Deck Rigging

Hi, I have not gotten very far with my Shearwater 16H kit, but thinking ahead I was wondering how to mount/put on the deck rigging and bungies. Are the webbing loops the best way? Are there any other ways?... I'm not sure that I really like the look of them.

  -Sweb94


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RE: Deck Rigging

Sweb - have another look at the very popular posting immediately under yours (Shearwater 16 hybrid) and scroll down to the post by Eric (Ogata) dated Tues Dec 30th @ 12.20 pm.   In this he answers my query, which is the same as yours, that is, alternatives to the usual deck-fittings for safety lines etc.   I have now worked out exactly what I am going to do - my safety lines will be run internally at several points along the deck, reflecting some of the idea in these threads, but with my own take on what I hope will be a less time-consuming and slightly stronger solution, but still 'neat' and definitely different!   Hope this helps.

Lol from Oz

 

 

RE: Deck Rigging

Which method do you think you are going to use? What model are your building? Thanks for the directions to the post!

-Sweb94 

RE: Deck Rigging

Here's another one, very clever:

http://www.outdoorplace.org/paddling/NH/NH4.htm

Note the leftmost pic, 2nd row.

This subject interests me a lot at the moment because I am still suffering from wild mood swings regarding how to install deck rigging on my Shearwater 16. The stock CLC approach of screwing down webbing into the sheer clamp works pretty well. I did that on a CH17LT and it worked fine. The Shearwater has narrower sheer clamps though, only half inch wide. Right in front of the cockpit, where the angle of the deck is fairly high, and where the sheer clamp was planed quite a bit, I think a screw is likely to punch through the sheer clamp unless it was installed at an odd angle, parallel to the side panel, and not perpendicular to the deck. It also seems somewhat more problematic to me to drill-fill-drill with a screw hole, more difficult to be sure it is filled with epoxy, (unless it is punched through), more difficult to drill into after filling, keeping centered in the filled epoxy. Screw holes are also more easily stripped so care has to be taken not to overtighten them.

I'd like whatever I do to be strong, neat and easy to uninstall/re-install without leaving any mess so that the deck can be easily refinished. (Im' never *completely* happy with that last coat of varnish:) I'll probably not put perimeter lines on my Shearwater, just enough bungy behind the cockpit to carry float/pump, do a re-entry and carry a spare paddle. And some bungy in front of the cockpit to carry whatever miscellany I may find necessary on a particular day.

I'm pretty close to committing to drilling 1/4 inch thru holes, putting a scrap of reinforcement inside wide enough to cross a couple of deck strips, d-f-d, then just pulling the bungy through and knotting it inside the deck with a nylon washer and some marine silicon caulk. This could be easily removed and re-installed and keeps the silicon away from any varnished surfaces. I could also use the hole to install webbing padeyes using a machine screw, washer and nut which might have the advantage of being a little more watertight. Or the hole could be enlaged into a slot at some point and thru-deck web padeyes installed as shown in the link above. At any rate, starting with the 1/4 inch reinforced hole seems to leave all my options open? And if I end up deciding the holes were a mistake, I could plug them back up neatly enough with a little wooden dowel or something prettier.

Happy New Year! Hope 2009 will be better than 2008 :)

 --

Ogata (eric)

RE: Deck Rigging

G'day, Sweb94.   I am building a Ches 17LT (S&G), but taking a break currently as the weather here prohibits hard work and inhibits epoxy curing  - it's a hot 34 degrees C today = 93 deg F and 65% humidity!!!

Meantime, I have been filling time considering, like you, alternatives to safety lines on deck.   To be honest, I'd prefer not to install any at all so   as to keep that clean look to the deck, but I defer to others' suggestions since as a novice paddler I know I'll end up in the water at some time!

I intend to use a variation on the Maroske theme, but instead of glassing-in the under-deck tubes, I have made a dozen or so resin-soaked fibre 'cups' (the only way I can describe them) about the size of a large thimble or shallow egg-cup which I will individually mount upside down on the underside (inner) deck surface.  Each one then leaves a waterproof void to thread the line into.   Two adjacent holes leading into the inverted 'cup' will allow the 1/4inch safety line to enter and exit the void created by the cup.   I'll stiffen the bridge inside between the two holes with a small piece of ply or a small strip of 'glass.

Have to be careful not to allow the craft to be lifted by these lines, but it should be strong enough to allow me to at least get hold of the thing if I'm floundering in the water beside it!

This is just a brief description - drop me a line with your e-mail address to [email protected] if you wish and I'll send you more details - and maybe some photos if you wish.   Regrettably my technical incompetence in such matters stops me from including photos here!

I also like the through-the-deck 'tab' option on the 'outdoorplace' site contained in Eric's last post but would foresee difficulties getting a good finish around it if it is installed prior to deck finishing.

Hope this is at least of interest.

Lol from Oz

RE: Deck Rigging

Guys,

Whatever method you end up using, it needs to be strong enough to pick up and swing the boat around by. When you're in the water trying to hang on and the waves are flipping you and the boat in separate directions, there's the potential for a fair bit of differential force. Remember, even though the water is supporting both you and the boat, the pressure from the waves will be acting over the entire submerged surface areas of both you and the boat. Toss in the bouyant forces, as well, and you can end up with a very strong pull on those attachment points.

For what it's worth, I used a variation of the scheme that Eric posted the link to above. In my variation, I have a double-ended webbing loop. One is above the deck to hold the bungee cord, the other is below the deck with a dowel passed through it to anchor the loop. The slit in the deck is just wide enough to pass 2 layers of webbing. The whole thing is removeable for refinishing by pulling the dowels, without untying the bungees and it's strong enough to pick up the boat by.

There was some good stuff about cutting the slits on Kurt Maurer's Mill Creek page, but AOL seems to have shut down and destroyed all the web pages they were hosting.

Laszlo

 

RE: Deck Rigging

Laszlo - yeah, you are quite right in your observations - it's not just if the craft is picked-up by the lines while on dry land, it's what happens 'out there' that counts! - I alluded to it above.   Thanks for comments.

Lol from Oz 

 

RE: Deck Rigging

I've used a variation of the padeyes from John Caldeira's page for the last few seasons now, and I'm very pleased with it.  I don't ever find myself in truly life-threatening conditions, so I can't testify to their strength in that regard, but I'm pretty sure I'd do myself great personal injury trying to cause one of mine to fail.

One thing, though.  He describes sealing the padeye from beneath the deck with silicone, and I can't really imagine having a lot of luck removing one if you used much silicone at all.  The stuff's pretty darn good glue!  I put a layer of liquid latex on the bottom of my deck, then sealed the padeyes with silicone.  The latex is a very good release agent for silicone, yet still provides enough adhesion and water resistance.

Also, I paddled my boat for a bit of time without sealing the padeyes to the deck at all (the deck itself was sealed with epoxy/wood flour), and found a quite a bit of water in my forward and rear compartments after a few failed roll attempts.  All of my roll attempts are failures, but I have a lot of fun failing.  I sealed up the padeyes, and nearly all of the water went away...... without sealing them, they let a lot more water in than I would have thought.

RE: Deck Rigging

Lazlo, Ken, what technique did you use to cut the slots? Drill a couple holes and cut between them with a bonsai saw?

--

Ogata (eric)

RE: Deck Rigging

Yes, exactly.  Then clean them up with a small file, if needed, and seal the edges of the slot.  You'd want to be pretty sure of where you want them, though.  The slots are probably a lot harder to move than the small hole left over from a screw in a sheer clamp.

Atleast, thats the way any sane, normal person would do it.  I cut mine substantially oversized.  Made some rubber plugs the size that I wanted the finished slot to be, held the plugs in place with tape to the bottom of the deck, poured a epoxy/wood flour mix into the void, pulled the plugs, and wound up with what amounted to a epoxy/wood flour grommet all the way around the slot.  No doubt in my mind about the edges being sealed and staying that way a good long while.  Would also look awesome under varnish......but I painted the boat anyway.  I'm kind of thinking about going back to varnish this year, anyone out there ever went from paint to varnish?

RE: Deck Rigging

Guess I'm not sane nor normal. Camper, be quiet :-)

I pushed an exacto knife through the deck, then pushed the bonsai saw through the slit left by the exacto and cut the larger slit to length. I cleaned it all up with Kurt Maurer's method of attaching fine sandpaper to a butter knife and using that as a file.

Laszlo

 

RE: Deck Rigging

Thanks for the tips guys. I've been swamped with work last couple weeks and not enough time to work on my cockpit and deck rigging. Hopefully things will lighten up soon and I can finish up. Has given me more time to cogitate, wobble and vacillate anyway. Well I got some stripped hip braces glued up at least. The stock ones were just about 1/16 inch short for some reason. And I have made a few hideous experiments drilling/cutting holes of various sizes and shapes in some scrap to get a feel for what will work. I hate cutting my deck. And unfortunately, this is one of those things that heavy drinking doesn't really help to get through:(

--

Ogata (eric) 

RE: Deck Rigging

A couple more (from a post on KBB):

1. Variation on the slotted deck web padeye with some nice pics:

http://www.redfishkayak.com/softpadeyes.htm

2. Some wire loop padeyes. 

http://www.thomassondesign.com/building/tips_from_builders/simple_deck_hardware.aspx

these padeyes are Swedish!

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Ogata (eric)

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