk and Parr are on this roll.
My buddy helping me plane a sliver down. The Stanley thumb plane is just his size.
Hanging out to dry. The Spacers are very important. Don't ask me how I know.
Sander holes grabbed the edge and broke out a big chunk. Repairing with wood hopefully the same color.
I haven't cut the outer stems off so just hung the boat off them
Spacers to maintain the correct size. I did not do it on the Guillemot and paid dearly for it.
The deck glassed and drying
The underside of the deck. This is the smoothest interior panel I have seen.
My mixer is reading a book and waiting for me to tell him to mix the next batch. Two people make this go so much faster
Doing The Deck
rolling the rim to win
Tucking the glass around the inner stems
cutting the hatches
Holes drilled for the magnets.
Ground the tip off the Forster bit to get the depth for the magnets and not drill through the hatch. Drill carefully!
Used a strip of "blue" insulation 3/4 x1" wide to support lip 1/8 thick during construction
Tipped the nose with the cutoff of the outside stem
Finally, Varnish I used Varathane Diamond Finish Exterior. Water based material, clear and low VOC/odor.
1 " dowel for the handle lines
Somebody is inspecting my work
Bulkheads in
The Rear bulkhead siliconed in.
Seat Blank 4" foam
Doing ok Dad?
Thought I would try this. Waterborne finish, Low odor, very forgiving. Won't use it again. Turns white-ish after exposure to water. Turns right back after 15 min in the air. I suspect that the boat has not been exposed to enough UV to totally harden the finish.
Ohh, The Shine I Like. Somehow the transition looks awful in this picture.
I needed to bend the hatch cover a bit, left it in the oven too long and the epoxy turned white and started to delaminate. Stripped the old stuff off with heat gun and started again. There is a layer of 3/4oz on the outside of the hatch (experiment). The glass came right off, then I broke the the hatch sanding it down, Looks good after re-glassing.
Doing Deck Hold Downs with Bungee. Patterns direct out of the Sea Kayak book by Nick Schade.
"Varnishing" the paddle park and a scratch. The clamp is holding the bungee out of the finish.
Shaping the seat. whooops where's the mask!
36 grit sanding disks. I switched to 120 grit to finish the grinding out. The 36 grit is very aggressive.
W helping with the final smoothing
HARD LABOUR
Mid Auk 14. With a precious cargo.
Great Auk 14- Nick Schade Sea Flea 11- Tom Yost
Guilly, Mid Auk, Sea Flea (old Chestnut canoe in the corner)
