The Greenland Bug Cont. (Pt. 4)

Alright. So it has been over two weeks since I updated my progress report. People have asked for the progress, and I believe even given up looking for more progress over that time. What have I been doing, since I have not been on the computer? Working on my boat, of course. Here is what has happened since the last report.

First, I spent an entire week staring at the boat. This all started when I progressed as usual along the directions provided by Mark Rogers. His directions describe using only a small amount of copper wire to stitch only the bow and stern sheer edges. All the rest of the hull would be duck taped together with a strip of tape about every six inches along each of the three seams. So I did just the bottom two panels and stepped back. Now remember that I am working in the Mid-Atlantic in July....not Wisconsin! In the Mid-Atlantic in July, duck tape will peel off of a vertical surface within hours of being placed there. I also followed the instruction to hot glue hull forms onto the panels to help them retain their shape. Overnight the glue even released itself from the fiberglass. Too much heat, and too much humidity, I suppose.

I must have re-taped those two hull sections three times over the course of a week and stared at them for a long time, wondering how Mark Rogers actually gets this to work. I thought for a long time of just starting to add copper stitches all along the hull, but could not come to a decision. Someone recommended "Gorilla Tape", being the stickiest thing in existence. Finally with Cyndi's help, I Gorilla Taped all the four hull sections together, added the hot glued hull shapes, and got the whole thing turned over. Again I watched the hull sections slowly pull apart as the tape weakened and stretched. At least the Gorilla Tape did not peel off.

So I gave up.

Next I Went and bought twenty five feet of 18 gauge copper wire and started putting a copper stitch every eight inches along each seam. And even a few more in the places where the hull simply would not stay the way I wanted it. This took two days. When I was done, I was amazed. The hull looked great. It finally looked like a boat!

Next, I spent one day running a thin seam of gel into the lines where the hull pieces came together. Let me tell you that if you ever work with gel, you will learn by your mistakes. I kept trying to mix in the provided mediums of wood dust and silica dust to make the gel a peanut butter-like consistency so that it would not 'drool' out of the seams where I placed it. It took me three days and many many combinations of slow hardener, fast hardener, more silica, and more wood dust before I finally got this seam spreading down. By that time I had accomplished spreading in gel into the seams, letting it dry, sanding it all back to a smooth finish, and spreading in more gel to do it all over again. I got pretty good on the last day as using a drill and sanding disk to buff down the lumpy dried gel. And by the last layer of gel, I had created a great spreader tool out of a Nestle Quick lid and was making the seams almost perfect. Now I understand why had made boats can cost so much to have built for you.

Finally I had enough gel into the seams to do the finally glass inside the hull. I placed three sheets of glass inside, covering the entire bottom of the cockpit area. This I let dry last night. Then I was up again this morning sanding the hull smooth. Today I started to gel in the gunwale/sheer clamp strips. This will take three days to complete. After that, the bulkheads will be installed, the interior gelled again, and then the deck can start going on.

Now after all this work on the hull, I had been taking measurements of the dimensions that I was achieving. I succeeded in some of the expectations, and did not so much succeed in others. The rear cockpit height from 'skin-to-skin' is not the expected 5.5 inches. In fact it is barely 5.25 inches. No problem there. The width is about 20 inched naturally, as it sits now. The width is actually dictated by using hull spreaders as you work on the gel and glass inside the hull. I decided to leave the spreaders out, and noticed that the hull relaxed inwards about a half an inch. That seemed satisfactory for me. I tried to do mock-ups of the 'pinching' idea that I talked about last time. But when I did this, it made the hull look unnaturally distorted on the sheer edges. I decided to give up on the 'pinching' idea totally. After laying in some of the gel seams, I noticed that the beam measurements started to expand. I guess the wet gel allowed the hull to relax outwards a little. In response I have started 'strapping' the hull back together. I can put enough tension on the hull to gently pull the beam back to about 19.25 inches. Bringing it in about 3/4 inches uniformly along the entire hull length. I plan to keep this 'strapped' tension all the way up until the deck is in place. A 19 inch wide by 5.25 inch high boat will be just about what I am looking for. Of course the coaming will add about 3/4 inch too. And I will need to make the coaming fore measurement at least 7 5/8 inches, if not a full 8 inches clearance. But that is a good two weeks work away from now.

Trying to get the two bottom hull panels to stay together.

Copper wire stitches.

Stitches, tape, supports removed and gel sanded from hull interior.

Starting to get the sheer clamps installed.

Paddling on The Dark Side

I’ve got a confession to make that runs counter to my sea kayak soul. I’ve been paddling with those “other” people lately. No not the whitewater others. Worse. The sprint paddling others. Yes, those paddlers who paddle insanely tippy boats with no spray skirts and no PFDs. I know I should be ashamed but … it is so much FUN!

It all started when I kept running into Washington Canoe Club folks at the various races I go to. They kept saying “come paddle with our Masters team”. Rich Libby added my name to the WCC masters’ email list and I started finding out about their plans and training schedules.

At the spring racing camp with Holm, I fully realized the value of coaching for the first time and wanted more. So one Tuesday night I wandered down to the club. Derek, the WCC coach put is in team boats and I was in a boat with three other women. That was a first. I had never even paddled a tandem before let alone a K4 sprint boat! It felt tippy but not too bad and boy could we ever fly across the water.

After practice that night, Derek said I should try a K1. I think he just wanted to see me swim. The boat he got off the rack was an Orion. Now, I don’t know much about K1’s but I do know that this boat is tippier than a typical K1 trainer. It looked so skinny, I was a little worried. But I put it in the water, adjusted the seat, got in and started paddling … and just kept paddling. Bill and Derek were both watching from the dock waiting for me to tip over but it didn’t happen. I happily kept the hull side down and stayed dry. I made some big circles and while the two inch waves felt more like two footers I managed them all with a good amount of bracing.

For my first month of practices at the club I had been to I’d been in team boats. It was fun to work on matching strokes with others and learning balance. But let’s be honest, I much prefer to paddle my own boat.

So two weeks ago I got my first shot at a real workout in a single K1. Mind you that I had probably paddled the Orion a grand total of two other times and very casually at that. When I arrived for practice Derek tells me it is training time and from now on it is all K1s, to get the Orion and to go warm up. I get in it and feel really comfortable – surprising since I hadn’t been in the boat for awhile. I paddle up to three sisters and then down to Jack’s to say hello. Coming back to the docks Derek says I look good – I’ll take that as a compliment!

Then he put us through our paces – 300, 500, 750, 1000 meter sprints in succession. Each time I started off the line strong, kept upright and paddled hard. I consistently was in the lead and having a ball. The highlight of the evening was when, at the end of the practice, Derek said that perhaps I should try to join one of the elite paddler practices and then proceeded to show me the types of boats I “should” be paddling! Another insane compliment.

Up until now, I have had the unique experience of learning to paddle a K1 without also having to work on my swimming skills at the same time. However, I think that is about to change. For next week, Derek said its time to get a “real” boat. I’m scared just thinking about it. Stay tuned.

The Greenland Bug Cont. (Pt. 3)

The work on the new boat is stalling due to other commitments, although I have gotten quite a bit done in the last ten days. I have taken the biggest step of the project in this time; I decided upon what to do for the alterations, and cut the pieces down to make my expectations....hopefully. I talked to lots of people I know who are experts at building skin on frame kayaks or have studied the process well. At least one encouraged me to cut the hull panels as far as I dared. Another had the great idea of completing the hull and the test paddling it just like they do with skin boats. And finally, I got some ideas on how to alter the hull shape without daring to cut into the beam of the predesigned kit.

So here is the conclusions I drew from all the excellent ideas:

1. I took freeboard measurements of my existing fiberglass Arctic Hawk. I have about 3 1/2 inches of freeboard. Having no idea how a wooden version will float in comparison to the fiberglass, I concluded that I would dare to cut the two completed middle hull panels down 2 1/2 inches on the sheer edge(s). This might get me within the 'less than one inch' of freeboard which is my final target. Or it might not.

2. Instead of cutting 2 1/2 inches all the way from bow to stern on these two panels, I decided to start at 4 feet from both the bow and stern and taper from 2 1/2 cut down to 2 inch cut at the ends. This should add just a wee bit more volume in ends of the boat. Conclusions were that more buoyancy in the ends of a craft will help its righting momentum. Hopefully..

3. After completing the interior glassing of the hull, I will try to wrap in in plastic wrap, just like skin boat builders are likely to do after their frame is done and before the skin goes on. This will let me get a feel for what the freeboard of the boat should be. Looking forward into Mark Rogers instructions, it does look like enough glass will be on the interior of the hull, just before the sheer clamps go on, to carefully take it for a test paddle. Of course I will probably have to stub out the hull sheers and the coaming area so that it has enough support for me to get in without pushing on the sheer edges too much.

4. I will try to 'pinch' the hull as it is being glassed. I learned from a couple of experienced builders and studiers of the art that rolling boats have a shape where the hull sheer does not draw a straight line from the cockpit to the bow or stern. Instead the cockpit looks like a bubble with the hull pinching in fore and aft of the cockpit. This allows the cockpit to lay lower in the water during braces. A good thing. It looks at this stage like I should be able to accomplish a subtle version of this by changing the width of the hull spacers as I mock up the hull for the glassing steps. I have to change the hull spacer lengths anyway, having cut down the sheers, so why not give it a try?.