Christmas Destruction

Posted by Kurt Maurer on Dec 25, 2005

Howdy Gang! I decided to celebrate Christmas this year by ripping the guts out of my Cormorant 16 hybrid. Bwaaaa ha ha ha haaaa. What'd YOU do on Christmas Eve?

The Cormorant was my second boat, never mind that I built in pairs those first couple go-rounds. Built while I was of a "recreational kayak" mindset, today I live for rolling and all that other hot dog (idiot) nonsense. I still absolutely love the Cormorant's handling, and it is the boat I learned to roll in. But now I badly want (need) to make the cockpit considerably lower and snugger, and put a stop to the the persistant and nagging leakage in the hatches once and for all. I considered starting anew, stretching her to seventeen feet, but with eight boats already cluttering up the place I decided to rebuild the original instead. Rip! Tear! Bash! Saw! OUCH!!

I'll probably put a little web page together as this project comes along, but for now, let me tell y' something: Those CLC-style bulkheads are strong, man! Mine were installed with dainty little dookie-schmutz fillets on both sides, and no glass. And I liked to tear the hull up getting the rear one outa there (I'm recessing the new cockpit opening and moving the bulkhead back to accomodate). I was impressed! And mighty glad I used 4mm okoume, and not something heavier too.

I used an old wood chisel, freshly sharpened, and a heavy mallet to weaken, or preferably destroy, the fillets, then took a framing hammer to bang it on out. Stupid thing still came out in pieces. Lord have mercy on your butt if something ever causes one of those things to fail out yonder.

It's kinda sad to tear up one of your first boats that way, but then, it's gonna be really good to add it back to the fleet as a true front runner in the day's selection process.

Another interesting note: The Cormorant 16 weighs, or at least, weighed, 42 lbs. My 18-foot Outer Island weighs 36 lbs. But the Cormoranat actually feels easier to throw on a shoulder and run around with. Just guessing, I'd have to attribute this to its shorter length... less moment arm to swing around is what I'm thinking. Isn't that curious?

Cheers, Kurt Maurer

Replies:

• Removing bulkheads by Robert N Pruden on Dec 25, 2005
  • Re: Removing bulkheads by Kurt Maurer on Dec 25, 2005
  • Re: Removing bulkheads by Laszlo on Dec 26, 2005
    • Re: Removing bulkheads by craig on Dec 26, 2005
      • COOL! by Kurt Maurer on Dec 26, 2005
        • Dangit, Dangit, Dangit by Kurt Maurer on Dec 26, 2005
          • Re: Dangit, Dangit, Dangi by craig on Dec 26, 2005
          • Re: Dangit, Dangit, Dangi by Laszlo on Dec 27, 2005
• Re: Christmas Destruction by Kurt Freewald on Dec 27, 2005
  • Re: Christmas Destruction by John Foster on Dec 28, 2005