Re: When to scarf

Posted by Ian Colledge on Aug 19, 2007

Dear Darren

I'm starting to finish my first build, a C16 from the book without other plans.

To start, I cut the ply in strip the size outlined in the book then scarfed the 8 pieces at once by overlapping and using a belt sander. I glued all the 4 scarf joint at one time by building a frame out of framing studs, clamped together with end stops so that the scarf joints would not squeese out with clamping become longer and give an unsatistactory joint. The 4 pieces wer placed on top of each other separated with plastic, then clamped they didnt turn out perfectly straight (a few mm. out of alignment). This was no trouble as I used a chalk line to get a straight edge from which to loft. It all turned out OK with the use of battens to get a fair line and checking any points that seemed out of line.

I must say that I found this quite an anxious time as this scarf joint was my first epoxy gluing experience and probably the most important. However it worked out well and the cutouts came together amazingly well.

I tried to convert all the imperial measurements into metric, it became confusing so I gave up and bought one of those old fashioned inch rulers. I now have a 4700mm kayak built using measurements in inches and fractions. It took me back 55 yrs.

good luck

Ian, (Caloundra, Australia)

In Response to: When to scarf by Darren on Aug 17, 2007

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