The Greenland Bug Cont. (Pt. 2)

Seven days have passed and I have finished part 4 and 30 pages in the 500+ page instruction manual for this kayak. Although it does not yet look like a boat, at least it is looking like work has been done. I have glassed and gelled all the hull panels and all the deck panels on the insides only. The next step is to but-joint all the panels into 4 long hull panels and on two deck panels. Then I can start stitching into into the semblance of a boat.


During the past couple of days, I also mocked up a cockpit coaming using the actual coaming ring supplied by C.L.C. as well as some wood and a couple of rulers. I make the heights of the coaming 6 1/2" aft and 7 5/8" fore. These represent the mast completed height of the top coaming ring behind the cockpit and the minimal skin (bottom of the coaming) height before the cockpit. These figures are purely from my imagination. The test was to see if I would fit into a rigid hull boat with a 19" x 15" cockpit at these heights. And I fit, no problem.

I have come up with the figures to match these two heights by tweaking what I know of the Wilderness Systems Arctic Hawk in glass and the dimensions given by Mark Rogers for his kit via C.L.C. If I cut two inches off of the two long hull side panels all the way from bow to stern before I start stitching, these height dimensions will be 5 1/4" aft from 'skin to skin'(i.e. excluding the cockpit coaming) and 8 3/4" fore of the cockpit 'skin to skin'. This includes the cutting of the same dimension from the fore and aft bulkheads, and the 'deck stretcher' which holds the deck in position until dried just fore of the cockpit. At that point, I will toy with the idea of cutting the 'deck stretcher' another 1 1/8" down to bring the fore deck to my 7 5/8" desired height. And if I fit into that, why not? After all this boat will not be made for paddling.

While doing all this, I found a photo on Mark Rogers site of a wooden boat that looks very much like what I am trying to create. Check it out.

All of this thinking about tweaking a boat to get it into a different shape has got me thinking big-time about what properties of a kayak enhance or hinder different Greenland style tricks. I have come up with many theories of what height, width, volume, shape, etc. will do during differing actions in one's boat. I have no idea if my theories would pan out if really tested. Maybe this is a study that needs done and published; "Greenland Style Rolling Boat Designs and their Benefits."






I signed the interior of my boat. And I was caught in the act while trimming glass from the panels.